As an American, I don’t normally give comment on these types of hugely political and traumatic events, but today is a new day. Yesterday, it happened abroad. Today, it happens in my country. In Orlando. Tomorrow, it could happen on my front porch steps, and I have fear in my being for not only myself, but for mine and America’s posterity.
On Sunday, June 12 at 2:02 a.m. ET shooting erupted at Pulse, a gay nightclub situated comfortably at the epicenter of Orlando, disrupting what about 320 club-goers were enjoying to be the club’s “Latin flavor” night time event. An Orange County police officer who was on duty that very same night responds immediately and a gunfight follows suit, the aftermath of which results in several dead and the shooter being held up inside of the nightclub where a hostage situation occurs. After a good three hours of standoffish waiting and fear filled instances, a heavily armored SWAT team crashes an armored car into one of the doors of the club in order to infiltrate the zone and kill the allegedly ISIS-proclaimed gunman, Omar Mateen.
Victims of the shooting gave personal accounts of the incident, most of which were extremely strong recollections of how these Americans narrowly avoided death by means that ranged from covering oneself with bodies in an attempt to hide, to exiting the building through a removed air conditioning unit from a back dressing room. With 49 pronounced dead on the site, hospitals were soon brimming with the injured and critically wounded. Some wouldn’t make it until sunrise, a terrifying situation to comprehend.
At the time, there was not any leadership claimed by ISIS or any jihadist groups for this horrendous attack, and, soon after, political professionals such as President Obama state, “We know enough to say this was an act of terror and act of hate. As Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage and in resolve to defend our people.”
After this address to the country, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria claimed responsibility for the attack.
With these terrible events in mind, we must now turn our heads towards rising issues in this upcoming presidential election. Is Donald Trump correct in not allowing Muslims into our country on the basis that we don’t have a credible enough system to determine if these immigrants are ISIS or ISIS sympathizers? It helps to keep in mind that Mateen had been on the FBI’s radar ever since 2013/2014, during those years he was investigated for his connection to a suicide bomber who he expressed sympathy for. But, according to FBI Assistant Special Agent Ronald Hopper, “Those interviews turned out to be inconclusive, so there was nothing to keep the investigation going.” And the case was closed for Mateen, possibly prompting him to have enough gall to carry out this unforgivable act of hate.
This tragedy also translates into the efficacy of gun control in our country. In his address to the country following the attacks, Obama chides Congress’ inability to act on his aims for gun control legislation. “This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, in a house of worship, or in a movie theater or in a nightclub,” says Obama, “And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. To actively do nothing is a decision as well…”
One of my peers, and a member of the LGBTQ community at Miami University, Ryan Fry, released a statement to the world via a well procured social media post that yielded a tagline that reads, “I hope that the LGBTQ+ community and all of our allies rally to bring change to this nation so that we may continue to make steps towards gun policy reform and the continued increase in protection of queer people everywhere.”
I hope and pray that this act of hatred is transformed into a movement within and outside of our country. We as Americans need to act out of pride for our own at this point and create a safer America, and by extension and example, a safer world to live in. It all starts at home, people. YOU can do something to help! Donate blood to those recovering from the attacks now at www.oneblood.org! Lobby for a safer America! Be the change you want to see in this unfortunate world filled with hatred and violence so we may all live together forever and a day. But, in the immediate present, simply mourn the loss of 49 American lives. Leave the debate for a clearer day in the very near future.
