The University of Mississippi community is holding a vigil at 6 p.m. Tuesday on the pier at Lamar Park in Oxford to honor and remember the victims of the Orlando shooting that occurred early Sunday morning.
Thousands of leaders, activists and civilians have joined the LGBTQ+ community to grieve and honor the lives that were lost in this lethal and tragic event.
“We gather. We, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender, queers, questioning, intersex, gender non-conforming, asexuals, allies, heterosexuals; Oxford folks, Water Valley folks, Tupelo folks, Taylor folks; all races, all ethnicities, all religions, all nationalities, all classes, all bodies, all minds, and all hearts. We gather. In our grief, rage, sadness, fear, worry, pain, disillusionment, anger, heartache, hope, resentment, confusion, loss, resolve, and love. We gather,” said Jaime Cantrell, director of UM Pride Network. “If you’ve got candles, bring ’em. If you’ve got a phone with a candle app, hold it up. Participate in a moment of silence. Witness a moment of community.”
Sunday morning at 2:20 a.m. ET, the deadliest mass shooting in the nation’s history occurred at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The massacre resulted in forty-nine deaths and fifty-three wounded. The shooter, Omar Mateen, died in a shootout with officials. Several hospitals in the Orlando area were placed on lockdown as they received numerous gunshot victims.
The vigil will begin with a few words from Jennifer Stollman, academic director for the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, and will be followed by a remembrance ceremony where students, alumni, faculty, Oxford-University community members, PFLAG and others will read the names of the victims from the Pulse shooting. Then, a moment of silence will be observed to honor their lives and show support for the LGBTQ+ community at large.
Shawnboda Mead, director of the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement, will conclude the ceremony with information about the counseling services available for those affected by the event.
The vigil will be sponsored by the Sarah Isom Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, the Center for Inclusion and Cross Cultural Engagement, UM Pride Network, OUTlaw, the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, and PFLAG Oxford/North Mississippi.
In event of rain, participants in the vigil should go to the pavilion at Lamar Park near the parking lots.
Jaime Cantrell can be contacted at jaimec@olemiss.edu.
