On Monday evening June 13th, First Coast.TV came to the vigil for the dozens killed at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, FL. This vigil is only one of many across the nation and the world. We decided to let the camera roll and hold back on editing to a minimal. We felt that in this tragedy every voice needed to be heard, and so we did. The tape says it all, every feeling, every hope and every voice is represented, to reflect who we are as a community.
First Coast.TV felt that this tragedy had the impact of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham Alabama in 1963 were four little girls were murdered in cold blood, and the Aids epidemic of the 80’s where the LBGT Community was left to die and fend for itself for a long time at the costs of thousands of lives before anything was done.
So I just could not get the last words of the film based on the book of “Sophie’s Choice” out of my head.
“Ample make this bed,
Make this bed with awe. In it… I’ll wait till judgment break.
Excellent and fair.
Be its mattress straight.
Be its pillow round.
Let no sunrise yellow noise…interrupt this ground”.
And so ended my voyage of discovery…in a place as strange as Brooklyn.
I let go the rage and sorrow for Sophie and Nathan…and for the many others
who were but a few…of the butchered and betrayed and martyred children of the Earth.
When I could finally see again…I saw the first rays of daylight reflected in the murky river.
This was not judgment day.
Only morning.
Morning: excellent and fair.”
Let us as a community find a small place in our hearts, where we can put this vigil, and revisit it again and again, so that we can say that we never let go of hope our allowed darkness to consume us.
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