Pulse Church Bell One-Year Remembrance
(Orlando, FL) -- Families who lost children in the Pulse nightclub massacre are on a mission to ring church bells across the country and world in remembrance of the tragedy. The survivors of Pulse victims and the One Orlando Alliance are seeking 49 churches to ring their bells 49 times on June 12th in honor of the victims killed in the Orlando nightclub last year. Thirty-four churches in places like Texas and Michigan, even in Puerto Rico and Ecuador have signed up. Churches who seek to participate are directed to sign up at 49bells.org.
Orlando Man Seeking To Remove Confederate Statue
(Orlando, FL) -- An Orlando man is fighting to get a statue honoring Confederate soldiers removed from a downtown park. African American former journalist David Porter told multiple outlets yesterday that he intended to ask the Orlando City Council at its Monday meeting to remove the "Johnny Reb" statue from Lake Eola Park on the anniversary of the Pulse massacre, “Orlando United Day." Porter argues the 100-year-old monument commissioned in 1917 by the Daughters of the Confederacy celebrates racial hatred and glorifies discrimination. The push comes months after the Orange County school board agreed to rename "Robert E. Lee Middle School" to "College Park Middle School." Why on the Pulse anniversary? How are the two connected? Why intrude on people's sorrow?