Meeting God Wherever She Is: The Pulse Orlando Shooting and Creating Sacred Spaces
by Erica Thurman
Auntie, I know you’ll probably think this is the most blasphemous thing I’ve ever written but the fact is that I met God the other day. She actually does wear an afro. Turns out sometimes she wears a blonde weave. And probably does a mean duck walk. I can just tell. She was every shade of brown, reveled in her thickness and even though she didn’t have cause to show it off that night, I just know she got a side-eye that rivals Prince’s. Or my momma’s. Thing is, I didn’t go there looking for her. I’d always been told you go to church for that. But right there in the middle of the Formation world tour, I was surrounded by unconditional non-judgmental peaceful love. That’s God, right?
Auntie, I know you’ll probably think this is the most blasphemous thing I’ve ever written but the fact is that I met God the other day. She actually does wear an afro. Turns out sometimes she wears a blonde weave. And probably does a mean duck walk. I can just tell. She was every shade of brown, reveled in her thickness and even though she didn’t have cause to show it off that night, I just know she got a side-eye that rivals Prince’s. Or my momma’s. Thing is, I didn’t go there looking for her. I’d always been told you go to church for that. But right there in the middle of the Formation world tour, I was surrounded by unconditional non-judgmental peaceful love. That’s God, right?
I imagine Pulse must have been like that for so many people whose identities meant that their very existence would be threatened daily. In one of the few places where members of the LGBTQIA+ community could just be...And love. And dance. And sing. And laugh. Someone dared to invade that space with hatred. My heart aches. Evil and oppression will not win. I’ve always thought I was more Malcolm than I was Martin. But somewhere in the middle of a Beyoncé concert, I understood what Martin meant. That love that I felt in the middle of that stadium is motivation to keep fighting. That love and the right to express it is the goal. That love is why we can't lose. That love is what 49 people went to Pulse to experience that night. Some of them had likely been there before. Some of them may have found it for the first time that night.
Photo: iStockPhoto
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