BLOG From Terry Allen: We Are UK and We Are Orlando

In the aftermath of this weekend’s horror in Orlando, the call went out across a grief-stricken community, asking for volunteers to donate blood to aid the wounded and critically injured.

By early Sunday morning, the line around the Orlando blood bank reportedly stretched for more than a mile. People — most of whom didn’t know a victim — waited in the baking Florida sun for more than six hours.

They wanted to help. And in so doing, they painted a powerful picture, a compelling symbol, of what it means to be a member of a community.

We are all different — different colors, different perspectives, religions, identities, genders and ethnicities.

But we are members of a community. The people of Orlando understand that.

At the University of Kentucky, our community, too, is heartbroken and filled with deep sadness over the tragic events in Orlando.

We are the University for Kentucky. But, in a powerful way, we are Orlando, too. And we want to join in humanity’s chorus that is unified behind the idea that our differences and our diversity are what collectively make us and our community stronger.

To show our support and honor those who lost their lives in this tragedy, as well as those who will be impacted long after the physical injuries have been tended, the following buildings will be illuminated in various colors during the next few days.

The colors represent the rainbow that stands for many as a symbol of the LGBTQ* community:

• Memorial Hall 
• Lyman T. Johnson Hall – Red
• Central II – Purple
• Haggin Hall and K-Lair – Green
• The 90 – Orange   

A memorial gathering entitled "We are UK. We are Orlando" also will take place from noon-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, in the VIP (Violence Intervention and Prevention) Center. The entire campus community is welcome to join for reflection, conversation and food.

As a university campus, as a home for discourse and debate, dialogue and discussion, one of the best ways we know to deal with the horror of what happened is to join together in the search for meaning and for how best we can move forward together.

Wednesday’s memorial — and the symbolic lighting of our signature campus building (Memorial Hall) and our residence halls — represent a step forward. Many more must follow.

To that end, we also know that members of the LGBTQ* community at UK may be filled with a sense of anxiety and pain in the aftermath of Orlando. We all are.

Your UK community is here for you.

The VIP Center has support services available for those who are feeling the impact of this tragedy. Over the coming days, we will continue to share support, information and resources. We continue to be in solidarity with the LGBTQ* community, the Latino community, and the Muslim community, as well as others around the globe, who are committed to ending violence and hate.

Below are some resources at UK, and elsewhere, that may be helpful during this time:

• UK Office for Institutional Diversity
• The American Psychological Association
• The American Counseling Association

If you need immediate health and safety related support, contact the UK Counseling Center at 859-257-8701 or the UK Police Department at #UKPD.

On the night that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died, Robert F. Kennedy stood on the top of a flatbed truck in Indianapolis, and told the gathering throng, for the first time, what happened.

Quoting the Greek poet, Aeschylus, Kennedy told those gathered that, “even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.”

Kennedy went on to say that “what we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country …”

Let us resolve, some 50 years later, to continue on the journey toward justice for everyone, in every community. At UK, let us resolve to be a beacon of light and hope for those who would join us on that path.

#WeAreUK and #WeAreOrlando.

Terry Allen

Interim Vice President for Institutional Diversity