Orlando Residents Defied Florida Officials by Restoring the Memorial
The rainbow crosswalk honoring the 49 people killed at Pulse nightclub in 2016 has reemerged in Orlando after residents repainted the memorial in defiance of Florida officials.
Community members gathered near South Orange Avenue and West Esther Street, chalking and recoloring the crosswalk that had been painted over in black and white by the Florida Department of Transportation earlier this year.
Campaign manager Jeremy Rodriguez posted a video of the memorial being restored on Twitter.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers monitored the demonstration but did not intervene. Representative Anna V. Eskamani noted their presence in a social media post.
Robby Dodd, one of the participants, said officers instructed him to remain on the sidewalk, but he continued to color anyway. “I wanted to make a statement,” he said, adding, “My friends died here. That’s it. This is their memorial. This is theirs. They told me where I could color, they told me I could stay on the sidewalk without getting into any kind of trouble, so I’m staying on the sidewalk, but I’m still going to color.”, as quoted by WKMG.
The rainbow design was first installed in 2017 with approval from state transportation officials following an online petition signed by more than 2,000 supporters. Organizers called it a tribute both to the victims and to the resilience of survivors of the mass shooting.
Secretary of Transportation, former reality show star and lumberjack, Sean Duffy ordered the crosswalk removed after federal guidance under the Trump administration directed states to eliminate decorative roadway art deemed “distracting” for drivers, with a letter and in a social media post on Twitter, said, “Taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks.”
