With tears in her eyes, Daphne Josaphat describes missing a phone call from her nephew at 2 a.m. June 12, 2016.

“It's the night my living nightmare began,” Josaphat said.

Jason Josaphat was dancing at Pulse nightclub when his life abruptly came to an end.

He wasn't out of the closet to his entire family, but his aunt was one of the few who knew his sexual orientation.

“I promised that I would be there (for him),” she said.

She's grateful for people such as Charlotte Davis, who held her that night a year ago in front of Pulse. Davis was a longtime promoter for Pulse; she is also an advocate in the community.

Davis said that because Jason was an LGBTQ member and also black, he was a double minority — a group of people Davis said is underrepresented in Pulse conversations.

“I think there is so much focus put on the nationality of the group of people that you know lost their lives here, and not so much that this was a group of people, a group individuals who all came from different nationalities,” Davis said.

The majority of those killed during the Pulse shooting were of Hispanic descent. However, Davis thinks Pulse-related events don’t often enough highlight black victims or survivors. She said Latin nights, such as those Pulse was hosting the night of the tragedy, have been held by different clubs, but she can’t say the same for hip-hop nights.

“(We) want to send a message out that hip-hop is not a color. I think that’s where we went wrong with this tragedy. Because it was Latin night, it got grouped as being only Latin,” Davis said.

She said that the gaps can be bridged by making sure everyone is included “and just bringing everybody together. That's really what it’s about, bringing everybody together," Davis said. "The Latin community, the black community, the white community, the Haitian community... You have to have genuine representation in order to have genuine inclusion for certain things.”

Josaphat said the most important thing for her is to make sure Jason is always remembered no matter what.

“I cannot say if they have forgotten or not forgotten, but I will know for a fact that I'm making sure Jason is not going to be forgotten,” she said.

Davis is hosting a dinner show, a tribute to Pulse angels, victims, family and friends, from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. June 12 at the Woodstock Orlando. She said the free event is meant to bring everybody together.


Jason Josaphat and his aunt, Daphne, were close -- she was one of the few members of his family who knew he was gay. (Courtesy of Daphne Josaphat)