There is nothing worse than seeing your life flash before your eyes— imagining your happiest moments, your moments of sadness and of sheer gratitude. Before your life ends you think of your parents and how they will react; you’ll have to worry about how your children will get along without you.

Many of us think that this moment will not transpire until we reach a certain age. We think that death is reserved for the old, wise and experienced. However, there are an equal number of people to whom adolescent and young adult death has become normalized.

According to The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, there were 17,383 children between the ages of 0-19 who were shot in murders, assaults, suicides, unintentional shootings or by police intervention between 2011 and 2015. On average, 112,695 people in America are shot per year with 11,564 of those deaths categorized as homicides. There were 24 reported homicides in Lexington in 2016 alone.

As the 2016-2017 year is coming to an end and the temperature is rising, people are preparing themselves for their summer jobs, internships or long summers abroad by celebrating with their friends.

The 21 and up crowd of Black UK have recently had to split their presence between local Lexington and UK bars after the closing of the popular nightclub Lexington Live due to violations of state ABC laws including serving alcohol to a minor, fighting and shots fired on the premises.

Students have now reverted to spending their weekends at Trust Lounge, a local nightclub that attracts both students and members of the Lexington community. Since 2016, the club has been investigated for multiple instances of disorderly conduct, shootings and assaults with a deadly weapon, according to the Lexington Police Department.

Saturday night after UK’s Black Student Union put on their annual ‘Night at the Apollo’ event, students rushed to Trust Lounge. As their nights started to come to an end students were forced to leave running due to multiple fights and a shooting in front of the building.

Unfortunately, many black students feel that they are forced to venture beyond campus to find music, people and culture that brings a certain level of comfort.

Although students may not be the impressed with so-called ‘UK bars,’ they may be the safest option.

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