Politics of Mourning

 Every death is personal, and friends and family are grieving. It should not be used for a political agenda. Never lose sight of this.

 

            Historically, minorities were not allowed to grieve fully because doing so renewed their cultural traditions and rituals, unified the people, and gave them hope and strength. Ghost dances of the Sioux were restricted by the U.S. military at the direction of politicians.

 

Too often, grieving is seen as a sign of weakness. The state doesn’t want its citizens to show emotions because it wants to appear unbreakable to other countries. (North Korea)

 

Some nationalist countries think that by mourning, citizens show that they are not completely devoted to the greater cause of the country, and are exhibiting selfish, personal concerns. (Mao and China) It says that people are having personal thoughts. (Orwell, 1984)

 

We don’t like it when our political leaders show their grief, especially men, because we want them to ignore their personal losses and lead the country. They have a job to do. (Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin thought otherwise.)

 

Some people made the grief of 9/11 political and responded out of anger, hubris, and fear. Out of this came political posturing and years of retribution, revenge, counter-revenge, and more death.

 

The diaries of Japanese Americans at the Heart Mountain internment camp during World War II detail the human cost of the political decision to lock them up, costing them their homes and businesses. In the heat of fear, Congress and the Supreme Court made that decision (Executive Order 9066), a decision that they later acknowledged as wrong. 

 

The diary of a German woman written from 1939-1948 details her grief when her husband was conscripted into the war and didn’t return. Many captured German soldiers were taken to Russia and never heard from again. Historian Erika Quinn said the woman also wrote about her grief for the loss of her country when the Russians occupied her part of Germany. 

 

The grief of the Jewish people in the Holocaust was not believed until there were photographs. Before this, boatloads of Jewish refugees were turned back for political reasons, and they died in the death camps.

 

Grief is politicized when the government tells us how we can mourn and for how long, and then we’re expected to get back to work. This is a political problem that becomes a social one.

 

When grief comes in the morning, it’s not about politics. It’s about love.