How to Grieve a Colonizer and How to Mourn the Complicit

More people will suffer and we must be willing to mourn

Yesterday I wrote, “Violence wounds us. For those who do it. For those it is done to. For those who witness it. Every day, I see so much wounding.’

And it is this trauma that warps us. Like cheap wood left out in the rain. I believe we must resist being misshapen. Yet, it is so difficult.

Yesterday, there was more violence as the state of Israel continues to massacre Palestinian women, children and men at staggering rates, starving innocent people – even opening fire on European diplomats walking through occupied territory.

Yesterday, the United States launched the largest ever bombardment from an aircraft carrier on Somalia and continues to attack Yemen where women and children pay the price.

And yesterday, in retaliation for the genocide being enacted by the state of Israel and enabled by the United States and Western powers Washington, DC, two Israeli embassy staff were shot and killed by Elias Rodriguez.

And so the tussle for our heart strings, purse strings, and attention begins in the wee hours of the morning while our House of Representatives passes a bill that will cut life-saving benefits for the elderly, the disabled, children, and the poor while transferring billions of dollars in resources towards the wealthy and those invested in the military industrial complex.

Who shall be mourned? Who shall be humanized? Who is worthy of our attention, our tears, our collective grief? Conversely, who is worthy of our condemnation? Who is worthy of our aggression? Who deserves violence? I believe the answer to the first question is everyone and the answer to the next is no one.