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On the eve of his inauguration, and just hours after the United States reached the grim milestone of more than 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, President-elect Joe Biden met at the head of the reflecting pool on Tuesday. of the Lincoln Memorial.
As the sun set over DC and gospel singer Yolanda Adams performed Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, 400 lanterns were lit in an instant broadcast on televisions across the country to remember Americans lost to the pandemic of coronavirus. At nearby Washington National Cathedral and churches across the country, bells have been ringing in memory of the dead.
“To heal, we have to remember. And sometimes it’s hard to remember, but that’s how we heal. It is important to do this as a nation. That’s why we’re here today, ”Biden said. “Between sunset and dusk, let the lights shine in the dark along this sacred pool of reflection and remember all that we have lost.
Tuesday’s ceremony was the first time since the start of the pandemic that the executive branch of the US government – although the entering the executive – had stopped for a moment of national mourning. This signaled not only the arrival of a new administration, but also a new chance for the nation to collectively take into account the toll the virus has caused in all corners of the country.
“For many months, we cried on our own,” Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said in an address. “Tonight we cry – and begin to heal – together.
But this healing is complicated for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have lost loved ones. While Tuesday night’s memorial was a first step towards national recognition of all that has been lost, and Biden’s empathy may be a comfort, for some struggling people there are deep questions as to how which they are supposed to recover and on the responsibility of the federal government. the government should have.
Chioma Oruh, 40, whose father died of COVID-19 at a nursing home in May, said she appreciated the idea of the memorial, but it didn’t do much for the anger and pain unresolved she felt following her father’s death.
“You want to be able to feel good and be in community with each other, celebrate, mourn and collaborate,” Oruh said. “At the same time, it happens once a government creates mechanisms through which accountability can occur. I don’t think we’ve gotten to this point where this accountability occurs.
Biden will begin his term on Wednesday with multiple national crises to contend with. For months, it has been clear that tackling the pandemic was one of his priorities from day one, and the decision to hold a memorial service, however brief, to recognize those who have died, underscores the task he has in front of him to try to change. the trajectory of COVID-19 in the United States. His own chief of staff estimates that 100,000 more Americans will die from the virus next month.
Biden convened a COVID-19 task force shortly after winning the election to begin speaking with governors, medical experts and others. Last week, he announced a $ 1.9 trillion pandemic contingency plan. His proposal focuses on resources for testing, vaccines and economic recovery going forward. But his plan does not include measures that Oruh specifically wants to help families who have lost a loved one through negligence or to investigate one of the deaths that have already occurred.
A ceremony like Wednesday’s can’t really begin to help her heal, Oruh said, unless there is restitution to those who have lost loved ones for the mismanagement of the pandemic by them. authorities and private companies such as some retirement homes. “I cannot sue the nursing home for exposing my father to COVID,” she says.
“In other spaces, you would have a truth and reconciliation commission, a sort of hearing. People are talking about repairs, ”Oruh said. “These things are not outside of the democratic process, they are what makes democracy the best system … COVID is no exception to this rule.”
But the importance of the new president acknowledging the heartbreak that has plagued so many Americans through the pandemic is not lost on Micki McElya, professor of history at the University of Connecticut and author of The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor at Arlington National Cemetery.
“So many people – really since the early days of the pandemic – have turned to this tradition of chief mourning, the emotional register and leadership established by the president, or could to be where should be established by the president, ”McElya said. But Americans, she said, didn’t find that in Donald Trump.
Grieving has been central to Biden’s life and career. He was first sworn in as a senator in January 1973, just weeks after his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi died in a car crash. He was 30 years old. His son Beau, who survived the accident as a child, had a rising career in Democratic politics. He died in 2015 at the age of 46 from brain cancer.
“I think with Biden, those deep associations with his own tragedy and personal losses and the fact that they’ve always been deeply public, they’ve been embraced publicly. I think it gives her an air of authenticity and sincerity in a role that people in the past have watched and looked for a lot during the pandemic, ”McElya said.
Speaking of Beau earlier on Tuesday in his farewell to his home state of Delaware, where he has been based since the start of the pandemic, Biden was clearly moved. “I have only one regret: that he is not there. Because we should present him as president, ”he said.
For decades, Biden has forged loyalty with people – from voters at campaign events to political friends and influential allies – through his ability for empathy and comfort, especially during times of mourning. As he traveled the country on his way to the pre-pandemic campaign, he frequently encountered people who had lost someone and consoled them. Others came to his events after meeting him decades ago during a period of grief in their lives and remembered his kindness.
His recognition of the losses Americans have suffered over the past year is a significant departure from his predecessor’s approach to the pandemic. Fearing political repercussions at every step, Trump downplayed the severity of the crisis and denied the death toll in the United States even as it exceeded that of every other country in the world.
Trump, in his pre-recorded farewell speech released on Tuesday, did not specifically address the scale of destruction COVID-19 has brought to the United States under his administration. Instead, he touted his administration’s response to vaccines.
However, he almost recognized the toll at one point in his speech. “We mourn every life lost,” he said, “and we pledge in their memory to eradicate this horrific pandemic once and for all.”
But the outgoing leader has never given any idea of the scale of the loss – the number of Americans who died in the last year of his presidency.
If the United States is serious about starting to heal from the ailments of the pandemic, McElya said, there must be a lot more times like Biden’s ceremony on Tuesday night. And beyond that, more responsibility.
“If anything approaching unity is to be achieved, it requires a sober and clear confrontation of the damage done and all that we have lost,” McElya said. “What this event also symbolizes and what it can accomplish is not only honoring them, but also understanding why they left.”
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