Witness & Lament Solidarity Tisha B’av
Temple Beth-El and other religious organizers against detentions in Virginia.
“The 9th of the Hebrew month Av is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar. Marking the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile that followed it. This year this day falls amidst the backsdrop of migrant children being separated from parents, asylum seekers denied refuge, and Muslims refused entry.”
On this day of mourning we join hands across religions and backgrounds from all over the world in order to lament these events taking place in our society.
Attendants are asked to wear black or attire that reflects personal cultural practices of mourning and signs to express lament on current immigration policies and demand actions.”
In my country we do not have a lot of mourning practices that aren’t tied in someway to colonizers superstitions, ignorance and fears leading to their incessant insistence that our peoples assimilate fast and resist little.
Instead, we focus on remembering our own mortality, making changes in our lives, celebrating the life and wonderful things about the deceased. Womxn folxs wear mantillas or thin veils to cover their heads in sign of humility, for the same reason when in mourning you do not look in the mirror, instead covering them with a cloth during mourning period. Male identifying people on the other hand, are asked to keep their hats off as a sign of humility and respect. I do not own a mantilla and I also don’t have a hat.
I have a dress.
Next month marks the fifth year that my family and I have lost Noah.
We still don’t know why “what happened to us” happened. We just never been able to be the same people we once were.
I kept what at the time was my favorite dress although I don’t consider it my favorite anymore because this is the dress I wore the day that Noah died. The last time I was able to hold his body close to me in an embrace.
I will wear this dress to lament him and all the children lost and stolen.
The absolute pain that anyone feels about burying a loved one is made worse for people without documents when paired with the terror and uncertainty of a possible deportation that could potentially keep a person from ever seeing a loved ones grave again. I have seen professionals recommend to migrant people the option of cremation so that “if they…have to go back to their land they can take their loved one with them.”
I want to tell you about that.
Join activists, the Richmond community and faith leaders and their congregations this Sunday to grieve and mourn together.
Witness and Lament Solidarity Tisha B’av @Temple Beth-El, Richmond VA, 4–5pm
