Chicago joins ‘week of mourning’ for lives lost to COVID-19

Empty chairs on display at the Ellipse near the White House earlier this week represent the 200,000 lives lost due to COVID-19. | AFP/Getty

Chicago activists will hold a vigil outside the Metropolitan Correctional Center Wednesday as part of a national week of mourning for victims of the coronavirus pandemic.

The tribute outside the federal facility is for incarcerated people who have died of COVID-19, and is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Event organizers will play music by Chicago artist Ric Wilson and political speeches by Chicago activists as demonstrators mourn and stand in solidarity with prisoners.

The speeches also will be printed in a self-published magazine. Organizers say the magazine will be distributed to MCC inmates and other incarcerated people.

Participants in the national week of mourning are also encouraged to observe it by using pre-curated graphics from the “#WeGrieveTogether” campaign or by creating their own artwork to be used for signs, shrines and collages. Reaching all parts of the city, more than 20 banners are expected to be hung this week by lead organizers. To maintain COVID-19 precautions, individual participants can set up memorials in their homes or organize socially distanced memorials outside with their friends and neighbors.

Today begins the #NationalWeekOfMourning for those we've lost to #COVID19. I'm so grateful to @MsKellyMHayes for including my words in the COVID Memorial Mixtape, as well as leading the crucial effort to create spaces of grieving here in #Chicago. #WeGrieveTogether pic.twitter.com/i7Pk0fUbiS

— Benji Hart (@radfagg) October 4, 2020

Other events during the week of mourning included 20,000 empty chairs lined up on the Ellipse, a large lawn near the White House. Each chair represented 10 lives lost to the coronavirus.

Members of the #WeGrieveTogether effort also have worked in conjunction with the Mutual Aid Mourning & Healing project to connect families with counseling and grief services during the pandemic.

Participants are welcome to share their memorials to the groups’ Facebook page or anywhere on social media using the hashtag #WeGrieveTogether.

Artwork curated by Lifted Voices and Love & Protect for their week of collective mourning of Covid-19 victims.

Don’t forget to join in Oct. 4-11 as we honor those we have lost to COVID-19. Our collective grief is being suppressed and we must reclaim it. Let’s fight the further normalization of mass death together with art and music. #WeGrieveTogether Event page: https://t.co/FZ4fHLpebc pic.twitter.com/39Tf6DbF1R

— Puff the Magic Hater (@MsKellyMHayes) October 2, 2020