Academic Accountability and Critical Hope in the Age of the Coronavirus: Grasping for words while drowning in grief
How do we continue to find the words with which to reach each other even while we are collectively drowning in grief? I found myself frequently lingering on this question over the past three months. Some of us have lost futures that we poured our souls into building, and we were more fortunate than most. Others were, and today are, risking their lives to carry our sick bodies through this virus. Many more are disproportionally exposing themselves and their families to illness and face the possibility of death by ensuring that people at home have access to groceries and necessities. Already, in the US, more people have died from COVID-19 than during World War II – a majority being people of color because of the systemic oppression and anti-blackness that is endemic in the United States, and before vaccines and medicines will be available, millions more around the world may perish.
The collective grief is overwhelming, even if not named.