On the eve of his inauguration, and just hours after the United States reached the dark milestone of more than 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, President-elect Joe Biden met in front of the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool on Tuesday.
As the sun went down in DC and gospel singer Yolanda Adams sang “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen, 400 lanterns were lit at a time broadcast on televisions across the country to remind those Americans lost in the coronavirus pandemic. In nearby Washington National Cathedral, and in churches across the country, bells rang in memory of the dead.
“To heal, we must 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, ”said Biden. “Between sunset and dusk, let us shine the lights in the darkness along this sacred pool of reflection and remember all that we have lost.”
Tuesday’s ceremony was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that the executive branch of the United States government – although the input Executive power – stopped for a national moment of mourning. It signaled not only the arrival of a new government, but a new chance for the nation to collectively recognize the tribute the virus caused in every corner of the country.
“For many months, we have suffered for ourselves,” said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in comments. “Tonight, we suffer – and we begin to heal – together.”
But that cure is complicated for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have lost loved ones. While Tuesday night’s memorial was the first step towards national recognition of how much was lost, and Biden’s empathy can be a comfort, for some of the people who are struggling there are deep questions of how they should behave. recover and what responsibility the federal government should have.
Chioma Oruh, 40, whose father died of COVID-19 in a nursing home in May, said he liked the idea of the memorial, but it didn’t help much because of the unresolved anger and pain she feels over her father’s death.
“You want to feel good and be in community, celebrate, regret and collaborate,” said Oruh. “At the same time, this happens when a government creates mechanisms by which accountability can take place. I don’t think we’ve reached that point where that responsibility happens. “
Biden will begin his term on Wednesday with several national crises to contend with. For months, he made it clear that dealing with the pandemic is one of his priorities on the first day, and the decision to hold a memorial service, even a brief one, to acknowledge those who died emphasizes the task he faces in trying to change the situation. trajectory of COVID-19 in the USA. His own chief of staff estimates that another 100,000 Americans will die in the next month from the virus.
Biden summoned a COVID-19 task force shortly after winning the election to start talking to governors, medical experts and others. Last week, he announced a $ 1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan. His proposal is focused on resources for testing, vaccines and economic recovery in the future. But his plan does not include measures that Oruh wants to specifically help families that have lost a loved one through negligence or to investigate any of the deaths that have already happened.
A ceremony like Wednesday’s cannot really begin to help it heal, Oruh said, unless there is compensation for those who lost loved ones for the way the pandemic was mistreated by authorities and private companies, like some nursing homes. “I can’t sue the nursing home for reporting my dad to COVID,” she said.
“In other spaces, you would have a truth and reconciliation commission, some kind of audience. People talk about repairs, ”said Oruh. “These things are not outside the democratic process, they are what make democracy the best system … COVID is no exception to this rule.”
But the importance of the new president recognizing the pain that hit so many Americans during the pandemic did not go unnoticed by Micki McElya, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut and author of The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery.
“So many people – in fact since the early days of the pandemic – have looked at this tradition of the bereaved chief, the emotional record and leadership established by the president, or could be or we must be established by the president, ”said McElya. But Americans, she said, did not find that in Donald Trump.
Grief has been a milestone in Biden’s life and career. He was sworn in as a senator in January 1973, just weeks after his wife Neilia and daughter Naomi died in a car accident. He was 30 years old. Her son Beau, who survived that crisis as a child, had an upward career in Democratic politics. He died in 2015 at the age of 46 from brain cancer.
“I think that with Biden, those profound associations with his own personal tragedy and loss and the fact that they have always been deeply public, have been publicly enacted. I think it gives him an air of authenticity and sincerity in a role that people in the past have always sought and sought during the pandemic, ”said McElya.
Speaking about Beau on Tuesday, during his farewell from his home state, Delaware, where he has lived since the pandemic began, Biden was clearly moved. “I only have one regret: He is not here. Because we must introduce you as president, ”he said.
For decades, Biden has forged loyalty to people – from voters at campaign events to political friends and influential allies – through his ability to empathize and console, especially in times of mourning. When traveling around the country on the trail of the pre-pandemic campaign, he often found people who had lost someone and comforted them. Others would come to his events after meeting him decades ago, during a period of mourning in their lives, and would remember his kindness.
His recognition of the losses Americans suffered last year is a significant departure from his predecessor’s approach to the pandemic. Fearing political repercussions at every step, Trump downplayed the seriousness of the crisis and denied the US death toll, even exceeding 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 that COVID-19 brought to the United States under his administration. Instead, he praised his administration’s response to vaccines.
However, he came close to recognizing the toll at one point in his speech. “We regret every lost life,” he said, “and we swear in your memory to eliminate this horrible pandemic once and for all.”
But the leader who is leaving office never gave any idea of the extent of that loss – how many Americans died in the last year of his presidency.
If the United States really wants to begin to heal itself from the evils of the pandemic, McElya said, there must be many other moments like the Biden ceremony on Tuesday night. In addition, more responsibility.
“If something close to the unit is to be achieved, sober and insightful coping with the damage done and everything we have lost is necessary,” said McElya. “What this event also symbolizes and what it can achieve is not only to honor them, but to recognize the reason why they left.”