The MCRC Project asks us to mourn the way racial categories were filled with people—to mourn that families and friendships were broken apart and ties between ancestors and descendants were severed.
Mourning does not mean being crippled by sadness. Rather, mourning is acknowledgement that this breaking apart was immoral and unjust. Mourning allows us to see the wounds and acknowledge the weight of centuries that people in each category carry around still today. When we recognize the lasting effects of the dividing, we can begin the work of healing.
The US has no language for talking about how our identities reflect the ways in which we were divided. MCRC offers that language. The US has no rituals for channeling this grief—no national monuments, no support groups, no memorial services. MCRC offers the tools to plan and carry out such rituals.
“ Deposits of unfinished grief reside in more American hearts than I ever imagined. Until these pockets are opened and their contents aired openly, they block unimagined amounts of human growth and potential.”
