Navigating Collective Grief: Honoring Humanity Amidst Tragedy

Bold Ventures recognizes the importance of being in community and collective action in justice and equity work. While individuals may respond independently to tragedy and loss, there exists a profound interconnectedness in shared mourning. To grieve is a testament to one’s vitality, an act that honors not only one’s humanity but also that of others.

As practitioners dedicated to racial justice, we possess a keen awareness of the root causes of harm. We immerse ourselves in the complexities of these factors and actively engage in transformative efforts to dismantle them. Presently, we bear witness to overwhelming tragedy, desperation, and the loss of lives and homes. It may seem as if we have little control, and our endeavors may appear inconsequential to the overall outcome. Yet, as Crystal, a valued member of our team, aptly expressed, “we are not grieving in service of productivity.” Indeed, many within BIPOC communities embrace collective grief, both in concept and practice, encouraging us to embody it, see it as an act of resistance, and as a way to foster connections while caring for one another.

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Despite this, we navigate within systems that both instigate and dismiss grief. It is not always evident how to acknowledge or express our grief rather than simply pushing through it or avoiding it altogether. We find ourselves existing within the dichotomies of experiencing grief while being productive, being human while risking the perception of weakness, and balancing the wisdom of listening to our bodies against the conditioning to confront everything at once.

Grief manifests uniquely for each individual and unfolds in its own time. Some may choose to actively process, while others may opt to disengage. Nevertheless, there is power in the deliberate choice to sit with one’s grief, to share spaces with others for the explicit purpose of acknowledging and honoring the weight of global traumas. Engaging with collective grief, both as a practice and a form of resistance, is a conscious decision. It involves intentionally carving out time, creating space, and fostering a sense of community to unlearn societal expectations about how we “should” respond and feel, and to forge connections in both grief and the shared joy of doing so collectively.