Each of these COVID victims had someone who knew them and loved them.  Each of these people were important to others and before this deadly virus, would have conceivably lived a longer life.  Every family knows someone personally who died because of COVID and I believe as a nation, we are grieving their loss whether we are conscious of this collective grief or not.  It is fitting that President Biden ordered the nation’s flags, from May 12 to May 16, to be lowered in respect for lives lost.  President Biden reminded us, “As a Nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow.  To heal, we must remember…”

If I could ask for the flag to continue to stay lowered, I would ask on behalf of Gaddi Ben Dan who died last week at 76.  I’d ask because there are so few wise men left on the earth and he was a tall, caring, justice loving man who lived, marched, and worked for the Black community in the Midwest.  No one could ever meet Gaddi and forget him.  He was a mountain of a man in height and in statue.  He walked in the confident power and swag of a Black man who owned the life he lived with dignity and strength.  Greeting people with a smile and a “hello sister, hello brother,” made you smile in return and ask “How is Betty?  How is Allen?  How are you?”   He met Betty Banks in 1984 and they started a newspaper together.  They also brought national concerts to Madison, and they were life-long activists together.  Banks has a long family history in Wisconsin of community minded people since she is the descendent of one of the first Black families in Madison.

Gaddi in Madison, placed you in the presence of a man who marched with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s.  He wasn’t just an activist, he was also a journalist who founded community newspapers.  He might be best known for his work as co-creator with Banks of a youth-centered TV show called “Club TNT” which airs every Saturday on TVW, a subchannel with Channel 3000. “Club TNT” focuses on helping youth make good decisions, decisions that Gaddi made every day of his life as a role model for African Americans.  One of the last conversations we had we met at a community event, was a discussion about my African mud cloth cap I was wearing.  He admired it and we spent a few minutes discussing how wearing African fabric re-enforced our mutual pride in our African origins.  We then went on to discuss issues in our community.  My sincere sympathy to Betty Banks and her family for the loss of such a gallant warrior, Gaddi Ben Dan.

The United States flag will be flying at half-mast  on May 16 in New York, at the request of the Governor, to honor the senseless death of 10 people at the predominantly Black supermarket in Buffalo.  The flags will remain lowered until all of the victims are laid to rest.  The mass shooter is only 18 but stated he “is a fascist, white supremacist and anti-Semitic.”  He live-streamed shooting his victims.  His actions doesn’t mean that he will be found guilty or go to prison.  Kyle Rittenhouse, another 18 year old White man, fatally shot two in Kenosha, Wisconsin when he was 17 and similarly travelled away from home with loaded weaponry to kill.  He was freed with a verdict of self-defense.  There is so much mass death and so much to mourn in the U.S.  I hope that healing can begin for each of us.