8 MAY 6, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
An emotional COVID Remembrance Day
BY DEAN MOSES
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
A borough wept. A borough
healed.
Over 7,000 Queens residents
have perished to COVID-19, and on
May 1, a fraction of those lost were
represented within a cultural center
they will never enjoy again.
The Forest Park Bandshell was
constructed with human life in mind,
an artistic focal point from where
spectators assemble in benches and
marvel at the talents of others. But
during the Queens COVID Remembrance
Day (QCRD) on Saturday, these
benches were void of the life they were
built for, instead serving to facilitate
a makeshift funeral service many
were deprived of during the height of
pandemic. The center row of chairs
stretched into the bandshell’s wide
berth, each one harboring a painting
representing an absent life. Grieving
family members sat on the outskirts.
This moralization of the dead and
celebration of lives led was organized
by the QCRD committee and intended
to aid in the ongoing healing process.
With countless people unable to say
goodbye to their loved ones due to
hospital restrictions and protocols,
the aft ernoon functioned as a way for
families to both grieve together and
heal together.
The opening ceremony was ticketed
Queens residents mourned the loss of loved ones during a memorial
service at the Forest Park Bandshell, commemorating over 7,000
individuals who perished from COVID-19. Photos by Dean Moses
and exclusively intended for the deceased’s
kin. Attendees arrived just
before 1 p.m., bringing bouquets of
flowers and framed photographs.
Some held each other’s hands, others
gripped one another’s shoulders, but
all carried with them an unspoken
understanding that the day would be
an emotionally taxing one. As the fi rst
speaker and co-organizer Brian Walter
took to the stage and spoke about
his own loss, it ushered in a wave of
grief, and a deluge of tears.
“A year ago today marked the halfway
point in my father’s fi ght against
COVID. I took him to the hospital on
April 22, and the monster would take
him from us on May 10. Our COVID
story is like many of yours: Zoom calls,
roller-coaster rides of updates from
doctors, and the constant unknown
of what was coming next, and in the
end a heartbreaking loss of a life that
should never have been taken,” Walter
told onlookers.
Walter was fl anked on stage by fellow
committee members and elected
officials such as Queens Borough
President Donovan Richards, Senator
Joe Addabbo, Congresswoman Grace
Meng and Assemblywoman Jenifer
Rajkumar. Draped behind them hung
a curtain of yellow hearts inscribed
with more names of those lost to the
deadly virus. Before their speeches,
speakers stood in solemn refl ection
of the names, each mother, daughter,
son, father, sister and brother lost to
time and memory. With a drape of
bereavement behind him and a sea of
sorrow ahead of him, it was clear this
monumental loss aff ected the way in
which Donovan Richards addressed
attendees.
“I am deeply sorry to hear of each
and every one of your losses due to
the COVID-19 pandemic. That is why
we are here to mourn, to refl ect, to
remember, to offer comfort,” Richards
began with 30 seconds of silence.
Citing racial and gender disparities,
Richards continued: “We lost far too
many due to these inequities which
plague our systems and institutions.
These deaths were preventable. Those
deaths were systematic failures, not
the science or the challenges of the
crisis alone — we were not prepared,”
Richards said.
Once the opening ceremony concluded,
family members carried the
weight of their losses to the seats
holding the depictions of their loved
ones where they paid their respects by
laying fl owers and sitting beside the
hand-drawn illustrations. But this act
proved too much for many. Attendees
broke down, shedding tears, clasping
fellow survivors in agony.
The Queens COVID Remembrance
Day lasted until 8 p.m. and fi nished
with a sunset vigil.
2022
NOMINATE NOW!
NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITES AT
BESTOF.QNS.COM
CALL 718-260-2554 WITH ANY QUESTIONS
/BESTOF.QNS.COM
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
