Bearing Witness Even in Death

Coastal beaches in Bay St. Louis, MS. Photo: Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images

Acclaimed novelist Jesmyn Ward surprised the nation with a beautifully sad essay in the September issue of Vanity Fair. She wrote that her husband died in midwinter from a respiratory illness before Covid-19 was officially named in the States. He was 33. Their entire family caught the virus. As Ward worked through her grief, she witnessed Covid-19 and the uprising.

I cried in wonder each time I saw protest…