Mourning the Notre Dame as a Person of Color

The Notre Dame, one of the world’s most visited, venerated and loved monuments, has been destroyed by fire. So many of us watched, whether on television, across our social media feeds, or, if we were so unfortunate, in person as black smoke thick as death rose from the almost millennia-old place of worship. Mere days before the globe would celebrate Resurection Sunday, we watched part of this chapel die.

Many shared their grief in photos on their feeds from previous trips (if they were lucky or privileged enough to have had the opportunity to visit) or one of the numerous photos online. Many wept. Many paid tribute to this edifice that meant so much to so many.

It is interesting to see the outpouring of grief and sadness for this place as a person of color. Yes, just as you don’t have to be a person of faith to admire the sheer beauty and detail that exists in every corner of the Notre Dame Cathedral, you don’t have to be a White person to appreciate it either. After all, centuries worth of masters adding their voices and talents to numerous works of art is enough to bring anyone into a space of awe and appreciation.

That being said, I don’t think that there is a better parallel to the lost of elements of one’s culture that People of Color have so routinely and historically have experienced as the burning of the…