The Grenfell Tower Fire Tragedy

I can’t recall the last time I cried at the theater. Yes, tears have pooled in my eyes. Sometimes they’ve threatened to spill over, but usually they don’t. They quickly evaporate. Last weekend, however, this was not the case. When I saw the names of the victims of the tragedy that is the Grenfell Tower fire, tears breached my lids, and when I saw multiple names with the same surname, salty tears poured down my cheeks as I wondered how many members of one family, one household, are gone...forever. Hurriedly, I plucked a tissue from my back pocket and scrambled to wipe the tears and their stain away. After all, I was at the theater—more precisely, St. Ann’s Warehouse in Dumbo Brooklyn—surrounded.

Grenfell Tower, Grenfell Tower, Grenfell Tower...

I came to learn about the tragedy that is Grenfell Tower through a poem—Grenfell Tower, June, 2017—by British-Nigerian poet Ben Okri. I was so moved by the poem that I immediately wanted to learn more about what happened that night.  

As I made my way to St. Ann's to see the National Theatre's production of Grenfell: in the words of survivors—a play by Gillian Slovo—I reread Ben Okri's words once again. Later, I would come to realize that in less than two months, it will be the seventh anniversary of the fire that took seventy-two lives. And my understanding from the talkback—Can Tragedy Change Policy?—that took place after the show with a panel of two survivors from the night of the fire as well as local New York City politicians and activists, no criminal justice has been served for the people of Grenfell Tower. 

What Happened, What Happened, What Happened...

For those who are not aware of the 2017 fire (like I was before I read Mr. Okri's poem), know that what started as a refrigerator fire in a flat wound up engulfing Grenfell Tower due to shoddy materials used during refurbishment of the twenty-four story building years earlier. This however is a vast over-simplification of what happened. One has to also look at a loosening of health and safety regulations. One has to look at capitalism and the never ending pursuit of corporate profits. One has to look at mismanagement and placing cost cutting over safety. And one has to look at the West London neighborhood where the tower stood/stands and the community of Grenfell residents who have their origins in the Caribbean, Portugal, Syria, Morocco, Ethiopia, Britain, and more.

Here is one short documentary; more are available online.  

   

Grenfell: in the words of survivors...

For those who want to know more about the victims, the bereaved and the survivors of this tragedy, please please head over to St Ann's and listen to first hand verbatim accounts of what it was like to live in Grenfell Tower, go through horror and trauma there, and then band together in solidarity and to hopefully promote change. 

Be warned though: Grenfell: in the words of survivors is emotional. It may move you to tears, but even if it doesn't, it will surely make you want to get up, march out of the theater, and take some sort of action...