The crowd was not large, but still you felt a certain solemness in air Sunday afternoon around the bandshell within Washington Park on Milwaukee’s west side.
The occasion was a citywide COVID-19 vigil.
Interfaith organizers, led by the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, set out to evoke faith and hope.
As musicians warmed up on stage and mics were checked, Gabrielle Etes was setting up bins of soft-colored filmy cloth. Attendees were invited to choose a color and tie it to one of a series of ropes strung between posts
“You choose one of these and you tie them up — it’s just to show how the community felt throughout COVID; if they’re like they’re recovering from financial loss or mental health [issues], seeing who lost from COVID and if you’re hopeful for the future,” she explained.
Etes would choose two colors to express her feelings. “Yellow because I’m hopeful for the future and the blue one because I’ve had many friends struggled with mental health throughout COVID,” she shared.
The college student said she’s struggled too. “It was very rough. I felt like my college experience was robbed. It was my sophomore year when COVID hit and so it took out big milestones in college career,” she said.
Yet Etes said she feels lucky, her family is healthy and she’s looking forward to her senior year at UW-Eau Claire.
Throughout the afternoon, musicians, poets and faith leaders took to the stage, sharing moments of reflection, including Pardeep Singh Kaleka, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee.
“I’m a firm believer that God doesn’t call upon us and do bad upon us,” he said.
A decade ago, his father, Sikh Temple of Wisconsin founder Satwant Singh Kaleka, was killed by a white supremacist.
“But I do believe that when bad does happen, that it’s upon all of us internally to will something much more compassionate go forward. Today we need more compassionate health care systems, we need more accessibility for everyone of all over the world and we need to care about one another because the pandemic has taught us, we are all in this together,” Kaleka said.
Lesley Graham’s voice rang out with fellow Blessed Deliverance Choir members.
Graham said as she sang, her thoughts were with a dear friend and coworker who died from COVID. “I’m thinking not just [about] her but everyone I know who’s been affected that has lost somebody with COVID — citywide and statewide and across the United States. I think this is a wonderful event to have. It’s impactful and people need to be aware of what is happening and what happened and what happens if you’re not vaccinated.” Graham continued, “And what can happen to someone, even if you’re not sick you can still infect someone else.”
Throughout the vigil, children enjoyed ice cream and helped color in a mural featuring hands joining — one black, the other beige — and the words love and hope.
Under the shade of a tent, health care workers were on hand distributing home COVID tests and hand sanitizer. Others were providing shots and boosters.
One worker reported a steady trickle of people queued up for that option.