The Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., built to honor the 58,000 Americans killed in that war (Getty Images)by Thomas NeuburgerIt's appropriate to remember, as the end of May approaches, the nation's honored dead. It's also appropriate to remember its forgotten dead, those whose sacrifices are and will be ignored. The number of Americans killed in-theater in Vietnam was more than 58,000, and we, to honor them, erected the moving memorial shown above in the heart of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The number of Americans killed in World War I passed 116,000. The U.S. has done a just-adequate job of memorializing the dead in that war, but still, memorials exist. In Washington, D.C., there's this modest affair, here being advertised as a place to get married. A more striking WWI monument is soon to come to Washington, though true to these neoliberal times, it will be built entirely with private money, and the "Founding Sponsor" is a foundation established by the Pritzkers, a troubling Chicago real estate family whose members were major financiers of Barack Obama's political career. (The Chicago Sun Times recently noted that "there would not have been an Obama presidency if not for Penny Pritzker’s fundraising abilities. ... The money she raised for his first quarter report was an impressive enough haul to make Obama a viable [2008] presidential candidate.")The Pritzkers didn't get naming rights for the memorial, at least not yet, but I'm sure their branding will be easy to spot — a tasteful sign, something like "Brought to you by the Pritzkers, because we're the billionaires who care." The number of Americans killed by Covid-19 will reach 100,000 by the time the May dead are counted. And at 1,500 deaths per day — our average these days — Covid-19 deaths will surpass WWI deaths by the the end of the following week.What will the nation's Covid-19 Memorial look like when it finally gets built? Like this perhaps?How many will have died to make Wall Street great again? As one longtime investment banker put it, "'people with no stake in the economy' are talking about keeping it closed." Shame on them. So maybe this memorial is appropriate. It's not quite a golden calf, but close enough. Perhaps an inscription, "To the unknown Uber driver" could be etched on its side, a stand-in for the 100,000 (and counting) who gave their lives so the billionaire economy could live.
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