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Mother Of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison Dies From COVID-19

Mother Of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison Dies From COVID-19

COVID-19
Minnesota Attorney General (AG) Keith Ellison lost his mother, Clida Ellison, to complications from the COVID-19 coronavirus. In this Dec. 2, 2016, file photo, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., listens during a forum on the future of the Democratic Party, in Denver. Ellison, the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee and first Muslim elected to Congress, won his party’s nomination Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018, for Minnesota attorney general in a race clouded in the final days by an ex-girlfriend’s allegation of domestic abuse. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

The COVID-19 coronavirus casualties are still rising, particularly in the Black community. Minnesota Attorney General (AG) Keith Ellison lost his mother, Clida Ellison, to complications from the disease, the Star Tribune reported.

Clida, who was 82, died on March 26. Her grandson and AG Ellison’s son, Jeremiah Ellison, recounted the pain of her sudden death in an op-ed in the New York Times (NYT) on Wednesday.

“Last week, I learned that Nana had tested positive for the coronavirus, and knowing that makes me angrier — as though she didn’t truly pass but was snatched from us,” Jeremiah wrote.

He noted how healthy and “indestructible” his grandmother seemed and recounted the tragedy shared by so many others who COVID-19 has taken – the inability to give his grandmother the packed celebration of life she deserved.

“Nana was so beloved. She could have easily packed Gesu Catholic Church under normal circumstances. Instead, we sat in the James H. Cole Funeral Home, a beautiful little spot near the Motown Museum, but not where I would have imagined having her funeral. All in attendance sat six feet apart and in every other row; nearly everyone wore a face mask. Funerals have, all of a sudden, become tricky — dangerous even,” Jeremiah wrote.

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AG Ellison has not spoken at length about his mother’s passing as Jeremiah is the designated family spokesman regarding the matter. He used the moment to both memorialize his matriarch and call attention to the historic injustices and inequities that caused Black people to be more vulnerable to the disease.

“During every crisis, well-meaning white people here make a ritual of acknowledging the city’s steep inequities, but we’ve been hearing the same “woe is you” sentiment for a long time. It’s as if people think the mere acknowledgment is the work,” Jeremiah wrote. “But as North Minneapolis prepares to brace ourselves for the grim future Detroit and Milwaukee have shown us, the death tolls suggest that acknowledgments don’t mean a thing. I want to take us back to this notion of remedy.”

The family remembered Clida in an online obituary as “the bedrock of her family.” They said the Louisiana native who was “proud of her Creole roots.” A mother of five sons, Clida served young people in the juvenile detention system for years, according to the obit.

Jeremiah said he’d continue doing as his grandmother told him in their last conversation.

“’I’m proud of you, kid. Keep doing great work,’” Jeremiah said Clida told him. “It’s a simple instruction. And no matter how futile the work can feel, I’m not going to let those words leave my mind.”

The family asked donations be sent to The Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) in lieu of flowers.

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