Neglected recordkeeping of Black graves functions as erasure of lives
Evidence
These were enslaved people and their descendants, so to me this was another example of the devaluing of Black life. The neglect of recordkeeping and recording was an erasure of their lives as if they did not exist. Denise was doing the necessary work of beginning to repair the harms caused by enslavement to these families. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 526
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- ADDENDUM: Extends the ‘Sacrifice’ essay’s cemetery theme: here the specific mechanism is archival/governance neglect rather than deliberate ritual — a modern structural parallel to post-mortem erasure.