At St. Ann’s Warehouse, the Devastating ‘Grenfell: In the Words of Survivors’ Urges Close Attention

Powerful, yes—but can Americans relate, will they want to give a care when we have our own problems, what does Grenfell have to do with us? Was it even covered in the American media at the time? Although nowhere near as much as it was in London’s news outlets, over the years there have been upwards of about 30 stories in The New York Times, appearing in its European sections.

But Grenfell commands our attention because it is as much an American story as it is a British tragedy. What happened at Grenfell, we learn when we see the play, is that our American greed caused these deaths as much as did Britain’s often poisonous, pridefully byzantine bureaucracy, in which organizational systems are often held higher in priority than human need and logic. Plus, the sins of Anglo-American systemic racism, the conundrum of international CEOs and their elected darlings championing deregulation, and last and perhaps most saddening the blind trust of people putting their faith in the rich and/or elected. At the end of that fateful night and day, Grenfell combusted because it was filled with American-made products that were not fire-proof nor fire-resistant. The London Fire Brigade did everything it could prior to the Grenfell fire to ban these products, but deregulation efforts by British elected officials trumped their efforts.

Although the materials made and distributed by two American businesses, Arconic, formerly Alcoa, and Whirlpool, are not allowed in the US, “such regulatory gaps expose how multinational corporations can take advantage of the vulnerabilities in government oversight,” The New York Times reported in 2017. “The two American manufacturers involved, Arconic and Whirlpool, are widely expected to be central players in litigation over the fire.” The cases against these firms are still pending.

I hesitate to recap the plot. I hope you will see Grenfell and be astounded as I was as the storytelling unfolds in one factual account after another. I went to bed last night, after attending the opening—it was, appropriately, very low-key, with no red carpet—expecting to dream about a fire that would cost me my two favorite possessions, my life and my home. I did not. Instead, I went to sleep and rose today reflecting on the crimes of neglect. Neglect on the personal level, the societal level, the governmental level. How CEOs and elected officials neglected decency to compromise the health and safety of the people living in Grenfell. When authorities told those people—as was their policy—to not flee in case of fire, but to stay put until they could be rescued by firefighters, they obeyed. They trusted. They counted on the people of privilege in charge of their wellbeing. But the people of privilege aren’t always who they used to be; smitten by greed, manny have lost their way.