Let The Family Grieve: A Call For Compassion In The Wake Of Adrianna Younge’s Death – Part 1

By Pastor Stanton Adams

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. June 10, 2025: In moments when grief echoes through a nation, we are confronted not only by loss but by the full weight of our shared humanity. The tragic and still-unresolved death of young Adrianna Younge has left Guyana, both within its borders and across its global diaspora, suspended in sorrow, trembling in confusion, and aching for clarity. Her life, brief yet luminous, has ignited a collective cry for truth. But beneath the thunder of questions and the storm of opinions, there lies a quieter and more sacred appeal. Let the family grieve.

Adrianna Younge, the the 11-year-old Guyanese girl whose death sparked national protests, was honored posthumously by the U.S. Congress on June 1, 2025, in Brooklyn, NY.

Grief, when allowed its natural course, performs a sacred function. It gives love the language it needs when words fall short. It helps the soul steady itself after being struck by the unbearable. And it prepares the wounded heart to eventually live again, not in denial of the loss, but in honor of the one who is gone. This process does not obey timetables, nor does it conform to the expectations of distant observers. When some voices suggest that friends should simply move on or imply that the family seeks to benefit from Adrianna’s passing, such statements are not merely heartless. They are culturally ignorant and psychologically reckless.

In Guyanese culture, mourning is woven into the social and spiritual fabric of community life. Grief here is not hidden. It is sung out loud, wept in the open, shared in prayer, remembered through story. It flows through vigils, echoes in hymns, and finds expression in the quiet presence of neighbors bearing warm food and tender silence. Funerals are not events to be checked off, but sacred acts of remembrance and resistance. They declare that the life lost still matters. In this cultural context, grief is not rushed. It is not polite. It is not clean. It is communal. And to demand that this process be abbreviated or subdued is to dishonor a legacy of generational resilience and spiritual dignity.

The grief that Adrianna’s loved ones are experiencing falls well within the boundaries of what scholars understand as ordinary or constructive grief. According to leading researchers such as Dr George Bonanno and Dr Katherine Shear, the death of a child ranks among the two most devastating losses, the other being the death of a spouse. The mourning that follows such a loss often stretches from twelve to twenty-four months, not because of dysfunction, but because of love. Constructive grief is marked by intense emotion, but also by the ability to find connection, memory, ritual, and meaning over time.

Pathological grief, or what is now clinically referred to as Prolonged Grief Disorder, is a different matter. Dr Holly Prigerson, a renowned researcher in the field, defines it as a persistent, pervasive grief response marked by an inability to adapt to the loss, typically lasting beyond a year and accompanied by intense longing, emotional numbness, and functional impairment. Such grief becomes a clinical concern only when the mourner remains trapped in a state of immobilizing despair. There is no evidence that Adrianna’s family or friends are experiencing this. They are responding in the way any loving, healthy family would, aching, remembering, holding on, and gradually learning to let go, all while walking through the valley of shadows with trembling faith.

What deepens the wound is the trauma wrapped around this tragedy. The conflicting autopsy reports, one suggesting drowning, another hinting at potential criminal wrongdoing, have stirred public outrage and ignited a firestorm of speculation. The political climate, already charged by looming national elections, has only intensified the glare. In this emotionally combustible environment, it is more important than ever that we temper our tone. Let us not weaponize grief. Let us not mistake pain for publicity. Let us not turn a family’s mourning into public sport.

Healing, both personal and national, demands sacred space. It demands room for silence and ritual, time for tears, freedom for questions. It calls for less noise and more presence. Justice must be pursued with integrity, not incited by theatrics. Accountability must be demanded without stripping away the dignity of the bereaved.

Therapeutically, those who care must become quiet companions. They must learn to say less and support more. They must allow the family to feel what they feel, to move at the speed of sorrow, not the rhythm of opinion. Pastorally, this is the hour to minister through stillness, to create spaces where mourning is neither corrected nor interrupted, but held with reverence. The nation needs answers, yes, but the family needs space. These needs are not in conflict. They are both necessary and holy.

Adrianna Younge’s death is not a footnote in a news cycle. It is a profound and personal devastation. Though it stirs the heart of a nation, it belongs first to those who knew her laugh, felt her hugs, and dreamed her future. Their grief is not for public permission. Their silence is not weakness. Their sorrow is not failure. It is sacred.

Let the darn family grieve. Let them remember. Let them breathe.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Pastor Stanton Adams serves as the Family Ministries Director for the South Leeward Conference. With more than thirty-six years of pastoral ministry, he brings a blend of seasoned experience and gentle wisdom to those navigating life’s most painful passages. He is currently pursuing a PhD in grief and trauma psychology, exploring the deep intersections of culture, faith, and bereavement in Caribbean communities. Pastor Adams is dedicated to elevating the voices of the grieving with empathy, clarity, and spiritual depth that both comforts and convicts.