When I went downstairs I cried for the children that would wake up tomorrow and remember that their mother had been killed.
Almost everyone I know was pure disbelief that this could happen to someone just doing their job, and it highlighted how vulnerable we really are.
People who were close to Jo Cox are determined that her legacy focus on her beliefs, determination and humanity.
Nick Martlew is organising a great Get Together in Wakefield, below he tells us what it means to him to be part of making Jo’s death a celebration of her work and hopes for the future.
You know how it is, trying to get something organised: emails flying, to-do lists stretching out, excitement mixed with apprehension.
That’s what it was like at the beginning of the week as I worked with family and friends to organise a Great Get Together on Heath Common.
Then it came to a halt.
The horror of what happened at Manchester Arena doesn’t bear describing. Too many broken hearts have stories not yet ready to be told.
The public response, though, was extraordinary.
Time and time again it filled my heart to the brim: one stupid act of destruction met by wave after wave of… – let’s call it love.
Off-duty medics and taxi drivers rushing towards the carnage so they can help. Strangers banding together in the search for lost children.
“Choose love, Manchester” said the poet, Tony Walsh. “Don’t look back in anger”, sang the crowd after the two-minute silence.
Nearly a year ago, another tragedy brought the country to a halt. Jo Cox was killed while doing her job – listening to the worries of her constituents and setting about helping them.
I was lucky enough – so, so lucky to know Jo. I worked with her at Oxfam and then when she was an MP, brought together by our work and by our (very) proud Yorkshire roots.
When Jo first became an MP, I went to see her to talk about Syria – that’s my day job, trying to compel the powerful around the world to protect the powerless in places like Aleppo.
She cooked up a bunch of ideas for how to get make real, tangible differences for people living through hell in Syria. There was a buzz whenever you spoke with Jo.
“Let’s do it!” she said. And because of Jo’s amazing spirit combined with her smarts, people who had been denied food and medical aid finally got help, sometimes for the first time in years. She was that kind of woman.
We were robbed of a friend, a mother, a wife, a force of nature.
But how did the country respond? Flowers stacked up in Batley, Jo’s constituency.
People sought consolation and inspiration in Jo’s words: “We have more in common than that which divides us.” Thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square making a commitment to each other: love like Jo.
Love like Jo. In the face of tragedy, we come together. We put the petty politics aside and see what we have in common. As Brendan Cox said after the Manchester attack, Jo’s voice “has been strengthened, not silenced.”
And that’s why I’m helping organise one of the thousands of Great Get Togethers that are taking place around the country: to show that, for all the efforts to divide us, we would much rather celebrate all that we have in common with a good party, thank you very much.
So, what’s going on? From 1pm on 17th June, bring a picnic or enjoy the barbecue at Heath Common along with music all afternoon. There’ll be plenty of stuff for the kids, too, like a bouncy castle and a fire engine.
You can also join the Walk for the Jo Cox Foundation: there’s a 5km version and, if you’re up for a challenge, join the 35km version. Both of them finish back at The Great Get Together.
It will be a fun day and a proud day to spend in the Yorkshire air. As Jo would say, “let’s do it!”
For more information, check out our Facebook page here or email us on MoreinHeathCommon@gmail.com.
