Black Ribbon - Sign of Mourning

Sign of Mourning

Similar to a black armband, the black ribbon is a public display of grief. Individuals or organizations display the ribbon in commemoration of victims after specific incidents. Some examples have included:

  • 9/11 - This ribbon is a sign of mourning for those killed in the September 11th attack.
  • In New Zealand, a black ribbon was worn by family members after the deaths of 29 trapped miners who died in an explosion on November 25, 2010.
  • In Poland, a black ribbon was worn by mourners of Polish president Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and 95 other important senior officials who died on April 10, 2010.
  • In the United Kingdom after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
  • The black ribbon has again made an appearance shortly after category 5 Hurricane Katrina landed along the Gulf Coast of the United States in August 2005.
  • The black ribbon was a symbol of popular grief in Spain after the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks. It was worn on clothing and also pinned on the Spanish flag.
  • Google displayed a black ribbon as a mark of respect and sympathy for victims of 9/11, the 7 July 2005 London bombings, and victims of Hurricane Katrina.
  • After the earthquake on August 15, 2007 in Peru, black ribbons were the icons of all Peruvian television channels for 3 days
  • After the death of Heath Ledger in January 2008, Warner Brothers placed a black ribbon on their marketing website for The Dark Knight in his memory.
  • The black ribbon has been also used by the journalists in the Philippines to condemn the killings of journalists on the Maguindanao massacre.
  • In Northern Ireland, Bloody Sunday 1972 - to remember the murders and attempted murders of civilians at the peak of The Troubles.
  • Police officers often wear black ribbons in mourning of fallen officers.
  • 20 July 2012: The 12 people killed, out of the 71 shot, at the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado.
  • Turks use the black ribbon to mourn for the casualties of Turkish soldiers in the Turkey-PKK conflict.

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Famous quotes containing the words sign of, sign and/or mourning:

    “For I choose that my remembrances of him should be pleasing, affecting, religious. I will love him as a glorified friend, after the free way of friendship, and not pay him a stiff sign of respect, as men do to those whom they fear. A passage read from his discourses, a moving provocation to works like his, any act or meeting which tends to awaken a pure thought, a flow of love, an original design of virtue, I call a worthy, a true commemoration.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “If you are to reach masses of people in this world, you must do it by a sign language. Whether your vehicle be commerce, literature, or politics, you can do nothing but raise signals, and make motions to the people.”
    —John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)

    “Comfort, comfort ye my people, speak ye peace, thus saith our God;
    comfort those who sit in darkness mourning ‘neath their sorrows’ load.
    Speak ye to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them;
    tell her that her sins I cover, and her warfare now is over.”
    —Johann G. Olearius (1611–1684)