{"id":58689,"date":"2018-06-07T17:19:49","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T17:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/06\/07\/war-widow-stop-using-my-husbands-photo-for-political-memes\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:17:10","slug":"war-widow-stop-using-my-husbands-photo-for-political-memes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/06\/07\/war-widow-stop-using-my-husbands-photo-for-political-memes\/","title":{"rendered":"War widow: Stop using my husband\u2019s photo for political memes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the politicized side of social media continues to fester through society, war widow Seana Arrechaga has one request: please stop turning a photo of her and her dead husband into a political meme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or at least stop sharing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 29-year-old lost her husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class Ofren Arrechaga<\/a>, in 2011, when he was killed in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journalists<\/a> later photographed her seeing her husband\u2019s body for the first time after he returned to Fort Campbell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the Nashville woman said she has been fighting a constant battle to stop faceless Facebook<\/a> pages from using the image for their own political ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re being used for likes and shares,\u201d she said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The photo has most recently emerged as a meme in the seemingly ceaseless debate about whether NFL players should take a knee during the national anthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seana touches her dead husband\u2019s uniformed hand in the image, which she said was taken when she first saw him after his return to the states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo all the overpaid players in the NFL: Put on this uniform, then you might understand why we stand,\u201d the meme crows. \u201cCan this hero get a RIP and a share?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t even take the time to learn his name and are using him to push political opinions,\u201d she said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t even matter if my belief aligns with that. It\u2019s inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrechaga said she\u2019s had to get used to seeing the photo of her and her late husband turned into a meme that goes viral once a year or so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it has definitely gotten much worse and more often since the whole national anthem thing,\u201d she said this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrechaga said it happens to other war widows as well. Photographs from a very painful and personal moment that were shared with the public are used for political ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Army Sgt. 1st Class Ofren Arrechaga was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. A photo of his wife meeting his remains in the states has since been turned into political memes. “We’re being used for likes and shares,” Seana Arrechaga said of the memes. (Photo courtesy Seana Arrechaga).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people forget that not only was my husband a real person, but he leaves behind real people,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s in a casket.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their son is now 10, and Arrechaga wonders whether the boy will find the memes of his fallen father when he enters the social media world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be able to see these things and I\u2019m going to have to explain all of it, why is his dad a meme,\u201d she said. \u201cI think people forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said she has called out several conservative taking heads, including Dinesh D\u2019Souza<\/a>, for sharing the meme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a lot of people telling me my opinions are wrong, when I\u2019m staring at a picture of me and my deceased husband in a casket,\u201d Arrechaga said. \u201cWhat a world we live in, with all our keyboard warriors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, Arrechaga has gotten used to the trolling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI get called a \u2018libtard,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t even know anything about my thoughts on the actual matter, I\u2019m just telling you to stop using this photo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While politics among Gold Star families inevitably differ, Arrechaga said they have been united in their opposition to such photos being used for political ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t stop them from creating memes, but we don\u2019t have to share it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrechaga said her friends tag her in posts that use the meme. Some pages accommodate her requests to take the images down, others don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pointed out instances where the photo is used to hawk patriotic t-shirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how to contact big Facebook and say this is a problem and you need to fix it,\u201d she said. \u201cI also don\u2019t know if anyone would care. They\u2019re all making their money.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sgt. 1st Class Arrechaga was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. as a teenager, his wife said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He deployed to Iraq three times and became a U.S. citizen during a ceremony at one of Saddam Hussein\u2019s former palaces, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arrechaga said she is not sure the memes will ever end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause of the world we live in, I don\u2019t think this will ever stop,\u201d she said. \u201cAt some point I\u2019m just going to have to let it go and be okay with it, but I don\u2019t know how I\u2019ll be okay with it. That\u2019s my husband, the father of my child.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just so gross.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Same meme, four different pages. Two refuse to remove it. I'm still waiting to hear from the other two.

Shit like this is why I am so annoyed all the time.

Your "patriotism" shouldn't involve exploiting our fallen. pic.twitter.com\/mW5CyG0VPp<\/a><\/p>— Seana (@SeanaArrechaga) June 5, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote>