Mollie Tibbetts’ death was a terrible tragedy, but due to the nature of her murder her family has been forced to deal with its politicization. Politicization of tragedy is not new or unique and is sometimes used to affect great political change. The death of Tibbetts is not one of those situations. Her death was not the result of lax regulations, but rather rampant misogyny in America. Nonetheless, it is being used to fuel anti-immigration rhetoric.

The politicization of tragedy has been an important strategy for leftists in America. The death of the Gilded Age and laissez-faire economics in the United States began with the greatest workplace disaster of the 20th century: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. The fire resulted in the death of dozens of young women around the same age as Tibbetts; but, unlike her, these women died due to clear and changeable flaws in our legal system. The lack of fire escapes, the fact that the doors to the factory floor opened inward as opposed to outward and the lack of basic fire safety equipment and training were all obvious causes of these women’s deaths when the fire broke out. This tragedy kicked off a massive shift in business and government. As a result, regulations began to reign in what businesses could do and forced them to treat their workers better.

A more modern equivalent would be students, like the activists from Parkland, Florida, who are demanding changes to our nation’s gun laws. There are multiple possible causes of America’s problem with mass shooters, especially in our schools. These tragedies have become politicized because the people who were and are affected by America’s gun laws want to politicize it. Friends and family of victims and the victims themselves are out protesting and demanding change to prevent that kind of tragedy from ever happening again.

Compare that to the hell the Tibbetts family has been dragged through from outside sources. Robert Tibbetts, Mollie’s father, has published an op-ed demanding that Republicans stop using his daughter’s murder as an excuse to push racist legislation and many other family members have taken to Twitter to express that this politicization is not what Mollie would have wanted. “They have instead chosen to callously distort and corrupt Mollie’s tragic death to advance a cause she vehemently opposed,” Rob Tibbetts said.

“Mollie was nobody’s victim. Nor is she a pawn in others’ debate,” Rob Tibbetts said during his daughter’s eulogy, and they are words we should do well to honor. To invoke the tragedy of this loss to push an agenda is disrespectful.

On the other hand, it’s important to talk about how violence and sex crimes against women often go unpunished, and how sentences for the criminals that are convicted of these crimes are oddly light compared to drug-related crimes. But to invoke Molly Tibbetts’ memory to push this agenda is not what her family wants. Though almost any tragedy can be political, it’s important to remember that before people are martyrs, they’re still people.

By politicizing Tibbetts’ death for any agenda, right or left, we are forcing her family to experience unnecessary suffering. “We need time,” saddening last line of Rob Tibbetts’ op-ed said. No matter the agenda, we must honor their grieving and give the Tibbetts family time to heal. When and if they are ready to make the situation political, they will. It is not our job to do that for them.