Not so long ago, COVID-19 was seen as a crisis facing the world.
Today in America, it is not a problem.
We marched over the dead to hundred-thousand and will continue to ignore the hundreds of thousands that will come in the weeks and months ahead.
The virus is only a problem for the marginalized, the ignored, the takers.
Them.
Why is that?
America sees everything through Race.
The cancer of slavery on this nation burned out the eyes, ears, hearts, and minds of white America.
Left and right.
Rich and poor.
Like an open infected wound, it has burned through the long night since 1864.
The smell of racism lingers in the air like fresh-popped corn.
America cannot do anything without first asking will it benefit the minorities.
Minorities in white America is only Black Americans.
All others need not apply.
The racial animus, the hatred, the focus of who caused economic poverty in white racist America is on blacks.
This virus has become a convenient scapegoat for our racist leadership at the local and federal governments and law enforcement.
An easy excuse to do nothing to help and protect.
When COVID was a plague that could be caught by anyone, it was something to take action upon.
But, as soon as the media reported that Black America was incredibly hard hit with the loss of life, racist America realized they had a blue light special.
COVID provided a way to decrease those on welfare.
COVID provided a way to eliminate those pension checks.
COVID provided a solution to decrease those sucking federal dollars through Social Security.
The bonus was it was hitting black and brown communities the hardest.
Or so white racist America believe…
Prejudice feeds upon stories that support it.
You, as an individual, may like donuts.
If you hear of a study that says donuts are good for you, even if it’s not true, you’ll smile and be confirmed in your prejudice.
Humanity has told stories to each other, especially when drunk, that support their world view.
Humanity tends to dismiss those stories that do not fit into the world order that they believe is true.
The virus has a story it will tell.
COVID 19 is not the flu, it is not a cold.
It is a virus that will burn its way through the population of the earth until everyone has been infected.
In three months, only 5% of the American population has been exposed to the virus.
In three months, we went from zero dead to over 101,000.
If the past is prologue, then by the time the remaining 95% of America is infected, 1.5 million lives will have been lost.
That is the foreword of the COVID 19 story.
What of the story of those who lived during this time of COVID?
There will be black faces, brown faces, white faces, Asian faces.
All those faces that no longer can tell their story.
Their hopes.
Their dreams.
The reason why they were born cut short because of the careless nature of humanity.
This carelessness of the value of just one human life.
Humanity has never been able to learn on its own.
Humanity has always had to fall and hit bottom before it can turn and lift itself up.
The story of America is a racial one.
Can a people of many nations, many creeds, many races live together?
Trust one another?
Care for one another?
This virus will remind us that love asks more of us each and every day.
We are all brothers and sisters in a good fight today.
We may lose a battle, but justice is on our side, we will not lose the war.
Peace
DFrey
