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A
recent report in Mississippi cited a tip in the COVID-19 scales
favoring African Americans. This affirms what I know about my people:
they are pragmatic. If you give them the pertinent information and
the rationale, they will struggle to comply.
In
the early days of the pandemic, Black folks in the state were the
majority of the cases and the deaths. The health department tracked
about 60 percent then but now the situation has reversed with white
people now leading the stats. Health officials believe a big factor
is that white folks are not wearing masks and practicing social
distancing to the same degree as Black folks. Being Black means that
when it comes to health care, there’s a gulf in racial
disparities to cross. In short, we know we ain’t got nothing
coming and we’re on our own.
This
country refuses to take the pandemic seriously. Over 15 million cases
as we barrel towards the 300,000 mark for a new record in COVID-19
deaths. The entire United States has essentially become one big hot
spot. And there’s still no national coordinated plan to contain
the virus.
Governors
and mayors are leaving it up to the individual to do the right thing.
Nobody wants to be the bad guy or gal. Officials - elected or
appointed - lack the courage to do what is necessary to quiet the
COVID storm. This is not a popularity test. People are dying who
could be still alive. The lack of leadership will mean the pandemic
will drag out for most of 2021.
Some
are thinking the vaccine is going to be the panacea. I haven’t
come across anyone
who feels comfortable with taking the vaccine. Maybe this is a Black
thang because we definitely understand. Our relationship with U.S.
medicine hasn’t exactly been a positive one. In order for the
fast-tracked, corner-cuttin’ vaccine to be effective, experts
say that 70 percent of the population would have to take it. Between
trump covidiots and people of color’s legit fear of western
medicine, we could have a problem with mass vaccination.
One
thing we all have in common. We are sick and tired of the pandemic.
We miss going to the movies. We watch our neighborhood businesses
close their doors with finality. Church pews are empty on Saturdays
and Sundays. We cannot visit our loved ones in the hospital. There is
a reason we never signed up for home-schooling. We all want our
pre-COVID world back where we could come and go without a second
thought.
Wishing,
hoping and ignoring facts are not the solutions to taming the beast.
The science must dominate if we are to successfully conquer the
pandemic and restore some modicum of normalcy to our lives. We must
fight through misinformation, conspiracy theories and
under-reporting. We must encourage people to wear their masks, wash
their hands frequently, stay home if they can and social distance
when they can’t stay at home.
Most
of us don’t have the capital to order the manufacturing of
personal protective equipment. We don’t have the authority to
oversee the distribution of the vaccine to ensure the most vulnerable
populations get it first. What we can control is what is in our power
to do. It starts with using common sense, being determined to survive
and taking care of our communities. This means practicing and
enforcing the simple measures in our own spaces of what the experts
know now. It means demanding our government step up with safe and
innovative ways to tackle the beast to aggressively save the country
from the financial, spiritual and psychological devastation that lay
ahead. It should start with passing an economic stimulus package
truly designed for meeting the needs of working people facing
overwhelming conditions and not the corporate bloodsuckers.
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