Short and sweet. But oh, so true. And the truth hurts. Bluntly speaking:
Is it any coincidence that we are talking about “opening up the economy” now that it is becoming increasingly evident the people dying from COVID-19 are mostly old folks in nursing homes, inmates in jail, laborers in meat packing plants, the homeless, undocumented immigrants in holding pens and camps, and low income people of color in high density neighborhoods? Are these dispensable lives in the eyes of the cult of Trump?
This is their line of warped thinking:
“After all, we already accept over 150,000 deaths a year when people die in car accidents, drug overdose, and gun shots. What is another 150,000 lives a year lost to COVID-19 – as long as they don’t look like us? Hey, it’s the cost of freedom, individualism, and the American Way, right? MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN!“
Our recovery will be a missed opportunity as long as we are driven by a motive which gives priority to profits over people and keeps financial power where it has always been; a motive that wants an immediate reestablishment of the structures and institutions that let this happen; and, a motive that is deathly afraid of acknowledging the need for radical free access to healthcare and a rethinking of how wealth is distributed – and who benefits from capital and wealth creation.