Post 82 - June 1, 2020
Day 82…
It’s a stunningly beautiful morning here in New York City. It’s the first day of a new month. (apparently) It’s the first day of a new week. (I had to check my computer to make sure that was right.)
It’s now been a week since the senseless death of George Floyd. Another black man was shot last night in Kentucky by the police. Several police officers were suspended in Atlanta over the weekend for the use of excessive force against a couple of black college kids.
There have also been reports from many places around the country of some police officers kneeling with protesters in support of the protests.
There was a large protest here in New York yesterday that I followed via live feeds from friends on Facebook. During the day, it was largely peaceful, then as darkness fell, violence started again, with looting happening in SoHo.
Like much of the violence that is erupting around the country it is unclear whether it is being triggered naturally or by anarchic and white supremacist groups who are trying to manipulate these lawful protests to achieve their own ends. There is certainly enough evidence to support the fact that at least some of it is being deliberately instigated.
The protests are very likely to continue today with larger, more organized marches, being planned for later on in the week.
Protests have now occurred in every state of the union. Most have been peaceful, but they are being overshadowed by the ones that have turned violent.
Hundreds of people rallied in London yesterday under Black Lives Matter banners calling for an end to police brutality in the United States. They also rallied in Toronto. They rallied in Berlin.
The National Guard have now been deployed in 24 states as a safety measure to counter the possible violence.
All of this and the President has yet to address the nation.
Now, to be fair, I don’t think anybody thinks that it is a good idea for this President to address the nation.
It’s clear what his stance on racial equality is. The US Department of Justice sued him and his company for housing discrimination against African Americans in 1973. He settled without admitting any bias. The DOJ sued him again five years later for the same thing. He was a driving force behind the “birther” campaign questioning whether or not President Obama was actually a native-born American. (He is.) He has continually claimed that a group of teenagers of color were guilty of the rape of a white woman in Central Park in 1989 despite the fact that they were exonerated by DNA evidence and the serial rapist who actually committed the crime confessed to it.
The President’s support of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups during the marches in Charlottesville in 2017 is a matter of record, as is his support of the armed white supremacists who stormed the Michigan capital.
After coming out of the bunker he was taken to on Friday as protests surrounded the White House, he tweeted that nobody had come over the White House fence. If they had, they would have been greeted with “the most vicious dogs and most ominous weapons.” Escaped slaves were hunted with dogs.
To expect any compassion or even understanding from this man is foolish. To expect any sort of meaningful legislation aimed at rectifying the underlying issues of these protests from this man and his supporters is simply delusional.
Still, the fact that he has not addressed the country in the midst of all of the widespread unrest and national grief we are experiencing is remarkable.
Of course, all of this is happening while we are still in the midst of a global pandemic. The press seemed thrilled to have something other than COVID-19 to report on. So thrilled, that it is now hard to find any coverage of the coronavirus at all.
We cannot forget that the coronavirus is out there and circulating. These protests, while absolutely justified and, I would say, even necessary, are also potentially going to start sending our case numbers up.
The White House has significantly decreased the frequency of the COVID-19 task force meetings. Dr. Fauci just reported in an interview that he rarely meets with the President these days. As far as the White House is concerned, it seems that the pandemic crisis is over and done.
It isn’t. Worldwide cases have now topped 6 million. The former director of the CDC thinks that another 20,000 Americans could perish from the virus during the coming month. Case numbers are rising throughout the south and in Arizona, Arkansas, Utah, Wisconsin and California.
New York’s numbers are going down. Five regions of New York are moving into Phase 2 of reopening.Phase two allows retail stores, workspaces and hair salons to reopen with social distancing and PPE guidelines in place. Malls must remain closed, but mall stores with separate outside entrances can reopen.
New York City, itself, is on track to enter phase 1 next week. All of the numbers in the city have been going steadily and demonstrably down. If the mass gatherings to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers lead to a rise in infections, then some of the reopening will have to be dialed back. That will not be the government punishing us for protesting, that will be the government trying to protect us from dying from COVID-19. BOTH of these things are happening at the same time.
It wasn’t planned that way. It just happened this way.
The revolt against the systemic racial discrimination in our society is long overdue. Overdue by decades. Centuries.
In a way, coronavirus shutting us down has given us all the time to finally listen to the cries of our brothers and sisters without distraction.
And we need to listen. We need to add our voices to the protests because remaining silent is not an option. Remaining silent does nothing but perpetuate the ongoing injustice suffered by our friends and neighbors.
How we raise our voices is a complicated question and it’s one that each of us need to answer for ourselves. If we stay home, we help to hold back the tide of the virus.
There are effective things that can be done from home. Letters can be written to government officials. Calls can be made to the offices of those same officials. Organizations at the forefront of the protests can be supported through donations.
If we march, we risk spreading the virus.
I’m not saying don’t march at all. I have now marched and not marched, and to be honest, I feel like I should have been out marching yesterday. There is power in numbers.
If you march, wear a mask. Use common sense. Try and keep some distance - especially from people not wearing masks.
Just TRY.
Don’t loot. Not that I think anyone reading this would. We do, however, have to figure out a way to stop others from violence and looting. The President tweeted “When the looting starts, the shooting starts” a sentiment he’s dredged up from our vile southern segregationist past and latched onto.
Violence and looting overshadow the message completely and allow the opponents of the message to dismiss the entire protest as a criminal activity that must be stopped. The violence and looting also justifies counter violence on the part of law enforcement officials.
I hope that in the days to come, our community leaders can start to focus the amazing energy that has been generated these last few days towards the creation and enactment of some positive concrete legislative reforms. We certainly have everybody’s attention - lets tell them what we want.
To win this war, we are going to need to win BOTH battles. We truly need, finally, to enact reform in our community that begins to address the racial discrimination that has eaten away at the core of our country since its inception. But we also have to get a handle on COVID-19 and move forward towards fully reopening our economy.
A house can withstand dry rot and termites for only so long before it finally collapses. Our house is now starting to show signs of collapse while we are in the middle of a hurricane. We knew the dry rot and termites were there, but we put off dealing with them.
Oh well. Nobody to blame but ourselves. Now we have to try and fix the problem, remodel and rebuild at the same time we are riding out a storm.
Too bad. No time for whining.
Grab a hammer and some nails and let’s get to work.
We need to save our house.