Activism
IN A PANDEMIC
I think it’s safe to assume that when the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 2020, that not even the pessimists among us could’ve predicted the turmoil and intensity of the year ahead. The coronavirus has caused an upheaval of the established way of life for much of the world. Even without COVID-19, this year would undoubtedly stand out for the ongoing and monthslong wave of Black Lives Matter protests that erupted within the United States in May and have since spread to numerous other countries around the world. With the shadow of the coronavirus looming overhead, the situation has evolved into something truly unexpected and unprecedented. The nature of the coronavirus and its spread has made the 2020 protests a more divisive topic than they would otherwise have been. Though research indicates that protesting has not contributed unduly to the coronavirus infection rates, there has been an ongoing debate over the safety of protesting during a pandemic. This question has been raised within my own family and I have listened to my relatives argue back and forth on the need for fundamental changes to how the United States deals with racial justice versus the omnipresent concerns for public health. I haven’t attended a protest yet, unfortunately,
10
Fall 2020
America can and must do better but I don’t think the protestors themselves are ignorant to the realities of the pandemic. Everyone who protests is aware of the risk of infection that they are taking on. Many of the people who protest can be categorized within higher risk groups, such as diabetics, asthmatics, and people with autoimmune disorders. The Black community, which has been at the forefront of planning and executing these protests, has one of the highest mortality rates for COVID-19 of any racial or ethnic group as reported by the CDC. Despite this, the turnout for the demonstrations has been nothing short of tremendous, even months after they first began. People are actively putting their own health
