Coronavirus Pandemic Day 141 – 1.99 Million Cases/ 108 Thousand Deaths
Since my post on June 3, there have been 18, 556 more reported cases and 448 more deaths from the viral pandemic. Despite the continuing climb in those numbers, states are reopening. People are returning to some semblance on the economic front of what was the norm five months ago. Social distancing is easing and only half the populace (based on my observations) appears to embrace the new facial accessory- masks. The efforts to find a vaccine and therapeutic medicines continue and growing numbers of people take advantage of the increasing testing sites. Predictably, as more are tested, more cases come to light. And though the executive branch of our government has taken a step back in leading the fight, the battle to subdue the virus goes on.
So too does the other fight in which our country is involved; the one whose impetus was a brazen and blatant act of police brutality witnessed on video. The killing of George Floyd (whose funeral happens to be today in his hometown of Houston, Texas) sparked street demonstrations and protests that began in Minneapolis, the scene of the killing, and within days spread not just across this nation, but across the world. People, young and not so, black, white, brown and any other colors you want to throw in, poured onto streets, freeways, parks, in front of the White House, and government buildings where decisions are forged and sealed which affect the lives of people of color in brutal ways. The sheer exhaustion of living daily as a person of color seemed finally to collapse. Mr. Floyd’s unnecessary death was the pin that burst the balloon of pent up emotions. Defying curfews, police tactics of suppression, a president’s bullying and threats, and even his flooding of the streets of the nation’s capital with the military did not derail the protestors, stop their marching or their cries for freedom and an end to racism.
I spent the better part of the weekend immersed in films, primarily based upon historical events, that explored the depths of racism in this nation. Amazon Prime-whose heading: Amazon Supports Black Lives Matter– or some wording to that effect, is showing these cinematic reminders of who we are as a people, how we became that people and the truth that racism was built into the foundational fabric of the country. That innate sense of white supremacy which subjugated and destroyed the indigenous natives ( who peopled this land for at least 15,000 years prior to the European intrusion) survives to this day. After the decimation of all things non-European, a people kissed by the sun would come to know the egregiousness of this same white privilege. Over the span of 400 years, people of color arrived upon these shores, not as human beings, but property to be bought and sold. To justify such evil required a shift in the moral compass of people (who reportedly came to the new land seeking religious freedom) that has yet to be owned or corrected. The color of ones skin defines one’s worth still in the land of the free and the brave. And it is this unrelenting hypocrisy that may have finally snapped the patience of people of all hues. Maybe, despite their positions of privilege, many whites are awakened to the danger this pandemic of racism presents to all of us. Maybe the old saying that a nation divided will not stand is finally making sense. In a world where people of color outnumber those who aren’t, maybe reality is taking hold.
A lot of “maybes”. But still my hope as the second week of June 2020 begins is twofold: (1) that the battle against the physical pandemic coronavirus will be won or at least slowed by God’s wisdom indwelling the scientists and others seeking a cure; (2) that the spiritual pandemic of racism will be won once and for all by the awakening of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of ordinary men and women who for too long have enjoyed the privilege of the color of their skin to the determent of others. That these persons will lay down their weapon of color supremacy and use the weapon of their voices to decry racial hatred and injustice; to vote out of office whose who cling to perverted ideals of yesteryear; to say “Yes” to decency, fairness, equality and “No” to the institutions and attitudes of our past that brought us to this crisis, to this moment that has become a movement for freedom for all God’s people.
Love. Joy. Peace.