Amid Reopening, Some Mayors Remind Residents Covid-19 is Still “Serious” While Protests Continue

With the majority of states reopening for business, Americans are slowly emerging from lockdown amid warnings from health experts that the cost of resuming normal activities will result in an uptick of new coronavirus cases.

Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington is urging continued vigilance during the coming weeks.

“We don’t want our numbers to spike,” Washington said. “As we move forward, we want our numbers to stay low.”

From Pine Bluff to Atlanta and points in between, government officials are attempting to balance the Trump Administration’s push to reopen the economy with the serious health risks posed by the pandemic.

In Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms registered her disagreement with the state’s Governor who became the first to reopen some nonessential businesses last week. The news of African American shoppers lined up to purchase new Air Jordans made headlines around the country.

Bottoms wrote on Twitter, “For those who crowded at Greenbriar awaiting the new Jordans, gathered at Piedmont Pk, shot fireworks at the Mall West End & even those now shopping at Lennox Square Mall, know that the only thing that’s changed about Covid-19 is your chance of catching.”

And, Washington cited “large groups” gathering during the weekends. City officials issued a curfew several weeks ago prohibiting non-essential business travel after 9:00 p.m. The curfew remains in effect.

“In fact, new cases among two age groups are increasing at an alarming rate in the State of Arkansas,” she said. “The first group consists of individuals between the ages of 17 and 24. The second group consists of individuals between the ages of 45- 65. People in these groups must remember that this is real. You must wear your masks, gloves, and continue to social distance.”  

Partisan Politics During the Pandemic

Many of the states reopening are led by Republican governors who seem interested in aligning themselves with the Trump Administration’s increasingly lax approach to a pandemic that continues to claim thousands of American lives daily. And, even White House projections formulated from the models it uses, it is possible 134,000 Americans could die by August from the coronavirus. The higher death toll factors in a surge in cases due to reopening the country.

The statistics show a disease affecting and killing Black Americans in greater numbers because of a higher rate of hypertension, diabetes and structural racism which result in a vulnerability with dire consequences.

According to CNN, Black Americans account for “more than half of all Covid-19 cases and almost 60% of deaths.”

White Supremacists and the Pandemic

The reopening debate spawned protests in Michigan, Oregon, and several other states. Armed with assault-style weapons, white men and women clad in military wear and waving Confederate flags stormed the Michigan statehouse, outraged by Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s decision to extend the state’s lockdown. Media coverage showed protestors ignoring social distancing guidelines and few wore masks.

African American Policy Forum (AAPF) Executive Director Kimberle Crenshaw said, “There are other aspects of this that would suggest whiteness is a common register that’s being deployed aside from the people in the quasi-racist uniforms.”

AAPF hosts a weekly virtual town hall called ‘Under the Blacklight’ to examine the intersectionality of race and policy during the pandemic.

Political Scientist, Dr. Joseph Lowndes, attended a protest in Oregon where he said white supremacists and more mainstream middle-class families gathered last weekend. Lowndes shared his observations during Wednesday night’s AAPF town hall meeting.

“The idea of an independent white male subject who is free and autonomous is being contrasted to African Americans, indigenous people, to women as a subject who acts as an individual and acts without help from the state,” Lowndes remarked. “There’s something here about the idea of a revulsion to the idea of mutuality.”

Lowndes described the flaunting of social distancing guidelines and masks as a “gender performance of masculinity and white power as if they are somehow indemnified or immune by their very whiteness from viral pandemic.”

Some critics of reopening the country too soon are also raising questions about genocide.

Epidemiologist Gregg Consalves tweeted, “How many people will die this summer, before Election Day? What proportion of the deaths will be among African-Americans, Latinos, other people of color? This is getting awfully close to genocide by default. What else do you call mass death by public policy?”

How many people will die this summer, before Election Day? What proportion of the deaths will be among African-Americans, Latinos, other people of color? This is getting awfully close to genocide by default. What else do you call mass death by public policy? #COVID19 #coronavirus

— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) May 6, 2020

Dr. William A. Darity, Jr. also indicated the urgency to reopen creates room for a dialogue about genocide.

“I‘m thinking of the Malthusian theory that suggests we always have to prune away a certain portion of our population,” Darity stated.  “What segments of the population should be subjected to pruning?”

He referenced past medical treatments that were tested on Black Americans often without their knowledge and expressed concern Black Americans may become the primary patients for potential coronavirus vaccine testing.

In pockets of the country, some former and current elected officials are speaking candidly about the tradeoff inherent in a rising number of coronavirus cases and the financial devastation of the economy. And, they seem to favor commerce over caution. Yet, for Washington, who is a second term Democratic mayor in a red state, saving lives remains a top priority.

“COVID-I9 is a deadly reality. It is infecting and killing people each and every day,” Washington said. “I urge everyone to remain cautious and informed. This pandemic is not over.”