COVID-19 Lockdown, Day 29

I keep reading news about the high death rate with African-Americans contracting COVID-19. I can just hear the conspiracy theorists saying that the Man is bringing the virus into our communities to kill us off. This sounds similar to the belief that the K with the circle around placed on foods and beverages are owned by the Klan. Then there is the belief that Church's Chicken is owned by a White supremacist, and they place chemicals in the chicken to sterilize African-American men. Why else can you only find them in Black neighborhoods? Please!

Seriously, there are many theories out there about why COVID-19 is more lethal in our communities. First, a high proportion of African-Americans are essential workers, which puts them at greater risk for infection. Second, those who work such jobs cannot afford to take sick day, no matter how sick they are. Third, the hospitals in our neighborhoods are a big disgrace. Fourth, so many African Americans just don't care about protection and social distancing. Well, all of these are true. As most African Americans belong to the working and lower middle classes, we find ourselves in risky situations, and self-care takes a back seat to paying the bills and putting food on the table. 

And as for the hospitals, Lord, have mercy! I have taken my clients to some of these hospitals, and I have witnessed doctors discharging patients who were still sick, only to welcome them back a week later. There have been wrongful death suits galore. Either these doctors are truly incompetent and barely graduated medical school, or they feel that the life of some hagwei, kallu, abid, shvartser, etc. is not worth saving. Of course, one is blessed to find a proverbial lotus ascending from the mud, but there are too many unfortunate cases in the hood. I just hope the investigation to learn why there are so African-American COVID-19 deaths are sincere; we don't need another Tuskegee Study.

There have been a few who wonder why I don't hesitate to be of service to my clients, especially considering my medical problems. The fact is, being a social worker is one of the best ways to make up for not joining the military as I wanted to. I tried to join the Army when I was a senior in high school. I even took the test. Still, they could not accept me because of my medical problems. I remember how heartbroken I was when the recruiter told me that I could not join the Army. I thought that, as my father, my grandfather, and two of my half-siblings were in the military, my father could be proud of me and could love me if I also followed tradition. I carry that pain in the pit of my stomach every Memorial Day and Veterans' Day, when I see my fellow congregants in their uniforms and talk about where they served. It reminds me of the one quote in Shakespeare's Henry V, in the King's rally speech before the Battle of Agincourt: 

"And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Hence, as I social worker, I have a battlefield of my own. As would any soldier, I must wear the uniform and the equipment to make the occasion. Those who are well armed and well protected must fight through their fears, and even if they should become casualties, at least they contributed to a greater cause.

--Signing off.