Four months ago, our nation was made host to a virulent, deadly visitor, brought to this continent surreptitiously. A new virus, uncovered in China, unsparing in occurrence.
Now we are engaged in a great experiment, testing whether any nation with significant divisions based on politics, race and wealth, can survive in the face of such a disease. We have come to give our testimony while we still can, to help insure the survival of all who participate in this society. We are writing not as millionaires but as common people, like the medical and public safety workers who gave their lives that this nation might live. As citizens of the world, we have an obligation to speak out. As citizens of the US, we have the right to do so.
We offer an independent view on the economic impacts, having gained relevant insight from American history – in this case, from Black Wall Street/Tulsa, Oklahoma, to better understand the exact nature of the economic problem the country now faces. Of course, in a larger sense, we know that economic impacts pale in the face of human pain and suffering. This mandates a focus on the human, not the economic.
The world will not notice, or remember, what is said by imperfect people with imperfect means to correct the current condition. Our goal is to make sure that this situation is not used to argue for the inherent inferiority of those most impacted by this virus. We are dying at elevated rates not due to some ingrained defect. Rather, the defect resides in a racist, bigoted and biased system for the allocation of resources, including health care resources. This crisis offers an opportunity to correct this misallocation.
As an organization, we have long been dedicated to this unfinished work. We call upon you, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus to insure that all deaths from this virus will ultimately have meaning —and that democratic government, tasked with providing relief from an affliction that knows no race, status or geography, necessitating fairness and equity, will not cease to exist.
Now we are engaged in a great experiment, testing whether any nation with significant divisions based on politics, race and wealth, can survive in the face of such a disease. We have come to give our testimony while we still can, to help insure the survival of all who participate in this society. We are writing not as millionaires but as common people, like the medical and public safety workers who gave their lives that this nation might live. As citizens of the world, we have an obligation to speak out. As citizens of the US, we have the right to do so.
We offer an independent view on the economic impacts, having gained relevant insight from American history – in this case, from Black Wall Street/Tulsa, Oklahoma, to better understand the exact nature of the economic problem the country now faces. Of course, in a larger sense, we know that economic impacts pale in the face of human pain and suffering. This mandates a focus on the human, not the economic.
The world will not notice, or remember, what is said by imperfect people with imperfect means to correct the current condition. Our goal is to make sure that this situation is not used to argue for the inherent inferiority of those most impacted by this virus. We are dying at elevated rates not due to some ingrained defect. Rather, the defect resides in a racist, bigoted and biased system for the allocation of resources, including health care resources. This crisis offers an opportunity to correct this misallocation.
As an organization, we have long been dedicated to this unfinished work. We call upon you, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus to insure that all deaths from this virus will ultimately have meaning —and that democratic government, tasked with providing relief from an affliction that knows no race, status or geography, necessitating fairness and equity, will not cease to exist.