Carole Gariepy’s My Turn [‘Will things ever be the same again?’] is spot on that things will never be the same again and that perhaps, they should not be. It is change that pushes us forward, after all.
But I have to disagree that “The virus is an equalizer.” This virus does not affect all of us equally.
As with most facets of life in this country, if you are white, wealthy, and able-bodied you are more likely to fare better. These citizens have better chances of surviving this virus if they get it or of being able to reduce their risk of getting it at all. It is people with fewer resources, less or no access to health care,
Black Americans and Native People that are more likely to get sicker and die from Covid in this country.
When Donald Trump got sick with COVID, a helicopter flew him to one of the nation’s top hospital where he was treated round-the-clock by a team of attentive medical professionals and given every experimental drug available. And while this is one extreme example, I am quite certain that a similarly high level of care has been and will continue to be available to the wealthy, powerful, and largely white people who become sick with COVID, while this same level of care is not available to the poor, the un- or under-insured, and to millions of Americans who are historically disadvantaged due to hundreds of years of enforced inequality.
It is certainly not available on the Native reservations and in the Black communities that are being pummeled by this disease.
Additionally, there is a huge divide among those of us who have the ability, types of jobs, and resources to work — and even shop -— from home and therefore reduce our risk or contracting the disease. People without these types of jobs and resources have no choice but to place themselves at higher risk to work, to shop, and to take care of their families. And not surprisingly, these people are also often Black, Native American, and/or other historically oppressed people.
Please let us remember that this disease— like most things in our country — does not treat us all equally. And when this is over and we make changes and move our country forward, let us commit to making it a bit more equal for all of us.
Eve Brown-Waite is a resident of Deerfield.