Be the Change
12x16 oil on panel
Covid 19 series
In the twenty two days after May 25, the day that George Floyd was killed, there were 868 recorded protests in 326 counties attended by some 757,000 people. In the midst of a pandemic, large protests about racism and police brutality were attended by people of all ethnic backgrounds and skin colors. The use of excessive force by the police was the catalyst, but the growing understanding that black and brown people were suffering far more due to the virus had thrown light on the systemic racism in our country.
The burden of essential work falls unevenly among racial and ethnic groups. In New York City people of color comprise three quarters of the city’s essential workers. Latino and black communities suffered higher percentages of hospitalizations and deaths due to Covid.
Essential workers are unable to telecommute, consequently didn’t have the luxury of distancing. Every day they pulled on masks and ventured out to cook, clean, deliver food, carry mail, drive buses, stock shelves, patrol the streets and tend to the ill. Essential workers were unable to afford to take time off or told by their bosses that they were not allowed time off. Many workers have no paid sick leave and fewer than 10% can take 2 weeks off, the recommended Covid 19 quarantine period. Many paid with their lives.
The stark inequities in treatment by the police and the the disproportionate loss within certain types of workers in the economy fueled a wide recognition that we all have to be the change. We need to read the books that point the way, institute changes in your own life and be receptive to thinking and living in new ways.
