Will their true worth be valued? Nah!

I am bemused, as no doubt are the scientists who were taken by surprise by the coronavirus. For it seems clear now that they overreacted.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy they did, for had they not done so, the death rate would have exceeded the 390,000 it is today. (with the US alone having more than 110,000).

The scary thing is though, we really have no idea yet what the economic impact and indeed the death by poverty and malnutrition will be, as a result of economies all over the world, being closed down immediately and for months.

Before this vicious virus struck, over seven hundred million on this planet, lived on less than US$2 per day. Since the shutdown, the World Food Program, (WFP)  estimates that some 265 million will directly face starvation and malnutrition-related problems during 2020.

For most people in the first world, such statistics have no impact, as they are just numbers. For me, it is chilling though, since I have spent most of my life in a third world country, where avoiding those on the verge of starvation and deprivation has always been impossible.

However, those who treat the figures above as just meanless statistics will somehow be affected by what is happening to the poor, as this must have an impact on world peace and stability in many countries. 

For, consider this, if so many hundreds of thousands of people worldwide were prepared put their health and even their lives at risk this past weekend, thousands by putting their masks and social distancing away to go on the streets to demonstrate against racism in America, what will people, in general, be prepared to do when facing starvation?

 

Why am I feeling like such a prophetess of doom today, a role I have never cherished?

My more positive position arises from the fact that I feel that the spread of the disease will not be as dire as scientists are predicting, based on close proximity to each other over the last 2 weeks. Being in the outdoors in my book must make a world of a difference, so we can open up and get our economies moving.

No, I am not a scientist so call it a feeling. Yes, I am sure many will get sick and some will even die. But isn't it God who really determines when any of us must die? Yes, we can take precautions against getting ill, like wearing masks and spending more time outside, but in the final analysis, we have to learn to co-exist with diseases, for the solution can never be to cower under our beds.

I would hate to be a decision-maker in my little island of Jamaica, for you will be condemned if you do and condemned if you don't.

So you may as well do.

Before the pandemic, we had a poverty rate of between 14-17% depending on who you wished to believe. Tourism contributes 10% to our GDP and supplies 25% of the jobs, so having to close down that sector has not only been directly devastating to the workers,  but also to people like farmers, craft vendors etc.

Jamaica, therefore, cannot continue to have that sector remain closed indefinitely, especially in light of the fact that other competing destinations are gingerly opening up their countries. So while extra attention is being paid to doing everything to keep the spread of the virus to the minimum,  like deep and continuous cleaning, the mandatory wearing of masks and keeping people a safe distance apart,  had we chosen to test every visitor who visits our shores, no one would be visiting our island soon.

And opening up, cannot mean testing every visitor to the island, for that too would not only be impossible but also it would cause our competitors to wipe us out.

With our public health authorities now having a handle on dealing with the virus, the government decided to open up some schools, businesses, and tourism, partially, on the 15th, June 2020. 

For tourism. they have declared they are not requiring that visitors certify that they are coronavirus free nor will they be testing everyone who arrives on our shores. 

This has naturally caused a loud outcry from detractors.

But detractors have no responsibility for making decisions that affect people's lives and livelihood so they can be ignored when they choose to make an issue of everything.

The government has to remain bold and stick to its guns to save the majority from unnecessary peril and starvation. And they are doing just that by having facilities ready to deal with any visitor or tourism worker who becomes ill. It is the right way to proceed.

We have the sea, sun, and fresh air on our side so hopefully, the effect of this damn virus will be minimal and time will prove that this was the sane way to proceed.

On a more positive note, this awful virus has highlighted the true value of human effort in societies.

What I  mean is that before the pandemic, the "valuable"  people based on their remuneration, were, film stars, sportsmen/women and other types of entertainers. When I say valuable, I mean they are the ones who could demand any salary they wanted and get it.

Oh, I would never downgrade the role of entertainers and sportspeople, for entertainment in all forms, plays a critical role in drowning monotony and even allowing us to take a break from depressing real-life stresses.

Because entertainers and sportspeople fall within the private sector, the players are paid huge salaries.

However, when the pandemic arrived, people suddenly realized the really critical players in the society are teachers, health care workers, sanitation workers, those who provide our food etc. But these are among the lowest paid in most societies! As a result of this new awakening, all sorts of tributes including fly-overs from ace pilots, dedicated songs from musicians have sprouted up to honor the workers in these areas. But will their importance to the society be still recognized once the pandemic is under control?

I would love to be optimistic, but the reality is, most such workers are paid from the public purse worldwide and governments are notorious for underpaying such people. I don't think it's because the politicians are especially wicked, but the reality is, improving salaries means having to impose higher taxes and none of us like to pay more taxes!

So back to the title; will their true worth be of value when it comes to prioritizing who should be well compensated?

Sadly, even if it does in words,  I don't think it will show where it should, that is, in their compensation packages.

Will they succeed this time? Yes, if they vote !

I have always heard that America was a dangerous place for non-whites, but thought that with the election of Barack Obama, the country was on its way to redemption.

Then along came Donald J Trump.

 When he said " Make America Great Again", Trump knew full well that it had never been great for non-white people, but that did not matter as that sector had never been important to him. 

You see,  racism is in his DNA. 

This, he made abundantly clear when his regime used brutal methods on even babies, coming from south of the border while ruing the fact that more people from Norway were not migrating to the USA! 

This was quickly followed by his charges that Haitians and Nigerians were from were shit house countries.

I suppose, even these types of racist remarks should not have been surprising since he had become the de facto leader of white supremacists from 2014, when he led the charge to try and discredit Obama through the "birther conspiracy."

 Oh no, I would never claim Trump is the father of white supremacy in the USA, but he certainly gave it legitimacy when he, as president, described Klan members, neo-nazis, and other white supremacists who demonstrated in Charlotteville in 2017,  as very good people.

 Despite all this and the number of cruel murders and lynchings of blacks by the white establishment, amazingly, those seeking justice remained very patient until May 2020. 

Derek Chauvin, the policeman who murdered George Floyd in slow motion. This act he nonchalantly carried out during an 8 minute period, as the victim, feeling the breath leaving his body, cried out in desperation for his long deceased mother

.

 It took a chilling video of Derek Chauvin, a white policeman in Minnesota,  murdering George Floyd in plain view and in slow motion,  with his hand nonchalantly in his pocket, for the bubble to burst. 

 And this was over a $20 bill which they claimed was fake, but which turned out to be real!

 This event followed closely on the heels on a series of blatant, racist events, also in full color, which would have aroused even the angels in heaven.

 Among the incidents which immediately preceded this horrific murder were; the video widely circulated on social media, in which a woman is heard questioning her baby daughter who is clearly just learning to speak, about where her snacks were. The child replied  "a black man stole them"  and the mother laughed in approval, for her child had certainly learned her lesson well;  the news of a Georgia pastor, claiming he had been robbed and abducted by black men to cover up the fact that he was spending the time he could not be found, in a hotel with a man he met in Craig List; the news of the mother in Florida claiming her son was abducted by black men when the truth was she had killed her own child by drowning him; the situation in Georgia, where the authorities had for 74 days, (from February to May) refused to arrest the father and son team of white supremacists,  Gregory and Travis McMichael, who had murdered an unarmed black jogger, Ahmaud Arbery, and the clear expectation by the lying Amy Cooper, that she could get a policeman to come to brutalize or kill an Afro American bird-watcher in Central Park for allegedly threatening her, when indeed all he had done was to tell her to obey the law and leash her dog.!

Amy Cooper. called the police on Christian  Cooper, an Afro American Harvard educated biomedical editor, who she no doubt expected to be killed or brutalized by white cops, on her say so!

The white supremacists Gregory and Travis McMichael ho lynched the black jogger Ahmaud Arbery.

The straw, however, was the brutal murder in slow motion, of George Floyd. 

While, thanks to cell phone users, there have been regular videos of the racist police and white supremacists murdering unarmed black people all over the USA,  they have been getting away with it. for only 1% of the police has ever been convicted for such murders. 

 Before this,  the white establishment always claimed such incidents were isolated events.

In May 2020 however, the truth about systemic, dangerous racism in the USA was exposed for the entire world to see, and millions said "No more".

While some of the peaceful demonstrations against the murders and injustice in the USA have been marred by criminals, white racists, and other agents provocateurs infiltrating the demonstrations to try and discredit them, they have failed.

It is now clear that some of the agent provocateurs had hoped their actions would provide their leader, the president, with a reason to bring soldiers into the streets to kill peaceful demonstrators. 

Happily, that too failed.

A white cop in the role of agent provocateur was outed by his own wife, who recognized him!

 What has been particularly inspiring over these last few days, is the vast number of white people, predominantly the young, who have joined in the cry for justice throughout the world. For they are consciously putting their lives in danger for the cause, knowing they face the possibility of becoming infected by the killer carnivorous.

With the extent of media coverage (even Fox news covered them impartially), it appears that for the first time, a large sector of white America now realizes how oppressive the system has been to black citizens, and that must change. 

As Al Sharpton said most appropriately, for centuries, the establishment has kept their knees on the necks of minorities, and the message finally seems to be getting through.

 This is borne out by the ABC poll of June 5th, which found that 74% of  Americans, now recognize that systemic racism as a problem.

 However, the bad news is, more than 25% refuse to accept this and this amounts to around 80 million people, many of whom are in influential positions.

 This is why those calling for people to make sure that real progress is made by voting,  are on target.

 Yes, it is clear that if equality is ever to be achieved, Trump has to go. But he is only the tip of the iceberg, for,  while some things can be corrected at the federal level, it is at local government, that real reform will be meaningful.

Take the case of police forces clearly having a significant number of recruits drawn from organizations such as the Ku  Klux  Klan and other racist groups, that can only be dealt with at the local level. At the local level too, many district attorneys are elected and that is also where you find influential political idiots like Cynthia Brehm, a GOP chairwoman in Texas, who said in a tweet, that George Floyd's murder was staged!

 The system at the local level is rife with powerful people like her.

Yes, peaceful demonstrations have their role, but until the systemic problems at the local level which have led to numerous injustices like: 50% of non-whites being unemployed while only 21% are;  outright bias in the sentencing of non-whites in the courts; unfair and murderous treatment by the police: chronic underfunding of schools in black areas and the poor health care for minorities which has led to the carnivorous wreaking havoc, George Floyd's's death and the death of so many other innocents, will have been in vain for very little will change for the minorities.

 And without real change at the legislative level in local government,  racist presidents like Trump will continue to stand in the way of progress.

 Question; Do you think the cry for justice would have received such overwhelming support worldwide if Donald Trump wasn't so despised for his overt racism and narcissism?

https://youtu.be/9nWaAEZi8SM