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First, it was the War on Drugs. Then, it was the War on Terror. Now, we’re at war with a virus. What’s wrong with this picture? (1/10)
As the US government began reckoning with the reality of COVID-19 in mid-March, we started hearing wartime language. Literally. We’re “at war” with the virus. (2/10)
Healthcare workers are “battling on the frontlines.” Essential grocery store clerks and delivery folks are being portrayed as “patriots doing their duty for their country.” (3/10)
The danger of “going to war” with a virus is this: How do you know when the war is won? (4/10)
In a system of racial capitalism, abusive war metaphors associate disease with marginalized groups. (5/10)
History shows us that national efforts to discipline the sick have no intention of restructuring a society that has made our communities vulnerable in the first place.(6/10)
The truth is, the language of warfare is used to mask the US government’s own dysfunction in responding to the pandemic. (7/10)
From the start, they should’ve supplied sufficient PPE, implemented social distancing, frozen rent, released the incarcerated population, provided financial support to those unemployed, and housed those who are homeless/ facing domestic violence.(8/10)
Both state and federal governments neglected to prepare for the virus, so they resorted to drastic measures in order to manage it — and “wartime” language is how they justify taking such measures.(9/10)
Had the US government been taking care of the masses, we could’ve better withstood the pandemic, as our bodies built up immunity and scientists created a vaccine. (10/10)
#RacialJusticeHasNoBorders #WeKeepUsSafe #HealthcareNotWarfare
#RacialJusticeHasNoBorders #WeKeepUsSafe #HealthcareNotWarfare
