I am deeply saddened by the political divide, racial injustice, income inequality, and handling of the #COVID19 crisis in the United States of America. We are being divided by media and fear, and are ignoring the most obvious basic steps necessary for curtailing the crisis.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has injected nearly $6T into the economy, without providing essential support to the nearly 40 million people in this country who have filed unemployment claims in the last 10 weeks, and 18% of the US workforce that has lost jobs or hours.

Sources on unemployment and reduction of hours:
1) http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/28/unemployment-claims-coronavirus/
2) http://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-03-17/coronavirus-layoffs-work-hours-jobs

We are politicizing people’s lives, their livelihoods, and their deaths. The pharmaceutical engine is churning out palliative solutions, with vaccines that are flawed, and contact tracing is being used far too late in the process to be effective.

Our civil liberties are being attacked, while we eat ourselves from within. This is not the country that people fought and died for to create. We were never a true Democracy, but we have become something that speaks more to fascism than any semblance of democracy.

We still have voices. We can vote. We can speak out. We can not let ourselves get bullied. The media must start covering more than left-right politics, and politicizing of simple protective measures such as mask-wearing should be considered absolutely unacceptable.

How can a country where 40% of the population doesn’t have $400 in cash ( https://qz.com/1630506/most-americans-are-not-400-away-from-financial-ruin/) survive a crisis like this if we do not create immediate social support systems including rent forgiveness and some form of universal basic income?

How can it be okay for real estate developers to receive $170 billion in tax savings through our stimulus package (and hand-outs), while people earning less than $70,000/year are receiving $1200 stimulus checks?

The bottom half of our country’s wealth should be receiving disproportionately more capital to support them. Their rent should be subsidized. Food should be provided. This is the only way to avoid massive civil unrest and, dare I say, a Civil War between party lines.

Stop politicizing these issues. The time to come together as one nation is now. This may be the only chance we have to fight for our freedom. We need our leaders, from local to state governments, as well as billionaires running industries, to make a stand.

We need reporters to stand up to the massive media machines driving them, and fight for truth and the journalistic integrity that should be core to their ethos.

We need our voices to be heard. We need police officers to refuse to take part in committing violence against minorities and African Americans, and to be held criminally accountable for murder just like ordinary citizens are.

We need to stop living in fear, and stand up to bullies. Not with violence, but by facing fear itself and avoiding devolved political discourse. We must educate and harden ourselves against misinformation campaigns and propaganda. That is the only way to take our power back.

There is a lot of rightful anger out there. Many of us are mortified by what is happening in our country today. Many are afraid to speak out. We need to condemn any politicizing of the ongoing issues, first and foremost. This is not about drawing lines. We must come together.