I'm not traveling to visit relatives for #Thanksgiving. And no, it isn't a major sacrifice.

Do you know who *is* making a major sacrifice? Our grocery/food & retail workers who are risking their health so that you can buy food, essential supplies and even stuff you don't need./1

Restaurant workers have also been making a major sacrifice, so you can go out to eat (and so that they can eat).

But perhaps the greatest sacrifice is coming from teachers. They are the guinea pigs for @GovRaimondo's policy of keeping schools open during a pandemic./2

And let's not forget our nurses, doctors and other health care workers who are 1) being exposed daily to the virus and 2) handling the extra hours and stress of the spike in cases.

All of these people are making *big* sacrifices. And largely because the rest of us haven't./3

I've watched grown men throw fits in grocery stores when asked to wear masks (I asked them to). I've heard so much bullshit about this online that I can't even go there.

In the meantime, we're throwing a portion of our society under the bus. /4

It frankly should not be surprising that we are doing this to these groups. Looking at the conditions of their employment, healthcare, wages, etc., grocery, retail, and restaurant workers have already been deemed expendable.

But this is a large, and gross step further on that./5

As for teachers, they may get paid better and have better benefits and job security, but we've also decided that they should have to pick up the pieces for society's failures—and as a group they are constantly scapegoated.

So screwing them over now? Highly predictable./6

And what do all of these jobs have in common? Well, healthcare workers, grocery counters, and low-wage retail workers are mostly women.

Just thinking aloud—might this be different if these occupations were male-dominated? /7 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/us/coronavirus-women-essential-workers.html

Social reproduction work has always been devalued. We idolize the (male) CEO, but not to the women who raised & educated him.

Example: @speakerryan pulled himself up by his bootstraps—except for his mentors, teachers, relatives, and of course those social security benefits.../8

But what we are doing now has taken a decidedly uglier turn. We're putting these people on the altar so that we don't have to make sacrifices during this pandemic.

It's immoral and wrong. And it's not just @GovRaimondo's policies, but policies repeated across this nation./9/end

Postscript: Thank you @LennyforRI for your service. And thank you @Renny920 @maya_chavez_ @KendraForRI and all the teachers at @PTU958 for your service. And thank you to all the retail, grocery, and restaurant workers who aren't on twitter or who I don't follow.

Another postscript: I forgot all the airline and travel workers who are also risking their health so that you can travel, including when you should sit your butt down and stay at home.