A Belated Labor Day Message
As this is written, Labor Day 2020 has come and gone, with few, if any, fireworks unless one counts the fireworks at peaceful protests gone wrong. There were also few, if any marches led by labor leaders, workers, and politicians who care enough and/or are smart enough to show their support. On the other hand, millions of Americans no doubt enjoyed the weekend, or at least the day, even if they needed to wear a mask and keep their distance from others at the park or beach or in their own back yards in an effort to avoid the silent killer in our midst, COVID-19. We can still hope it won’t happen, but the number of cases spiked after the Memorial Day and 4th of July holidays. Further, given that at least 167,400 people who were 65 or older have died of the virus, we can only hope that those who didn’t mask up and keep a social distance were thoughtful or careful enough not to invite, or visit their elderly relatives.
To be honest, a lot of us didn’t have anything to celebrate about the disaster that has cost millions of people their jobs and/or their health, or worse, their lives. But I work hard at finding hope or something good about even the worst news. The carnage of COVID-19 and the fiscal fallout have brought the attention of a lot of Americans to the needs of working men and women and their families. Newscasts all over the country showing countless cars lined up for what appears to be miles to pick up donated food for their families bring it home. Worst hit are those who can’t even afford cars. How can one of the wealthiest nations in the world continue to allow this to happen while most of that wealth belongs to the top ten percent and most of that belongs to the top two percent? It gets worse.
News reports universally reflect that most of those who’ve died or are still struggling with the aftermath of the disease had pre-existing health conditions. It should not be a surprise that for far too many in America, especially African Americans, those pre-existing health conditions were often born of gut-wrenching poverty that made them more vulnerable to the virus. Many of them were highly likely to be those who had the most mundane of jobs with pay so low as to render it almost impossible for them to have had any funds saved for a rainy day, much less their burial. Where are their families today? The answer is that we don’t know but we are well aware that millions of families, including those with children, are at great risk of becoming homeless. So what can you do? Let your U.S. Representative and Senators know that you are very unhappy about this and that you’ll REMEMBER in NOVEMBER!