Chapter Twelve: The Real Virus?

Photo by Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

May 31, 2020

Dear Diary,

I feel as though all the ills of American society are on display.

For a nation founded on ideals of equality, Coronavirus certainly has exposed all the ways in which we aren’t. From unequal access to proper healthcare, to educational inequality, to income inequality so great that nearly half of Americans were unprepared for a $400 emergency expense before the shutdown, this crisis has laid bare how truly vulnerable so many of us are. Mostly, though, it’s our racial inequalities, which are so deeply rooted and intertwined with all the other inequalities, that it’s hard to see where one starts and where another ends.

Diary, a black man in Minneapolis was murdered in broad daylight by a white police officer who casually kept his hands in his pockets, while methodically suffocating him with his knee for more than eight minutes. Most disturbingly, the officer kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for two minutes and 53 seconds after he had stopped breathing. 

Three other officers stood by and did nothing to intervene. 

Diary, they’ve arrested the officer who did this. An officer who, as it turns out, was repeatedly let off the hook, despite seventeen complaints against him over his nineteen year career.

And, all this over a $20 counterfeit bill. Something so unworthy of taking another’s life, and yet something we’ve seen time and time before, whether it was a bag of Skittles (Trayvon Martin), a few loose cigarettes (Eric Garner), a stack of CDs (Alton Sterling), a driver’s license (Philando Castile), or an afternoon jog (Ahmaud Arbery).

We should all be outraged. 

We aren’t stuck. We can change.

For nearly three months, the Great Shutdown has changed the way we do everything. The Great Shutdown forced us to stay home, but it didn’t make us stop.

All around the world, mankind harnessed tremendous ingenuity and grit as local governments, businesses, hospitals, schools, teachers, parents, even late-night talkshow hosts, reshaped and refashioned themselves literally overnight to confront this crisis. In some ways, it has opened our eyes to how easily we could have been doing better all along. 

When we work together, when we harness our collective power, we can do so much good, so quickly. As Americans, we must listen to the voices of our African American brothers and sisters, confront our systemic racism and be brave enough to change the status quo right now.

The duties of this “New Governess,” and those of all governesses, really, is not simply to shield our young charges’ eyes from the ugliness and hate of mob violence, but also to humanize the plight of the original protesters, not the looters, whose racist mistreatment by police thwarts America’s lofty ideals and rightly provokes this simmering conflict time and time again.

Very truly yours,

Maya