COVID-19 will ensure my vote
To the Times:
Like you and everyone I know, I’m shocked that the coronavirus has reached the White House. President Trump’s failure to take COVID-19 seriously means that his staff and family are now infected with the virus. Seeing how devastating this virus has been to my community, I truly wish them well. I have compassion for the fears they will still face now that they tested positive.
However, lucky for them, my taxes pay for them to have the best in the world health care that some of us probably couldn’t imagine. Neither Trump, his staff, nor any of his other wealthy supporters, will worry about how their bills will be paid while they take time to recover. While this virus is scary for everyone, their reality will be vastly different from what essential workers like me face every day.
I am a Delco resident and am an airport security officer at the Philadelphia International Airport. I face my fears and show up to protect others even though it could put my own health at risk. We fear for the health and safety of our families. The president’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 crisis has nearly killed the airline industry, which has meant layoffs for many of my workers with no end in sight. I know many people who are still out of work. My community depends on PHL because thousands of black workers in Delco make their living at PHL. We have been completely left behind by Trump’s response to COVID.
Our lives are at stake in this 2020 election. And we know who will fight to protect frontline essential workers.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have a plan to address the coronavirus, which will protect Black, and brown frontline workers like myself and our communities. Instead of downplaying and lying about the virus like President Trump, Biden and Harris will increase testing, access to health care, PPE and will finally give us the federal response we need.
Biden and Harris understand that millions of Black workers like me are hanging on by a thread. They will fight to protect working people by raising the minimum wage to a $15 an hour and will make sure frontline workers get hazard pay and job protection. They will extend the right to join together in a union to working people who have been left out by outdated and unfair laws. We know they will work closely with unions to protect frontline workers, make paid leave available to all workers, and work to create good jobs for everyone. Biden’s Build Back Better plan even includes a path for more young black and brown students to get training and assistance in starting a union career path.
I am voting for the team that I know has a plan to help our country recover from this pandemic, to keep us safe and healthy, and to help us get back to prosperity and growth. I’m voting for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, friends of working people.