The year of the dead — how politics are killing U. S.
It’s a terrifying season. On this day, Mexican families adorn altars in memory of their loved ones in celebration of the day of the dead. But we in the United States have a more sinister reality to observe.
The year of the dead.
This year created far too many ancestors to place on our nation’s altar. The COVID- 19 death toll continues to rise, already claiming about 226,000 lives in the U. S. That’s about the combined population of Arvada and Boulder.
Add the Black lives lost in the hands of police. Sum the murders of our transgender sisters and brothers and gender non- binary siblings. Compound the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. And include the needless fatalities of protestors, both left and right.
Too many lives for such little justice and progress. Too many preventable deaths with no accountability. Election day is a reminder that politics aggravate the numbers. While some play politics many die.
How you vote in a couple of days tells me who you think is worthy of life. A Joe Biden vote is a move toward the reunification of our nation. A Trump vote supports more of the division, inaction, violence, and toxicity he wages daily.
If you aren’t mourning this year’s tragic death toll on U. S. you are in a state of dissociation. COVID- 19 mortalities are a sign of the health disparities and racial inequities that communities of color deal with.
According to the CDC, Latino and Black adults are nearly twice as likely to die of COVID- 19 than white adults. Several factors contribute to higher infections in communities of color.
Black and Latino workers are overrepresented essential workers in the food and agricultural industries. Workers of color are exposed at higher rates to the virus. Many do not have the luxury of working jobs from home.
Latino families also are more likely to live in crowded housing situations. Many times several generations of family members live under one roof. When someone falls ill, the chances of infecting other family members rises.
Latinos frequently lack access to quality medical care and health insurance. Undocumented people are excluded from all federal government aid.
Trump’s only health care plan has been to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. This has left even more low- income and workingclass families vulnerable. People of color suffer from the president’s political polarity and pansoil, demic inaction. It’s time to challenge this America.
Some see challenging America as anti- patriotic or too ideal. People mention idealism like it’s a cursed word. Others say you become less idealistic and more conservative with age. Only those privileged enough find comfort in traditionalism with age. But that status quo is killing the rest of us.
America’s greatest changemakers have been idealists. They’re
known for shaking the status quo. American novelist and activist James Baldwin once wrote, “I love America more than any other country in the world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
We should all be critical of America’s rot. Unequivocally denounce white supremacy, health inequities, and institutional racism. All areas fueled by Trump’s anti- Latino and anti- immigrant rhetoric.
“It’s not a comfortable territory to live in, this place of contradictions,” Gloria Anzaldúa the Chicana writer said. In the discomfort is where we grow, individually and as a nation.
If you vote for Trump this year don’t blame the extreme left for changing your mind. You haven’t cared for the lives of undocumented workers, queer and trans people, Black,
Latino and Indigenous communities long before Trump.
We need to double down on the true values of compassion, care, community, and unity. Regardless of party affiliation. A vote for Trump this time around is a vote for a more sexist, racist, and divisive America. If you voted for Trump the first time, you could hide behind complacency. This time you vote as an accomplice to his hate.
Queer, Black, and brown ancestors like Baldwin and Anzaldúa have encouraged us to imagine and build an America that is for us all. An America for the poor, Black, brown, queer, and disabled communities. Not an America that is hostage to white fear and terror.
This year we honor those who have died by rejecting needless and preventable death. Let’s honor all the lives lost by voting Trump’s America out.
Only the final ballot count will tell if this deadly era lives on.