Asking hard questions about COVID-19 deaths

Itaught Latin American history, especially the early colonial history of Mexico, for nearly 40 years. One of the topics I thought and taught about for all that time was the loss of life that occurred there after the arrival of Spaniards. Upward of 90 percent of the Indigenous population died between 1519 and 1620.

When I began teaching, I often explained that, while the loss of life was immense, this was not genocide because the Spanish had not purposefully introduced the diseases that did so much damage. But historians have become more thoughtful about the question of genocide: If a colonizing power creates conditions that further the spread of disease, they are complicit in the spread and have created genocidal conditions.

That brings me to today. Are we witnessing genocide in the United States? While anyone can get and die from COVID-19, those most affected include the elderly, people with preexisting conditions, and people of color, especially Native Americans.

Apart from the depraved indifference to the mounting death toll that we have witnessed from the White House and national Republicans broadly, there are several specific actions that have been taken that are furthering the spread of COVID-19.

One is actually a nonaction: refusing to admit the seriousness of this disease and to have a plan to combat it.

A second is the idea, dating back to the early days of the pandemic, that because it was mainly affecting so-called blue states at that point, it was OK, even preferable, to downplay COVID-19 as much as possible because those states lacked a majority of Trump voters.

Third is the idea that the sacrifice of elderly people by not locking down or taking other precautions was acceptable, so memorably voiced by former radio personality and current Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, in order for the economy to function “normally,” which under pandemic conditions it cannot.

The assault on the Affordable Care Act by the self-proclaimed pro-life GOP — narrowing its scope, encouraging the sale of junk insurance and making it harder for people to sign up — has continued during the pandemic.

And finally, in states that tried to suppress mail-in voting (aided by the actions of Louis DeJoy and the U.S. Postal Service), that undertaking encouraged in-person voting and endangered voters and poll workers.

All of these actions contribute to our nation’s worsening death toll. I can only ask: How does this not constitute genocide?

Susan Kellogg lives in Santa Fe.