"To be clear, there is no evidence that racial and ethnic minorities have an inherently greater predilection of being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus or dying from it when compared to white persons. A more accurate predictor of infection is poverty, and a higher likelihood of working at jobs that can’t be done remotely."
The quandary of what to do with our history is highly prescient in this American moment of historical identity crisis. The question of which monuments or street names to preserve or strike is only the most tangible outward expression of the fight over the meaning of our shared public memory.
"This isn’t an issue that should have two sides. Given the preponderance of data in favor of mask wearing, it seems sensible to promote their usage. Countries that were early to adopt masks have controlled their epidemics more effectively."
"Like the rest of the country, New Orleans is suspended in a state of anxious anticipation. This tourism-dependent city is tiptoeing into reopening, with neither a vaccine nor widespread testing. It’s a dilemma facing every municipality, but in a city whose identity, culture and economy are fueled by human interactions, the issue seems particularly fraught here." Martin Pedersen interviews author and former Lens editor Jed Horne about the tough times ahead.
"Nothing saddens or discourages me more in these distressing times than the massive chasm between our experiences as members of this one race — a chasm manifested tragically in the capacity of one member of our race to take away the breath of another member. Even worse, in the evident belief of that person that he had the right to take breath and life away from another person."
"While the entire world is experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic, not every country’s experience is the same. Some countries have far lower transmission and death rates per capita than others. These countries have one very important thing in common: nearly universal adoption of mask-wearing."
"If there is a concept that’s at the core of American ideology, the American Dream is it, and its logic makes it easy for us to disregard poverty and incarceration as outcomes that only the worst of us reap."
"Calls to defund the police and/or prison abolition can sound scary to those just hearing about them. Understanding what these mean and how they're justified may help people grapple with what might appear frightening and too radical at first."
Author Orissa Arend recalls the Black Panthers' community policing effort in the Desire Housing Project in her latest op-ed. "Look at us now, 50 years later, experiencing a worldwide consciousness awakening to the realization that the Panthers were right!"
"I believe we could feed our fellow New Orleanians in a dignified way, rally the community behind a mission, and make sure no one goes hungry in the best food city in America," writes the founder of the Krewe of Red Beans. But he says the city's RFP has some issues.
