Anonymous, 15 – East Hartford, CT
How do you destroy the health of a country?
How do you shove millions into the hands of the government by unemployment?
How do you sacrifice the health of millions?
A global pandemic.
But what makes neighbor turn against neighbor?
What makes Americans turn against Americans?
What causes racism against the people we have grown up with?
What makes people disrespect and underfund a system intended to keep us healthy?
That’s not a global virus,
It’s an American one.
It’s a virus that has gone undetected,
Or at least gone unspoken of
Since way before 2020.
It’s the broken system our country was built on,
The same broken system that the most privileged Americans survive and thrive on.
Because you can blame a virus for killing people
But you can’t blame a virus for selfishness.
You can pretend that racism against Chinese Americans was caused by the Virus but that’s not one of the symptoms.
You can’t blame the virus for healthy people fighting healthy people
For the job they work or the race they were born.
The Corona Virus didn’t walk into America and strip us of the values we say we hold.
The virus never walked into America and stole our food
Or our toilet paper
Or the basic necessities that doctors, nurses, and paramedics need to operate.
The virus is killing Americans.
But Americans are killing America.
Until we hold each other accountable for the racism, classism, wealth divide, and hatred that has had a place in America long before the virus,
The American people will always be infected.
And this infection of the American people can’t be diagnosed,
Or quarantined,
Or treated.
This one is written in the streets,
In the cities,
In every aisle of every grocery store,
Passed through every generation.
It lingers and hides from the media,
Preying on the vulnerable, the innocent, and the American population,
Just waiting for the next American struggle to reveal itself.
Anonymous, 15 – East Hartford, CT
How do you destroy the health of a country?
How do you shove millions into the hands of the government by unemployment?
How do you sacrifice the health of millions?
A global pandemic.
But what makes neighbor turn against neighbor?
What makes Americans turn against Americans?
What causes racism against the people we have grown up with?
What makes people disrespect and underfund a system intended to keep us healthy?
That’s not a global virus,
It’s an American one.
It’s a virus that has gone undetected,
Or at least gone unspoken of
Since way before 2020.
It’s the broken system our country was built on,
The same broken system that the most privileged Americans survive and thrive on.
Because you can blame a virus for killing people
But you can’t blame a virus for selfishness.
You can pretend that racism against Chinese Americans was caused by the Virus but that’s not one of the symptoms.
You can’t blame the virus for healthy people fighting healthy people
For the job they work or the race they were born.
The Corona Virus didn’t walk into America and strip us of the values we say we hold.
The virus never walked into America and stole our food
Or our toilet paper
Or the basic necessities that doctors, nurses, and paramedics need to operate.
The virus is killing Americans.
But Americans are killing America.
Until we hold each other accountable for the racism, classism, wealth divide, and hatred that has had a place in America long before the virus,
The American people will always be infected.
And this infection of the American people can’t be diagnosed,
Or quarantined,
Or treated.
This one is written in the streets,
In the cities,
In every aisle of every grocery store,
Passed through every generation.
It lingers and hides from the media,
Preying on the vulnerable, the innocent, and the American population,
Just waiting for the next American struggle to reveal itself.