This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated April 24, 2020
Last week, flyers in Staten Island advertised an April 19 “End The Lockdown Rally.” The promotions stated “no mask needed,” encouraged people to “bring their children,” and said that “if you’re sick still come, it’s your right.”
Fortunately, the only people who showed up to what was billed as a “Keep America Great #MAGA” demonstration that day were members of the NYPD. Obviously, there is a strong possibility this was a hoax, but it is sad that we can’t tell for certain because there are actual rallies like this taking place around the country and there are people in our own neighborhoods espousing the same rhetoric.
Right-wing demonstrators have been gathering around the country to protest stay-at-home restrictions. Photos and videos from these rallies show participants, shoulder-to-shoulder in packed crowds, most without face coverings. In opposing the restrictions this way, they are possibly spreading the virus that is making social distancing necessary in the first place.
This shouldn’t be political, but the politics of those protesting is clear and the President they lionize is fully behind them. President Trump voiced his support when he tweeted, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA” on April 17 and then followed with two more tweets about liberating Michigan and Virginia.
It is hard to comprehend how many of the same people who have in the past attacked women holding signs saying, “Hands off my body” or “My body, my choice” are now at rallies carrying posters with the exact same messages. The anti-quarantine demonstrators have been seen with signs reading, “Live free or die” and “Give me liberty or give me death,” but in each of those choices, they seem to be pushing for the latter option for themselves or others whose freedom or liberty they have no concern infringing upon.
On April 15, “Operation Gridlock” was held in Michigan, creating traffic snarls that prevented ambulances from getting those in need of urgent care to the hospital quickly. On April 18, hordes of people at a Texas rally chanted, “FIRE FAUCI!” On April 19, anti-shutdown demonstrators who were using their vehicles to cause traffic jams in Colorado had the tables turned on them by two nurses, who decided to stand in a crosswalk and prevent them from driving on.
“As we take these drastic steps to collectively lessen how many people contract COVID-19, we need to deal with the mental health ramifications of living in this new state.”
Protests continued on April 20, where in Harrisburg, PA a procession of vehicles passed hordes of demonstrators, including a semi with the words “Jesus is my vaccine” scrawled across it and a flag with a graphic of Donald Trump’s head on the body of Rambo. That same day, Kentucky saw its highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases after multiple anti-lockdown protests in the days prior.
The same day Florida saw its highest one-day increase of cases, 1,413, Gov DeSantis reopened the beaches. As Georgia neared 20,000 total cases, Gov Kemp revealed his plan to reopen his state a few days later.
Economic devastation and loss of jobs are major, life-altering problems for millions of Americans. For so many, they cannot work from home or their employer cannot operate their business during a lockdown.
I personally know small business owners who are struggling. I know people who have lost their jobs. They say that it is incredibly hard and they are not sure what to do. But I’ve not heard one of them say that the measures that have been enacted to save lives should be lifted because of the financial ramifications it has had on them.
The people I know who have been greatly affected by this shutdown have a different mentality than those griping about it. Not only does their political philosophy differ from that of the anti-quarantine protesters, but their morals are also calibrated differently. They think about those less fortunate than them even when they are financially impacted so negatively. They view loss of life, even if it is related to people they don’t know, as far more important.
During the 1940s, appeasing Hitler and avoiding war would have eliminated many sacrifices American families faced, but we made moral decisions that were rooted in collectivism. Now we need to protect the wellbeing of that generation by following the example they set for us decades ago.
