The Half-Truth of Covid-19
Written by Sharron L. Todd
Writer & Director: “Dear Elijah”
Café & Bakery Owner of Brooklyn Cafe & Baking Co
Co-Founder & Director of The art of peace
My mom is over sixty. She gets her exercise by taking long daily walks through a large wooded park, 10 miles from our house in Northern Virginia.
My dad diligently drives her to the park each day and waits in the car while she takes her walks. He does this because she is a woman walking alone and he wants to make sure she feels safe. She is also starting to lose hearing in one ear, which makes her even more vulnerable to her surroundings. Being prideful, she insists on at least walking alone and at her own pace. With my father being 70 years old, she also doesn’t want him to overextend his injured knees.
Sister Brenda Todd
Recently, my sister and I made a special call home. It was similar to a call we made a few years back to our father, who is a dark-skinned Black man. That call was to ensure that if he was ever pulled over by a dishonorable cop while driving, that even if the cop were younger than him, to not expect respect. That even though our father is a retired officer from the U.S. Army, to not assume patriotic gratitude. That even though he’s never committed a crime, to not expect civility. We asked him to make himself smaller, so he was guaranteed to make it home alive.
Though my father, who was born in 1950 in Alabama, has faced systemic racism since the moment he was born- there was a resurgence of bold public racism that came attached to the Trump administration. What also came attached to Trump’s presidency, and directly from his mouth in official media briefings, was the term “Kong Flu” when referencing Covid-19 (with the intent on blaming the spread of the virus on Chinese people). This term caught on quick with racists and xenophobes and the states has seen an alarming increase in violence against Asians. The attackers, not knowing or caring about the difference between Asians, have not only attacked Chinese Americans- but anyone who resemble them.
So this time, this call was to convince our parents that our mom should no longer walk alone, even if our dad was parked close by. Our mom is a 5’2 Korean woman, who recently became a grandmother when our older sister had our niece. As the world has seen in the news recently, grandmothers are not off limits to being violently attacked at random in self-promoted “civilized” countries.
There are many theories, but no conclusive evidence, on the exact origins of the coronavirus. Though the first reported case of Covid-19 was traced back to Wuhan, China- whether it originated in a lab or a wet market (or some other channel) is still being debated by scientists and disease experts worldwide.
However, world cynics have already decided that the virus undoubtedly came from Chinese people’s consumption of exotic foods (such as bats) or that the government maliciously implanted the virus. Even if any or all of the above are true, the assumption being made (especially by the simple-minded racist) is that the billions of Chinese people on earth (and apparently their Asian counterparts) are responsible for the current pandemic. Let’s explore this further.
A less popular topic on the rapid spread of the virus is how a ski resort village Ischgl, in western Austria, became a hub for Covid-19 “super spreaders” in March 2020. The spread across Europe has been directly traced to Austria. The Austrian government is currently being sued for knowing about the virus in February yet continued business as normal. According to The New York Times, “thousands of skiers carried the coronavirus to more than 40 countries on five continents. Many of Iceland’s first known cases were traced to Ischgl. In March 2020, nearly half the cases in Norway were linked to Austrian ski holidays.”
There has been no news of Austrians, or those who resemble them, being violently attacked for causing the spread of the virus across Europe and 4 other continents (which include North America, therefore the United States).
One of the most dumfounding aspects of racism is that facts become secondary to prejudice. Because of this, a rise in “trauma porn” and the video documentation of violence against ethnic minorities have risen. And even with video evidence, racists will still dispute racism.
For those who profess not to be racists or racially prejudice, let us not contribute to the humanitarian crimes against ethnic minorities by refusing independent thought and research. The future relies on the everyday person to question the information they are being given and even when that becomes too much, common sense and reason must be employed.
