Just as New Yorkers were looking to put the worst of the pandemic behind us, just as we prepared for Governor Cuomo’s daily briefings to finally tell us that it was safe to reopen parts of the economy, we were made witness to an absolutely horrific eight minutes and 46 seconds. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, following as it did on the heels of the killings of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, galvanized white America in a way not seen before, even during the struggle for Civil Rights in the 1960s. It was an America that was already being made aware of the price of systemic racism in the higher COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death rates of African-Americans; their higher rates of job loss; and the continual harassment of People of Color who were doing nothing more than jogging or bird-watching.
The Republican responses to these crises have been anemic, insensitive, or outrageous. The Trump White House, as has been its custom, denies and obscures the true nature of the nation’s miseries with conspiracy theories and outright nonsense. The pandemic is either a “Democratic hoax” or a “Chinese virus.” The same is alleged to be true of the economic slowdown that followed. The peaceful protests for justice are the result of “anarchists, socialists, or terrorists”, rather than the consequence of centuries of injustice and systemic racism. Instead of offering real solutions, the President chooses to fan the flames. Then, in classic Republican fashion, the talking points from Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell have been repeated by local Republican officials who have been stubbornly distracting from and downplaying the serious nature of these issues.
Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than saluting Governor Cuomo for his groundbreaking leadership in formulating a science-based plan to control the earliest and, by far, most severe outbreak in the nation, what did Assemblyman Colin Schmitt do? Like too many short-sighted Republicans, he wanted to re-open in May.
He risked spreading infection by going door-to-door with petitions demanding in-person graduation ceremonies, and he introduced a bill seeking to limit Governor Cuomo's power. In other words, while Democratic candidate Sarita Bhandarkar was making wellness calls to vulnerable citizens, Colin Schmitt, like so many Republicans, got COVID completely wrong.
Schmitt, instead of realizing—as the rest of the civilized world has—that a healthy populace is necessary to a thriving economy, like his fellow Republicans locally and nationally, treats the economic catastrophe as if it is separate from the pandemic and has been focused on reopening without regard for the potential consequences. Schmitt was pushing for the reopening in mid-May.
We are seeing the results of such policy decisions in states that reopened too soon. Those states that followed President Trump’s advice rather than the CDC’s are seeing the worst spike in COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Governor Cuomo’s approach worked; the results are clear.
Orange County Executive, Republican Steve Neuhaus, managed to encapsulate what appears to be his party's misguided reply to these growing crises. Comparing the protests against police violence and the protests against Corona-mitigation measures he said, “It sounds crazy but in reality, that is what we are looking at here, #doublestandard.” What's “crazy” is the Republican idea that being “forced” to wear a mask equates with the long and often violent denial of “inalienable rights” to a large segment of Americans: no nation can thrive if any part of it doesn't feel secure.