Black Lives Matter and COVID-19

Abstract

There is a profound lesson in the coincident timing of the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic: in each case, support for the most oppressed or most ill amongst us portends support for ourselves. We are humbled to concede that if we do not respect everyone, we do not respect anyone, just as if we don't prevent, treat, and cure disease everywhere, we don't do so anywhere. Our collective dignity and health depend upon the dignity and health of the most vulnerable amongst us. The preservation of oneself depends upon the preservation of all people. Our humanity is inevitably, inexorably, forever entwined with one another.