20200606 - Corona Virus Part 12 - Black Lives Matter Part 1

Howdy and welcome! Wendy and I are faring well in our little tin can by the sea. Today, we have tropical storm Cristobal passing to our west in the Gulf of Mexico, so it's a very rainy day. It looks like it is heading to New Orleans, so I pray that the "fixes" from Hurricane Katrina hold under the test from this tropical storm. During this past week, the rain has been on and off, mainly in the late afternoon, but starting yesterday, this has been pretty steady. The street in front of our home was sealed on Tuesday this past week, which sealed us in, since the front office wanted 48 hours with no traffic so that the sealing could penetrate the asphalt. As a result, we have eaten pretty much every meal in the tin can - no take out this week. That's been great, since Wendy is an exceptional cook, especially when the pantry turns into a basket from "Chopped." We now have new neighbors! I saw at least one of them out our window yesterday as they had a new air conditioner installed. I'm happy to see someone in that trailer, but I had to grimace when I saw the plates on the car - New York. It may be quite a while before I shake hands or even bump elbows with them. Work has been going well, there were a couple of meetings this past week, which I'll cover a bit below. I did get a surprise from my employer - they vested me in the retirement plans. Turns out that they will fully vest someone if they are over 62, regardless of the longevity of their employment. So, even though I'm a relative newbie, I get to be fully vested. Yahoo! Another piece of gold came from the Department of Veteran's Affairs - I now have VA healthcare. I have an appointment with the doc scheduled, though it may change due to COVID-19 restrictions. It's nice to know that I have something, should work dry up. In Florida, the latest openings are bars at 50% occupancy. A lot has transpired this past week, and I will try to maintain the sectioning that I typically hold: Home and work, Corona virus, Economic, and Political. 

Cases

Deaths

Scope	Cases	% Inc.	Deaths	% Inc.
Worldwide	6,906,762	13.5	399,577	8.5
United States	1,971,818	9.4	111,525	6.4
Florida	62,758	13.2	2,688	9.8
Pinellas County	1,478	19.4	95	15.9

I've summarized the numbers this week with the table to the left. The statistics are increasing at a higher rate week-over-week, which is the basis for the columns marked "% Inc." Worldwide, the virus continues infecting at 13.5% over the past week, while deaths grow at approximate 8%. Within the US, growth of cases continues at over 9% week-over-week, with the rate of increase of deaths decreasing from 7.2% last week to 6.4% this week. Florida cases have increased to 13.2% while death rates due to COVID-19 have held steady near 10% growth. Pinnelas county has had appreciable increases in the rate of growth of both cases and deaths over the past week. There's one number that is often overlooked - the total number of cases pending. For the US, that number is 1,127,625. That's how many people who have been infected and are currently fighting the disease. In all, I don't think that these are good numbers. In all of the scopes listed, the rate of change of the number of cases is increasing. This is associated with the US, and other countries, opening up to get their economies moving. Without the tax revenue from business and sales, the governments would have to print money, which devalues the currency, making everything more expensive, causing less sales, etc. There has been another issue, besides the blatant disregard for CDC advice, and that has been the protests from Black Lives Matter. 

But first, economic news: Gas at the local 7/11 is $1.83/gal, according to gas buddy. I haven't been out this week to verify that. DJIA has been up this week, starting Monday morning at 26837 and ending on Friday afternoon at 27100. The odd report was the jobs reports - 2.5 million jobs were created during May, and May unemployment was improved from April at 16.3%. It was originally reported at 13.3%, but there was a "misclassification" error that lead to the discrepancy. At any rate, this is still an improvement over the 19.7% reported for April. Even at the lower number, there are a lot of people out-of-work.

Remember Munich? Most have trouble placing that phrase, which commemorates the lives of eleven Israeli competitors that were lost at the 1972 Olympic games. We have short memories, often tied to our continuous needs for WIIFMs (What's in it for me). How about the Tuskegee Syphilis Study? Bill Clinton apologized for that in 1997, though it occurred in 1932. We forget, and we tend to immortalize personas that never really existed to the detriment of those that actually walked this earth. Take Superman, Batman, Aquaman, and the host of Marvel characters - for the most part, they are white. Can you remember seven years ago when Black Lives Matter came to the forefront? What was the case - do you recall? I'll jog your memory - Treyvon Martin. That was the unarmed 17-year-old black kid who George Zimmerman, as a security guard, shot and killed in self defense. I'm not very proud that when I first saw the hash tag #BlackLivesMatter, I pointed out to my granddaughter that this is a case of reverse discrimination - I was totally wrong. To this day, I don't like that hash tag, it imposes too much entitlement, but the more I learn, the more I understand. On May 26, 2020 George Floyd died under the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis Minnesota. That awakened a world that I had dismissed my whole life. The world where blacks are second class citizens. A world where there is a one-in-three chance of a black boy who is growing up now to be incarcerated for a crime. A world where in order to do well, you were going to have to do it alone. And now I listen. At work, I had two meetings where I listened. I listened to stories of sisters who cannot see one another at family gatherings because the father was opposed to his daughter marrying a black man. Stories about fear of going through the white neighborhood on their way to work because they are black. And stories from black mothers, who have young children that don't want to be black anymore. I had a hand in doing this. My indifference, and search for a WIIFM has let them down. And now, in the sea of protests, the police continue to escalate using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. In defiance of a suspension to two of their officers, 57 officers stepped down from the riot squad in Buffalo New York. The union may soon realize that they overbid - at 16% unemployment, there's a whole host of contractors that would be willing to perform that function. The looting needs to stop, which is improving, but as long as the state continues to abuse its citizens, the looting will continue. If it's a curfew violation, then treat it as a curfew violation, not some escalated charge. Too many have died and too many will continue to die if we don't start listening to one another. Story by story. I've often said that everyone has five ailments and one really good story. It's time to hear the stories. I grew up in a world isolated from blacks as a kid, because my parents considered them second-class and dangerous. It wasn't until very recently that I understood this. Now, it's my job to shed that skin of fear and listen; really listen. This won't be fixed overnight, nor within my lifetime. So, I can't walk the entire journey, but I'll try to take some steps to help.

And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?

Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?

Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?

Ain't there one damn song that can make me break down and cry?

- David Bowie, Young Americans, Young Americans, 1975