The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmad Aubery are the most recent examples of the oppression imposed on the black community. As of this writing, we are in the the ninth day of marches and protests across the country. I have to admit I am surprised these protests have gone on for this long.

For years the media has part of the public effort to document injustices; that’s a good thing. They should also take responsibility for propagating the fiction these uprisings, resulting from our social ills, can be done peacefully, without the incidental violence or looting they broadcast to us each night. They continue telling us this behavior diminishes the movement. I have to wonder if this narrative is an aspiration or willful ignorance of history.

The media should operate in the real world. They need to understand civil disobedience, looting, and violence come as a package. They should make sure people understand all three of these combine to make up the cost of oppression.

My usual opening.

Stats for the Covid-19 pandemic have continued to grow and fortunately my family has not had to make significant changes in our day-to-day lives and the are certainly nowhere near what have had to. What has happened so far is awful. What should be different going forward?

Damage to our social and economic systems will exist for several years. In some instances, parts of these systems will never recover, and in turn, the people who depend them. I can only imagine how this time in our lives will impact my daughter’s generation beyond.

The kill rate of this virus is between three and four percent globally. We should consider it a warning shot, an opportunity to prepare for others which most members of the public health community are sure to come. We need to learn the lessons available to us from this experience.

How do we manage a virus which remains latent for two weeks or longer while simultaneously being highly infectious? What sort of investment do we make in our medical infrastructure? Would such a venture even be successful preventing the disruption we have seen during this pandemic.

At the beginning of this missive I asked what needs to happen going forward. In any solution to a problem before anything can happen decisions must be made. Some of these decisions are supposed to be made by leaders, in fact, decisions in times of crisis are supposed to be the calling card of a great leader. The current individual occupying- when not cowering in a bunker below it -White House is not part of that club. Keep that in mind when you go to vote this November, elections have consequences.