thenation--2020-05-16--How Covid-19 Is Affecting Military Families

“ When he first came home , it was tough.
” So Aleha , the wife of an airman in Colorado , told me .
She was describing her family ’ s life since her husband , who lives with chronic depression , completed a partial hospitalization program and , in March , along with other members of his unit , entered a pandemic lockdown .
He was now spending full days at home with her and their four children , which offered needed family time and rest from the daily rigors of training .
Yet the military ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Aside from weekly online sessions with his therapist ( the third the military had assigned him in so many weeks ) , Aleha was left to provide her husband with needed emotional support , while homeschooling their older children and caring for their toddler .
Her husband , like the other 1.3 million active-duty service members in the United States , faces what most of the rest of the country is facing : orders to stay at home and distance themselves from those outside their households to prevent the spread of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 82,000 Americans and more than 295,000 people worldwide .
Yet there ’ s something distinctive about what members of the American military ( whose suicide rates now surpass civilian ones ) face : the stress posed by the threat of the most literal “ frontline service ” in these times of endless war and pandemic .
They find themselves in uniform in an era of more frequent deployments and longer training days .
Even in pre-pandemic times , they needed the support of psychiatrists and therapists like me and of their military community @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mental health problems has often been to coach them on what not to say to avoid being medically disqualified from duty .
Troops and their families have needed access to supportive social groups , including religious ones , antidepressants and other mood medications , and off-base mental-health providers who can counsel them in a more unbiased way .
In many cases , they also need access to inpatient facilities for when the going gets really rough .
In the past months , daily life for our troops and their families has been transformed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ example , many new recruits are now quarantined when they arrive at military bases .
Physical training is staggered and conducted in smaller groups .
Given bans on movement , military spouses and kids scheduled to relocate ( a common enough phenomenon in such a life ) or families with a member deployed elsewhere in the world are living in striking states of isolation and uncertainty .
They are increasingly unsure when they will see loved ones again or where they will live or study in the months to come .
How starkly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the military was highlighted by the suicides of two students at the US Air Force Academy last month .
Those deaths came after that school ’ s leadership decided to place the 1,000 seniors still on campus in single rooms , the equivalent of solitary confinement , for weeks on end to prevent the spread of Covid-19 .
It ’ s striking how little effort our military ’ s high command has put into understanding the effects of national crises on the health of military families .
After all , though it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other family members have been subject to the same job losses , homeschooling issues , and lack of childcare as other Americans amid a spreading pandemic—and all of this has only been heightened by the loss of local social connections due to frequent moves .
In addition , as in the society at large , within military communities inequalities abound .
The government has deemed both my husband , a naval officer , and Aleha ’ s husband “ essential workers.
” That means my husband must go into the Pentagon a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ handle mysterious—to me , at least—matters related to our country ’ s nuclear arsenal .
In return for this modest risk to his own and our family ’ s health , my “ essential ” husband is otherwise able to watch our kids almost full time while I pursue my work as a mental-health therapist from home .
Our privilege in rank and pay places me in a very different position from the spouses of enlisted troops .
Despite that position of privilege , given my work , I have a strong sense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ existing social inequalities .
In 2011 , along with Catherine Lutz and Neta Crawford , I cofounded the Costs of War Project , a nonpartisan , multidisciplinary team of academic , health care , and legal experts who continue to analyze the costs of the US decision to respond to the 9/11 attacks with full-scale military action , including the opportunities missed to invest in critical domestic areas like health care .
I ’ m also a therapist who specializes in trauma-focused care for military veterans and their families , refugees , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of whom have been affected by armed conflicts in their homelands .
In addition , as a Navy spouse and mother of two young children who has completed four military-related moves in the course of my husband ’ s career as a submariner , I know what social isolation and uncertainty can feel like and how they can affect the human psyche .
I ’ m aware as well that , as the Covid-19 crisis drags on and more troops fall ill , my spouse could be sent back to sea or to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where our military has a presence or is fighting what are increasingly pandemic wars .
And believe me , when you ’ re alone during a spouse ’ s deployment , even in the best of times , which these aren ’ t , shit can hit the fan remarkably fast .
In 2017 , for instance , while my husband was at sea and out of contact , I contracted a nasty , vaccine-resistant version of the flu .
I was single-parenting two toddlers and found myself ubering with my children to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because I had a fast-rising fever that made walking , let alone lifting a baby , difficult .
A neighbor , the divorced wife of a Navy veteran , left Campbell ’ s soup on our doorstep but shied away from taking my children long enough for me to get care .
This was at a moment when my husband ’ s ship commander ( who could only be described as a “ toxic leader ” ) threatened spouses who frequented anything but command-sanctioned Family Readiness Groups , formed to support troops during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less likely that wives like me in that military community would establish friendships strong enough to lead someone to take a chance on helping a sick friend .
If an experience as fleeting and minor as mine felt as trying as it did , then what have the family members of the crew of the aircraft carrier , USS Theodore Roosevelt , more than 1,000 of whom tested positive for Covid-19 recently , experienced in their moments of need ?
During my own mini-drama with the flu , I continued to receive emails @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , herself the wife of an enlisted sailor , reminding me of my “ essential role ” in national security .
Spouses like me were not to even think about writing our husbands concerning our own problems , including illnesses , lest we distress them and so endanger national security .
I wonder if the spouses of the infected crew members of the Roosevelt felt similarly “ protected ” by a naval leadership that refuses to disclose significant information about the well-being of their loved ones , even as they no doubt struggle @ @ @ @ @ @ @ too .
In our gender and class stratified society , you are usually deemed “ essential ” only when those in power feel they truly need you .
The rest of us non-essentials are seldom sufficiently protected , valued , or seen , and in truth that turns out to be the reality for most essentials as well .
( If you don ’ t believe me , just check out the conditions in any meat-processing plant still open in your state . )
It ’ s no secret anymore that one casualty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this pandemic is a mental-health crisis on a staggering scale .
Among therapists like myself , it ’ s widely known that being in a community where you feel you ’ re a contributor offers genuine protection when it comes to suicidal urges .
Among people I know who work in low-paid staff jobs where social distancing is impossible , the difference between feeling depressed and hopeless and having the energy to get to the next day is often the conviction that you ’ re appreciated by coworkers and those you are helping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your struggles at work and elsewhere today is through group therapy and support .
I ’ ve seen this firsthand at the community mental health clinic where I work , while also dealing with veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder .
Speaking in face-to-face groups gives you the opportunity to feel supported even as you support others .
And in the social-distancing era of Covid-19 , because so much communication is nonverbal and Zoom therapy captures only talking heads , such methods may be losing their power .
This makes military spouses , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , nurses , doctors , and care workers of every sort who must encounter people with health crises on a daily basis , so vital to our current struggle against this virus .
They provide medical help , of course , but also deeply needed support at a moment when social distancing has placed on pause many other outlets for it .
The Essential , the Vulnerable , and the Unseen Much ink has been spilled recently on the heroic nature of such care workers , and for good reason .
They ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a president who empowers his supporters to shun the advice of medical professionals and scientists—including his own .
A recent image of a masked retired surgeon with a homemade sign ( “ You have no ‘ right ’ to put us all at risk .
Go home !
” ) standing in front of a car to register his disagreement with last month ’ s ( largely white ) anti-lockdown , pro-Trump protests in Richmond , Virginia , catches the essence of this conflict .
I recently spoke with a young woman of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very image , because a family member of hers is a cafeteria worker in a military hospital ward treating Covid-19 patients .
“ People don ’ t realize how their protests affect my family , ” she told me , explaining that they could be susceptible to any wave of Covid-19 infection resulting from such thoughtless protests .
Yet none of her family members had either the knowledge , money , or connections to get the best health care , if infected .
In an age of growing division between hospitals with ample @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and those where doctors , driven by a manufactured scarcity , are making arbitrary and discriminatory decisions about who deserves life-saving care , I understand her anguish .
As anti-poverty activist Liz Theoharis has pointed out , many of the tasks most vital to stemming this epidemic are going to be performed by low-paid workers with the least access to decent housing in which to socially distance themselves and to the money and social connections that would link them to the best medical advice .
How can this country care for those the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctors and military personnel , when we don ’ t care for those who care for them ?
Similarly , you would have to include not just therapists like me , who find ourselves supporting an ever-more-isolated , stir-crazy , and stressed-out populace , but also the staff members and janitors who help us and clean our offices .
In the military , you would also have to include spouses homeschooling their kids ( including those with special needs ) while working or struggling to figure out how to pay their bills .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ not just because the value of a human being should be absolute , whether you ’ re essential or not , but because , in this pandemic world of ours , devaluing anyone ’ s life will have consequences for us all .
In a recent op-ed , Costs of War Project codirectors Catherine Lutz and Neta Crawford argued that , no matter what President Trump says , we ’ re not in a “ war ” against the coronavirus .
War did , however , play a crucial role in getting us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an average of $ 230 billion annually to waging our hopeless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq , while only a microscopic fraction of such moneys have been going into health care and education at home .
Costs of War Project economist Heidi Garrett-Peltier showed that , had this country invested the same amount of money in health care rather than its forever wars , twice the number of jobs would have been created and that ’ s no small thing at a moment when the United States faces a dire shortage of doctors—more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infected by Covid-19—and physicians are being called out of retirement in order to serve .
If there ’ s one thing the Costs of War Project has made clear , it ’ s this : war is about the destruction of the very institutions it purports to protect .
At a time when health care , education , and other social services , including food aid , are so badly needed , why is the military still being funded at astronomical levels , while other agencies are gutted ?
My husband and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” worker .
How can he be called “ essential ” when we spend most of our days together on our Maryland farm as he collects his Department of Defense salary ?
He always reminds me that redundancy in government allows us to function under the worst of circumstances .
If , for instance , Pentagon officials responsible for dealing with threats to our nuclear arsenal were to fall ill en masse or be killed in a sudden attack , others would be available to take their place .
Yet the obvious corollary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ applied to our health care infrastructure in these years and we ’ re paying for that today .
If the president had not gutted the Department of Health and Human Services , perhaps there would have been enough people to ensure that our federal stockpiles of ventilators were properly maintained in preparation for a crisis we knew was coming .
If the pandemic task force created under President Obama hadn ’ t been disbanded , perhaps we would have been better prepared for the spread of Covid-19 .
And if so much of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the military-industrial complex , perhaps there would have been enough healthcare workers to weather this crisis better .
As this invisible pathogen spreads across much of the world , what families like mine worry about is that our nation ’ s ever-expanding global conflicts will only continue to grow in scope and intensity , threatening food and medical supply chains .
Then , in the worst of times , with our military infrastructure in increasing disarray , many more families , including possibly mine , could once again be called into armed conflict @

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“When he first came home, it was tough.” So Aleha, the wife of an airman in Colorado, told me. She was describing her family’s life since her husband, who lives with chronic depression, completed a partial hospitalization program and, in March, along with other members of his unit, entered a pandemic lockdown. He was now spending full days at home with her and their four children, which offered needed family time and rest from the daily rigors of training. Yet the military’s pandemic lockdown had its challenges as well. Aside from weekly online sessions with his therapist (the third the military had assigned him in so many weeks), Aleha was left to provide her husband with needed emotional support, while homeschooling their older children and caring for their toddler.
Her husband, like the other 1.3 million active-duty service members in the United States, faces what most of the rest of the country is facing: orders to stay at home and distance themselves from those outside their households to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus that has killed more than 82,000 Americans and more than 295,000 people worldwide.
Yet there’s something distinctive about what members of the American military (whose suicide rates now surpass civilian ones) face: the stress posed by the threat of the most literal “frontline service” in these times of endless war and pandemic. They find themselves in uniform in an era of more frequent deployments and longer training days. Even in pre-pandemic times, they needed the support of psychiatrists and therapists like me and of their military community, including commanders whose default approach to mental health problems has often been to coach them on what not to say to avoid being medically disqualified from duty.
Troops and their families have needed access to supportive social groups, including religious ones, antidepressants and other mood medications, and off-base mental health providers who can counsel them in a more unbiased way. In many cases, they also need access to inpatient facilities for when the going gets really rough.
In the past months, daily life for our troops and their families has been transformed in previously almost unimaginable ways. For example, many new recruits are now quarantined when they arrive at military bases. Physical training is staggered and conducted in smaller groups. Given bans on movement, military spouses and kids scheduled to relocate (a common enough phenomenon in such a life) or families with a member deployed elsewhere in the world are living in striking states of isolation and uncertainty. They are increasingly unsure when they will see loved ones again or where they will live or study in the months to come. How starkly Covid-19 restrictions can affect already vulnerable members of the military was highlighted by the suicides of two students at the US Air Force Academy last month. Those deaths came after that school’s leadership decided to place the 1,000 seniors still on campus in single rooms, the equivalent of solitary confinement, for weeks on end to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
It’s striking how little effort our military’s high command has put into understanding the effects of national crises on the health of military families. After all, though it’s seldom mentioned, such spouses and other family members have been subject to the same job losses, homeschooling issues, and lack of child care as other Americans amid a spreading pandemic—and all of this has only been heightened by the loss of local social connections due to frequent moves.
In addition, as in the society at large, within military communities inequalities abound. The government has deemed both my husband, a naval officer, and Aleha’s husband “essential workers.” That means my husband must go into the Pentagon a few days a month right now to handle mysterious—to me, at least—matters related to our country’s nuclear arsenal. In return for this modest risk to his own and our family’s health, my “essential” husband is otherwise able to watch our kids almost full-time while I pursue my work as a mental health therapist from home. Our privilege in rank and pay places me in a very different position from the spouses of enlisted troops. Current Issue View our current issue
Social Distancing in a Mental Health Crisis
Despite that position of privilege, given my work, I have a strong sense of how this national crisis has deepened existing social inequalities. In 2011, along with Catherine Lutz and Neta Crawford, I cofounded the Costs of War Project, a nonpartisan, multidisciplinary team of academic, health care, and legal experts who continue to analyze the costs of the US decision to respond to the 9/11 attacks with full-scale military action, including the opportunities missed to invest in critical domestic areas like health care. I’m also a therapist who specializes in trauma-focused care for military veterans and their families, refugees, and immigrants to the United States, many of whom have been affected by armed conflicts in their homelands.
In addition, as a Navy spouse and mother of two young children who has completed four military-related moves in the course of my husband’s career as a submariner, I know what social isolation and uncertainty can feel like and how they can affect the human psyche. I’m aware as well that as the Covid-19 crisis drags on and more troops fall ill, my spouse could be sent back to sea or to one of the many increasingly Covid-19-destabilized places where our military has a presence or is fighting what are increasingly pandemic wars.
And believe me, when you’re alone during a spouse’s deployment, even in the best of times, which these aren’t, shit can hit the fan remarkably fast. In 2017, for instance, while my husband was at sea and out of contact, I contracted a nasty, vaccine-resistant version of the flu. I was single-parenting two toddlers and found myself Ubering with my children to the ER at three in the morning because I had a fast-rising fever that made walking, let alone lifting a baby, difficult.
A neighbor, the divorced wife of a Navy veteran, left Campbell’s soup on our doorstep but shied away from taking my children long enough for me to get care. This was at a moment when my husband’s ship commander (who could only be described as a “toxic leader”) threatened spouses who frequented anything but command-sanctioned Family Readiness Groups, formed to support troops during deployments. This made it that much less likely that wives like me in that military community would establish friendships strong enough to lead someone to take a chance on helping a sick friend.
If an experience as fleeting and minor as mine felt as trying as it did, then what have the family members of the crew of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, more than 1,000 of whom tested positive for Covid-19 recently, experienced in their moments of need? During my own mini-drama with the flu, I continued to receive e-mails from the command’s volunteer ombudsperson, herself the wife of an enlisted sailor, reminding me of my “essential role” in national security. Spouses like me were not to even think about writing our husbands concerning our own problems, including illnesses, lest we distress them and so endanger national security. I wonder if the spouses of the infected crew members of the Roosevelt felt similarly “protected” by a naval leadership that refuses to disclose significant information about the well-being of their loved ones, even as they no doubt struggle with the spread of this virus, too.
In our gender- and class-stratified society, you are usually deemed “essential” only when those in power feel they truly need you. The rest of us nonessentials are seldom sufficiently protected, valued, or seen, and in truth that turns out to be the reality for most essentials as well. (If you don’t believe me, just check out the conditions in any meat-processing plant still open in your state.)
It’s no secret anymore that one casualty of our national “war” against this pandemic is a mental health crisis on a staggering scale. Among therapists like myself, it’s widely known that being in a community where you feel you’re a contributor offers genuine protection when it comes to suicidal urges. Among people I know who work in low-paid staff jobs where social distancing is impossible, the difference between feeling depressed and hopeless and having the energy to get to the next day is often the conviction that you’re appreciated by coworkers and those you are helping.
One way of getting recognition for your struggles at work and elsewhere today is through group therapy and support. I’ve seen this firsthand at the community mental health clinic where I work, while also dealing with veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. Speaking in face-to-face groups gives you the opportunity to feel supported even as you support others. And in the social-distancing era of Covid-19, because so much communication is nonverbal and Zoom therapy captures only talking heads, such methods may be losing their power.
This makes military spouses, as well as janitors, medical aides, nurses, doctors, and care workers of every sort who must encounter people with health crises on a daily basis, so vital to our current struggle against this virus. They provide medical help, of course, but also deeply needed support at a moment when social distancing has placed on pause many other outlets for it.
The Essential, the Vulnerable, and the Unseen
Much ink has been spilled recently on the heroic nature of such care workers, and for good reason. They’re up against an invisible pathogen and a president who empowers his supporters to shun the advice of medical professionals and scientists—including his own. A recent image of a masked retired surgeon with a homemade sign (“You have no ‘right’ to put us all at risk. Go home!”) standing in front of a car to register his disagreement with last month’s (largely white) anti-lockdown, pro-Trump protests in Richmond, Va., catches the essence of this conflict.
I recently spoke with a young woman of color who cried when she saw that very image, because a family member of hers is a cafeteria worker in a military hospital ward treating Covid-19 patients. “People don’t realize how their protests affect my family,” she told me, explaining that they could be susceptible to any wave of Covid-19 infection resulting from such thoughtless protests. Yet none of her family members had either the knowledge, money, or connections to get the best health care, if infected. In an age of growing division between hospitals with ample funding, supplies, and staffing, and those where doctors, driven by a manufactured scarcity, are making arbitrary and discriminatory decisions about who deserves life-saving care, I understand her anguish.
As anti-poverty activist Liz Theoharis has pointed out, many of the tasks most vital to stemming this epidemic are going to be performed by low-paid workers with the least access to decent housing in which to socially distance themselves and to the money and social connections that would link them to the best medical advice. How can this country care for those the powers-that-be deem “essential,” like doctors and military personnel, when we don’t care for those who care for them? Similarly, you would have to include not just therapists like me, who find ourselves supporting an ever-more-isolated, stir-crazy, and stressed-out populace, but also the staff members and janitors who help us and clean our offices.
In the military, you would also have to include spouses homeschooling their kids (including those with special needs) while working or struggling to figure out how to pay their bills. Caring for all such people is important not just because the value of a human being should be absolute, whether you’re essential or not, but because, in this pandemic world of ours, devaluing anyone’s life will have consequences for us all.
The Costs of War, Pandemic Version
In a recent op-ed, Costs of War Project codirectors Catherine Lutz and Neta Crawford argued that no matter what President Trump says, we’re not in a “war” against the coronavirus. War did, however, play a crucial role in getting us into this mess.
Congress has allocated an average of $230 billion annually to waging our hopeless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while only a microscopic fraction of such moneys have been going into health care and education at home. Costs of War Project economist Heidi Garrett-Peltier showed that had this country invested the same amount of money in health care rather than its forever wars, twice the number of jobs would have been created, and that’s no small thing at a moment when the United States faces a dire shortage of doctors—more than 9,000 health care workers have already been infected by Covid-19—and physicians are being called out of retirement in order to serve.
If there’s one thing the Costs of War Project has made clear, it’s this: War is about the destruction of the very institutions it purports to protect. At a time when health care, education, and other social services, including food aid, are so badly needed, why is the military still being funded at astronomical levels, while other agencies are gutted?
My husband and I sometimes argue about the designation “essential” worker. How can he be called “essential” when we spend most of our days together on our Maryland farm as he collects his Department of Defense salary? He always reminds me that redundancy in government allows us to function under the worst of circumstances. If, for instance, Pentagon officials responsible for dealing with threats to our nuclear arsenal were to fall ill en masse or be killed in a sudden attack, others would be available to take their place.
Yet the obvious corollary to that argument has certainly not been applied to our health care infrastructure in these years, and we’re paying for that today. If the president had not gutted the Department of Health and Human Services, perhaps there would have been enough people to ensure that our federal stockpiles of ventilators were properly maintained in preparation for a crisis we knew was coming. If the pandemic task force created under President Obama hadn’t been disbanded, perhaps we would have been better prepared for the spread of Covid-19. And if so much of our money hadn’t gone into the military-industrial complex, perhaps there would have been enough health care workers to weather this crisis better.
As this invisible pathogen spreads across much of the world, what families like mine worry about is that our nation’s ever-expanding global conflicts will only continue to grow in scope and intensity, threatening food and medical supply chains. Then, in the worst of times, with our military infrastructure in increasing disarray, many more families, including possibly mine, could once again be called into armed conflict.


thenation--2020-05-15--Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers Understood White Freedom Perfectly

By now , there is no need to recount the details here .
It is a fair enough summation to write that three months ago , Ahmaud Arbery , a black 25-year-old , was hunted and summarily executed by white gunmen while jogging near Brunswick , Ga .
Despite his killer having literal blood on his hands when officers arrived at the scene , the state ruled that Arbery ’ s murder was not worth inconveniencing his assailants ’ lives with either arrest or prosecution .
In the instant they grabbed guns , put together a posse , and pursued @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demonstrated their confidence that white American indifference to black death grants them power , impunity , and above all , liberty .
Which is to say , white American freedom .
That ideal has always been a sinister thing , rooted in the notion that whiteness is endowed with the inalienable right to control black bodies and determine black destinies .
As a policy tradition—historically spelled out in the actual letter of American law and still visible in how the laws are unequally applied—it is one of this country ’ s foundational beliefs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ use of terror and violence ( and very often , gun violence ) when it perceives even the mere reality of black existence as a threat to white authority and comfort .
Both Arbery ’ s killers and Georgia state authorities exercised white freedom at every turn .
His murderers saw themselves as free white men and , as such , duly entitled to police the movements , motivations , and ultimately , the right to exist of a black stranger .
District Attorney George E. Barnhill , whose son previously worked with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ letter of recusal that amounted to an indictment—of Arbery .
In it , Barnhill wrote that he and senior trial lawyers “ do not see grounds ” to arrest the murderers , effectively attributing Arbery ’ s killing to his having entered “ their neighborhood ” and then ignoring the shouts from armed white men “ telling him to stop.
” Alan Tucker , the Georgia lawyer and acquaintance of the gunmen who leaked footage of the killing , once again putting black death into viral , heavy rotation , essentially blamed Arbery @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if he had just frozen ” —meaning halted and deferred to white freedom ’ s right to question him— “ he wouldn ’ t have got shot.
” That sentiment is echoed by the tens of thousands who signed on to the GoFundMe accounts or joined Facebook groups dedicated to supporting Arbery ’ s killers .
Like every episode of black death that garners even the mildest critiques of those who carried out the murders , Arbery ’ s killing has attracted a wide and vocal audience who make their advocacy for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ freedom ’ s inextricable link to black subjugation is woven into the fibers of American history , from all-white colonial militia patrols to keep black enslaved people in line to the unknowable thousands of post-Reconstruction lynchings that served to blare the consequences of black freedom mistaking itself for true American citizenship .
The Red Summer of 1919—a bloody period of white mob terror and what historian Bill Tuttle identifies as black “ ethnic cleansing ” across 25 American cities—was the response when black civil rights efforts threatened white Americans ’ mythologies about their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrorism of Jim Crow , like mass incarceration and extrajudicial police violence , is a continuous thread that affirms the steadfast endurance of white freedom .
The mode of lynching black folks may change with the technology of the times , but the product is always the same old black death .
The Coronavirus Reveals That the Stars Are Not Like Us Since Emancipation , the United States Has Refused to Make Reparations for Slavery White freedom is on full display by the overwhelmingly white protesters of stay-at-home orders around the country , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Covid-19 ’ s black death tolls racialized the disease .
It is not incidental that those defenders of white freedom have likened orders to remain at home to stem the spread of a deadly virus to the brutality of slavery while insisting that the ranks of disproportionately black and brown service workers already dying of the disease get back to making their lives comfortable .
Nor is it insignificant that they have openly carried firearms as they stormed statehouses—an open threat to anyone who would suggest that the rule of law might apply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesters yelling insults into the faces of police and carrying weapons hasn ’ t left a single white protester dead proves that the white freedom they ’ re fighting for has been with them all along . )
If they were black and protesting the killings of black folks , these scenes would be described as riots .
Instead , Donald Trump ’ s economic adviser Stephen Moore equated those white protesters with black civil rights workers , calling them “ the modern-day Rosa Parks , ” a gesture meant to inflame but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ white freedom is patriotic .
Trump , whose presidency and administration have been one long exercise in white freedom , tweeted they should “ LIBERATE MINNESOTA , ” “ LIBERATE MICHIGAN , ” and “ LIBERATE VIRGINIA.
” Meanwhile , black folks are being arrested and even shot for not social distancing .
On May 3 , a black North Carolina woman and her son were besieged in their home by a mob of 15 angry white men , one reportedly carrying an assault weapon and another holding a shotgun .
In the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who , when told he had the wrong house , blocked the doorway with his foot and demanded to enter , according to the family ’ s lawyer .
Law enforcement officers who initially responded to the scene made little effort to investigate the incident , which didn ’ t end in violence but certainly could have .
The officers didn ’ t cite white freedom as their excuse for doing nothing in response to an armed vigilante group terrorizing a black family .
They didn ’ t have to .

This article appears in the June 1/8, 2020 issue.
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By now, there is no need to recount the details here. It is a fair enough summation to write that three months ago, Ahmaud Arbery, a black 25-year-old, was hunted and summarily executed by white gunmen while jogging near Brunswick, Ga. Despite his killer having literal blood on his hands when officers arrived at the scene, the state ruled that Arbery’s murder was not worth inconveniencing his assailants’ lives with either arrest or prosecution. In the instant they grabbed guns, put together a posse, and pursued him, Arbery’s white killers demonstrated their confidence that white American indifference to black death grants them power, impunity, and above all, liberty.
Which is to say, white American freedom. That ideal has always been a sinister thing, rooted in the notion that whiteness is endowed with the inalienable right to control black bodies and determine black destinies. As a policy tradition—historically spelled out in the actual letter of American law and still visible in how the laws are unequally applied—it is one of this country’s foundational beliefs. White American freedom relies on the use of terror and violence (and very often, gun violence) when it perceives even the mere reality of black existence as a threat to white authority and comfort.
Both Arbery’s killers and Georgia state authorities exercised white freedom at every turn. His murderers saw themselves as free white men and, as such, duly entitled to police the movements, motivations, and ultimately, the right to exist of a black stranger. District Attorney George E. Barnhill, whose son previously worked with one of the killers, wrote a letter of recusal that amounted to an indictment—of Arbery. In it, Barnhill wrote that he and senior trial lawyers “do not see grounds” to arrest the murderers, effectively attributing Arbery’s killing to his having entered “their neighborhood” and then ignoring the shouts from armed white men “telling him to stop.”
Alan Tucker, the Georgia lawyer and acquaintance of the gunmen who leaked footage of the killing, once again putting black death into viral, heavy rotation, essentially blamed Arbery for his own murder, stating “if he had just frozen”—meaning halted and deferred to white freedom’s right to question him—“he wouldn’t have got shot.” That sentiment is echoed by the tens of thousands who signed on to the GoFundMe accounts or joined Facebook groups dedicated to supporting Arbery’s killers. Like every episode of black death that garners even the mildest critiques of those who carried out the murders, Arbery’s killing has attracted a wide and vocal audience who make their advocacy for the tenets of white freedom known.
White freedom’s inextricable link to black subjugation is woven into the fibers of American history, from all-white colonial militia patrols to keep black enslaved people in line to the unknowable thousands of post-Reconstruction lynchings that served to blare the consequences of black freedom mistaking itself for true American citizenship. The Red Summer of 1919—a bloody period of white mob terror and what historian Bill Tuttle identifies as black “ethnic cleansing” across 25 American cities—was the response when black civil rights efforts threatened white Americans’ mythologies about their own innate racial superiority. The white terrorism of Jim Crow, like mass incarceration and extrajudicial police violence, is a continuous thread that affirms the steadfast endurance of white freedom. The mode of lynching black folks may change with the technology of the times, but the product is always the same old black death. More From Kali Holloway Inside the Cynical Campaign to Claim That Affirmative Action Hurts Asian Americans August 9, 2023 It’s Not Just Corporate Pride Boycotts—Right-Wingers Are Escalating Their Anti-LGBTQ Campaign June 23, 2023 Affirmative Action Is in the Supreme Court’s Crosshairs June 22, 2023
White freedom is on full display by the overwhelmingly white protesters of stay-at-home orders around the country, in demonstrations that proliferated after reports of Covid-19’s black death tolls racialized the disease. It is not incidental that those defenders of white freedom have likened orders to remain at home to stem the spread of a deadly virus to the brutality of slavery while insisting that the ranks of disproportionately black and brown service workers already dying of the disease get back to making their lives comfortable.
Nor is it insignificant that they have openly carried firearms as they stormed statehouses—an open threat to anyone who would suggest that the rule of law might apply to them. (The fact that protesters yelling insults into the faces of police and carrying weapons hasn’t left a single white protester dead proves that the white freedom they’re fighting for has been with them all along.) If they were black and protesting the killings of black folks, these scenes would be described as riots. Instead, Donald Trump’s economic adviser Stephen Moore equated those white protesters with black civil rights workers, calling them “the modern-day Rosa Parks,” a gesture meant to inflame but also to signal that the fight for white freedom is patriotic. Trump, whose presidency and administration have been one long exercise in white freedom, tweeted they should “LIBERATE MINNESOTA,” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN,” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA.” Meanwhile, black folks are being arrested and even shot for not social distancing.
On May 3, a black North Carolina woman and her son were besieged in their home by a mob of 15 angry white men, one reportedly carrying an assault weapon and another holding a shotgun. In the group was a sheriff’s deputy who, when told he had the wrong house, blocked the doorway with his foot and demanded to enter, according to the family’s lawyer. Law enforcement officers who initially responded to the scene made little effort to investigate the incident, which didn’t end in violence but certainly could have. The officers didn’t cite white freedom as their excuse for doing nothing in response to an armed vigilante group terrorizing a black family.
They didn’t have to.


thenation--2020-05-18--Conversations With ‘The Nation’: Ilyse Hogue

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Our virtual series, “Conversations With The Nation,” helps to support rigorous progressive journalism at a critical moment in our history. Environmental activist and author Bill McKibben, Representatives Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, and the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II have joined us. Sign up for Nation e-mails to receive new speaker announcements and invitations to future events.


Michael Jordan: Alone

The Last Dance is over .
The music has wound down .
The confetti has been swept aside .
And everyone has gone home .
Remaining is one 57-year-old ex-jock , sitting in a house that is not even his own as the camera equipment is packed away and a production assistant with cold hands reaches for the microphone latched to his hip .
And Michael Jordan is left alone .
Based on the 10-part ESPN documentary about his life and tenure leading the dominant 1990s Chicago Bulls , “ alone ” is a familiar position .
Jordan has a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( which must drive him batty ) , and what seems like a moat between himself and the people with whom he has spent the past 40 years of his life .
In The Last Dance , Jordan ’ s bodyguards received more airtime than his barely present children .
His first wife , Juanita , with whom he was married for 17 years , went utterly unmentioned .
His current wife , Yvette Prieto , also was not interviewed .
As for the people in the game that he mastered , they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and fits of anger at a remove .
None are able to describe the person beneath that now-brittle shell .
He never let them in—and they would have needed a machete to chop their way to the person inside .
All the slights that Jordan nurtured , the way a kid takes care of one of those treasured small plants in a Styrofoam cup that you get in second grade science , have become ropy weeds .
The only human connection that Jordan seems to share with others is either a distanced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ go to war ” or animosity toward those against whom he holds a grudge : people worthy only of revenge .
He no longer talks to his onetime good friend Charles Barkley , because of Barkley ’ s years-ago criticism of Jordan ’ s management decisions for the Hornets .
He keeps people at an emotional remove as sure as his beloved “ body men ” from years ago kept away the adoring throngs .
In the last two episodes of The Last Dance , they put about as finely cured a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ His coach Phil Jackson said that Jordan lived “ in the moment ” like no one he had ever been around .
That ’ s certainly one way to describe it .
Another way is to say that Jordan came across as emotionally constipated : He seemed to fear that if he ever started to express his feelings , he might not ever be able to stop .
The Last Dance suggests that Jordan had to be this way , that this was the price of his greatness .
Be monomaniacal .
Be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Be the bully .
And how many rings you accrue as well as how much money you make is how you keep score .
As I wrote last week , this is absurd , jock-fantasia nonsense .
The history of sports is peppered with winners who cared about the people around them as well as about the broader society .
Maya Moore , arguably the greatest women ’ s hoopster in history , took two years off from her sport in her prime to fight alongside her family for a wrongly incarcerated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way she chose to use her fame .
But Jordan has never looked for another way to be .
In Wright Thompson ’ s masterful look at Jordan at the age of 50 , he said to Thompson about his needing to be number one , This is someone tortured by his need to find success .
Yet it ’ s impossible not to wonder , given the absence of success that Jordan has had in the basketball world since his time with the Bulls , if he ’ s become Al @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the glory days , and still vexed by everyone who did him wrong .
Perhaps someday there will be a documentary that probes this affliction of the winner who repels everyone around them except for those paid to be in their presence .
This wasn ’ t it .
It was a hagiography about one man ’ s quest for greatness .
But it was also , unintentionally , about someone who had the world in his hands and was oblivious to how , with each passing year , his own world @ @ @ @

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The Last Dance is over. The music has wound down. The confetti has been swept aside. And everyone has gone home.
Remaining is one 57-year-old ex-jock, sitting in a house that is not even his own as the camera equipment is packed away and a production assistant with cold hands reaches for the microphone latched to his hip. And Michael Jordan is left alone.
Based on the 10-part ESPN documentary about his life and tenure leading the dominant 1990s Chicago Bulls, “alone” is a familiar position. Jordan has a billion dollars, a second-rate NBA franchise (which must drive him batty), and what seems like a moat between himself and the people with whom he has spent the past 40 years of his life. In The Last Dance, Jordan’s bodyguards received more airtime than his barely present children. His first wife, Juanita, with whom he was married for 17 years, went utterly unmentioned. His current wife, Yvette Prieto, also was not interviewed.
As for the people in the game that he mastered, they can only describe his greatness, intensity, and fits of anger at a remove. None are able to describe the person beneath that now-brittle shell. He never let them in—and they would have needed a machete to chop their way to the person inside. All the slights that Jordan nurtured, the way a kid takes care of one of those treasured small plants in a Styrofoam cup that you get in second grade science, have become ropy weeds. The only human connection that Jordan seems to share with others is either a distanced respect for teammates with whom he would “go to war” or animosity toward those against whom he holds a grudge: people worthy only of revenge.
He no longer talks to his onetime good friend Charles Barkley, because of Barkley’s years-ago criticism of Jordan’s management decisions for the Hornets. He keeps people at an emotional remove as sure as his beloved “body men” from years ago kept away the adoring throngs. In the last two episodes of The Last Dance, they put about as finely cured a spin on this as they could. His coach Phil Jackson said that Jordan lived “in the moment” like no one he had ever been around. That’s certainly one way to describe it. Another way is to say that Jordan came across as emotionally constipated: He seemed to fear that if he ever started to express his feelings, he might not ever be able to stop.
The Last Dance suggests that Jordan had to be this way, that this was the price of his greatness. Be monomaniacal. Be closed off from the people around you. Be the bully. And how many rings you accrue as well as how much money you make is how you keep score. As I wrote last week, this is absurd, jock-fantasia nonsense. The history of sports is peppered with winners who cared about the people around them as well as about the broader society. Maya Moore, arguably the greatest women’s hoopster in history, took two years off from her sport in her prime to fight alongside her family for a wrongly incarcerated man named Jonathan Irons. That is the way she chose to use her fame.
But Jordan has never looked for another way to be. In Wright Thompson’s masterful look at Jordan at the age of 50, he said to Thompson about his needing to be number one, Current Issue View our current issue
It’s consumed me so much. I’m my own worst enemy. I drove myself so much that I’m still living with some of those drives. I’m living with that. I don’t know how to get rid of it. I don’t know if I could.
This is someone tortured by his need to find success. Yet it’s impossible not to wonder, given the absence of success that Jordan has had in the basketball world since his time with the Bulls, if he’s become Al Bundy with a billion dollars: talking about the glory days, and still vexed by everyone who did him wrong.
Perhaps someday there will be a documentary that probes this affliction of the winner who repels everyone around them except for those paid to be in their presence. This wasn’t it. It was a hagiography about one man’s quest for greatness. But it was also, unintentionally, about someone who had the world in his hands and was oblivious to how, with each passing year, his own world was becoming smaller.


thenation--2020-05-18--A Fox News Anchor Egged On a Clash With Police. It Didn’t Work.

Atilis Gym , in the small South Jersey borough of Bellmawr , boasts of its “ strongman training.
” On Monday morning , live on Fox and Friends , the gym ’ s co-owners played strongmen standing up to Governor Phil Murphy , who left gyms and exercise facilities out of the list of businesses that could begin opening today , as the state with the second-highest number of coronavirus cases ( behind New York ) begins to come out of its lockdown .
Atilis nonetheless opened at 8 am for television cameras , a crowd of 200 ( mostly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ News cheerleader , anchor Pete Hegseth .
“ We ’ re sick and tired of having our rights trampled on , ” co-owner Ian Smith told Hegseth through his American flag mask .
His partner , Frank Trumbetti , also wore a flag mask , but in dire shades of black and grey .
Hegseth , a hard-right former Army National Guard officer , sported a tight blue T-shirt that showed off his biceps and his “ We the People ” tattoo .
Although he claimed ( without evidence ) that the owners @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Hegseth seemed to go out of his way to egg on a clash with police , pointing to the patrol cars blocking the gym ’ s parking lot entrances , as well as a drone overhead , and warning of a “ looming confrontation ” and potential “ showdown.
” At one point he claimed , “ There ’ s a SWAT unit just up the road from here , potentially waiting for the gym to be full , ” adding , “ We don ’ t have that confirmed.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ never was confirmed .
Smith promised to face whatever consequences , and reopen tomorrow if he got shut down .
Hegseth called the gym owners ’ defiance , and the protesters ’ support , “ a testament to America and civil disobedience.
” Is it , though ?
Though Hegseth joined the crowd mask-free , he kept at least six feet of distance from everyone , and failed to mention that normally he broadcasts from a cozy home studio , as do Fox ’ s other highly paid anchors .
( Safety for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) After watching for more than four hours , I concluded the New Jersey clash was just another dumb culture-war showdown , with Fox , normally an advocate of law and order , encouraging people to defy the law .
It was cartoonish and predictable , but it ’ s a shame , because the issues raised as the country begins to loosen restrictions are serious , and not easily resolved .
The tension is ( appropriately ) evident in the pages of The Nation .
Last Thursday , Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonzalves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , patchwork approach of ignoring science and ending lockdowns , largely led by red states , means “ we will not get our epidemic under control in the US.
” The next day , media critic Michael Massing argued in these pages that “ liberal and conservative elites aren ’ t grappling with the pandemic ’ s toll on working-class people—and the impossible choices they ’ re forced to make.
” They ’ re both right ( and Gonzalves also noted that both the illness and the lockdowns are hitting low-income black and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ opening ” vs. “ staying closed ” is a false dichotomy .
So is any argument that pits public health against economic recovery .
Virtually everyone ( except wealthy introverts , perhaps ) wants to get back to familiar routines , and liberals in particular are being unfairly caricatured as favoring eternal lockdown .
We don ’ t .
In fact , New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy strikes me as thoughtful in his approach to reopening .
He reopened nonessential construction and retail ( for curbside pickup ) Monday ; beaches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will open next week .
The Atilis owners don ’ t see it that way .
Murphy ’ s executive order , Trumbetti argued , “ states that gyms have to be closed to the public , meaning every member of the country or the community .
And we don ’ t have that .
We have members .
Once you buy a membership , you separate yourself from the public and you are your own thing.
” The fact that once you leave the gym you rejoin the public , and if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a drain on public health systems , did not trouble Trumbetti ’ s reasoning .
He made a more interesting point later in the interview with Hegseth : “ The simple solution to this would be to close big box [ stores ] , because big box doesn ’ t care about us , we don ’ t care about big box , they just send the money out of the community .
You leave the little box open , and we take care of one another.
” This is a lockdown tension @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Target are allowed to reopen in many places ( as in New Jersey , with curbside pickup only ) while some smaller businesses , whether because of resource constraints or lockdown rules , can not .
Of course , the local Walmart and Target employ more people than Atilis Gym , and the urgency of gym-going seems hard to argue when people are allowed outdoors for exercise .
I can ’ t attest to the politics of the two gym owners , but the rhetoric of their Facebook page , where they announced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over-reach ” and claimed that authorities had exaggerated the threat of Covid-19 , both in terms of coming fatalities as well as the threat to medical facilities .
They echoed Fox News rhetoric , as did the flag-waving , Trump-admiring crowd , which carried signs calling Murphy a “ dictator ” and advising , “ Stay poor , vote Democrat.
” I can ’ t even be sure the protesters were Bellmawr residents ; the borough of approximately 12,000 people is led by Democrats , from its mayor to all six city council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ registered voters identify as Democrats .
But even in heavily Democratic New York City , where there are no right-wing protests I ’ m aware of , there are signs that the liberal populace is chafing at the lockdown , especially as the weather gets better .
The city is starting to restrict access to parks where people have been ignoring social distancing rules .
But on a balmy Saturday night on the Upper East Side , mainly young and white bar-goers sipped cocktails on the street , huddling together without masks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into Bourbon Street .
In Harlem some people tried the same thing the same night , but I watched the police quickly break up the crowds .
Reportedly , they gave at least one bar owner a summons for violating the rules of the lockdown ( establishments can sell alcohol , but only with some kind of food , and patrons have to take it away ) .
The enforcement of social distancing here has been widely inequitable : Basically , white people get to flout the rules , while black and brown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beaten , cited , and arrested .
But across demographics , we yearn for an end to the lockdown : at least the resumption of outdoor dining and small group gatherings with social distancing precautions ; farther in the future , a return to work and school , but safely .
To be fair , the owners of Atilis Gym implemented some measures to mitigate risk : taking members ’ temperatures ( although reportedly members could enter with a fever of 100.4 ) , requiring them to fill out a health questionnaire , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inside , with no showers or group classes .
They estimate that will keep them at 20 percent of normal capacity .
How long that would sustain any business , even once it ’ s open legally , is a big question .
But Smith told Fox it ’ s about “ the Constitution , ” not profits .
As the morning wore on , there was no clash with police , although Hegseth kept predicting one .
“ The state police are staged very nearby , ” he breathlessly told anchor Ed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ off the screen , with a flattering “ Thanks , Pete , right in the middle of this ongoing battle !
” Fox had other big news : mainly President Obama ’ s mild criticism of the Trump administration ’ s handling of the pandemic in commencement speeches over the weekend .
Karl Rove , the former GOP political maven made irrelevant by Obama ’ s 2012 reelection , called his statements “ a political drive-by shooting.
” ( Hegseth , for his part , dismissed Obama as “ not that articulate ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ grossly incompetent.
” ) So subtle , guys .
Oh , and they also endlessly hyped “ Obamagate , ” the ludicrous charge that the former president and his vice president , Joe Biden , the almost-certain Democratic nominee , illegally “ unmasked ” former national security adviser Michael Flynn before Trump took office , leading to his being charged and convicted after confessing to lying to the FBI about conversations with a Russian official .
( Here ’ s a thorough debunking . )
The only scandal is that Attorney General @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Department and dropped the charges .
It ’ s been a long time since I waded into the swamp of Fox News nontroversies and the tireless confection of “ alternative facts ” that poison the minds of the network ’ s viewers .
Fox has been particularly deadly during this pandemic , with most of its prime-time hosts downplaying the danger and then lying about downplaying it , hyping Trump ’ s crackpot hydroxychloroquine cure ( testing now shows it tends to make Covid sufferers fare worse ) .
I ’ m glad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t want to stay .
I didn ’ t have to .
Around 10:30 am , local police officers approached the gym .
“ We are and only were here for everybody ’ s safety today , ” one officer told the owners and the crowd .
“ We planned for the worst and hoped for the best , and it seems like that ’ s what we have out here today .
Formally , you are all in violation of the executive order .
On that note , have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Then he walked away , and the crowd cheered .
Fox was denied its dramatic confrontation , but Hegseth declared victory anyway , tweeting : It ’ s unclear whether the gym will be allowed to stay open permanently and , if so , whether that will inspire other business owners to violate the shutdown .
But it was good to see Fox denied the confrontation it so wanted to have live , on its air .

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Atilis Gym, in the small South Jersey borough of Bellmawr, boasts of its “strongman training.” On Monday morning, live on Fox and Friends, the gym’s co-owners played strongmen standing up to Governor Phil Murphy, who left gyms and exercise facilities out of the list of businesses that could begin opening today, as the state with the second-highest number of coronavirus cases (behind New York) begins to come out of its lockdown. Atilis nonetheless opened at 8 am for television cameras, a crowd of 200 (mostly Trump supporters), and a Fox News cheerleader, anchor Pete Hegseth.
“We’re sick and tired of having our rights trampled on,” co-owner Ian Smith told Hegseth through his American flag mask. His partner, Frank Trumbetti, also wore a flag mask, but in dire shades of black and grey. Hegseth, a hard-right former Army National Guard officer, sported a tight blue T-shirt that showed off his biceps and his “We the People” tattoo. Although he claimed (without evidence) that the owners are “strong supporters of law enforcement,” Hegseth seemed to go out of his way to egg on a clash with police, pointing to the patrol cars blocking the gym’s parking lot entrances, as well as a drone overhead, and warning of a “looming confrontation” and potential “showdown.” At one point he claimed, “There’s a SWAT unit just up the road from here, potentially waiting for the gym to be full,” adding, “We don’t have that confirmed.” As far as I know, it never was confirmed.
Smith promised to face whatever consequences, and reopen tomorrow if he got shut down. Hegseth called the gym owners’ defiance, and the protesters’ support, “a testament to America and civil disobedience.”
Is it, though? Related Article Facing a Real Catastrophe With a Pretend President Jeet Heer
Though Hegseth joined the crowd mask-free, he kept at least six feet of distance from everyone, and failed to mention that normally he broadcasts from a cozy home studio, as do Fox’s other highly paid anchors. (Safety for me, but not for thee!) After watching for more than four hours, I concluded the New Jersey clash was just another dumb culture-war showdown, with Fox, normally an advocate of law and order, encouraging people to defy the law. It was cartoonish and predictable, but it’s a shame, because the issues raised as the country begins to loosen restrictions are serious, and not easily resolved.
The tension is (appropriately) evident in the pages of The Nation. Last Thursday, Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonzalves warned that the nation’s haphazard, patchwork approach of ignoring science and ending lockdowns, largely led by red states, means “we will not get our epidemic under control in the US.” The next day, media critic Michael Massing argued in these pages that “liberal and conservative elites aren’t grappling with the pandemic’s toll on working-class people—and the impossible choices they’re forced to make.” They’re both right (and Gonzalves also noted that both the illness and the lockdowns are hitting low-income black and brown communities hardest). Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
Of course, “opening” vs. “staying closed” is a false dichotomy. So is any argument that pits public health against economic recovery. Virtually everyone (except wealthy introverts, perhaps) wants to get back to familiar routines, and liberals in particular are being unfairly caricatured as favoring eternal lockdown. We don’t. Current Issue View our current issue
In fact, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy strikes me as thoughtful in his approach to reopening. He reopened nonessential construction and retail (for curbside pickup) Monday; beaches, nail salons, and some restaurants will open next week.
The Atilis owners don’t see it that way. Murphy’s executive order, Trumbetti argued, “states that gyms have to be closed to the public, meaning every member of the country or the community. And we don’t have that. We have members. Once you buy a membership, you separate yourself from the public and you are your own thing.” The fact that once you leave the gym you rejoin the public, and if you get sick, you’re a drain on public health systems, did not trouble Trumbetti’s reasoning.
He made a more interesting point later in the interview with Hegseth: “The simple solution to this would be to close big box [stores], because big box doesn’t care about us, we don’t care about big box, they just send the money out of the community. You leave the little box open, and we take care of one another.” This is a lockdown tension everywhere, as stores like Walmart and Target are allowed to reopen in many places (as in New Jersey, with curbside pickup only) while some smaller businesses, whether because of resource constraints or lockdown rules, cannot. Of course, the local Walmart and Target employ more people than Atilis Gym, and the urgency of gym-going seems hard to argue when people are allowed outdoors for exercise.
I can’t attest to the politics of the two gym owners, but the rhetoric of their Facebook page, where they announced their reopening protest, decried “government over-reach” and claimed that authorities had exaggerated the threat of Covid-19, both in terms of coming fatalities as well as the threat to medical facilities. They echoed Fox News rhetoric, as did the flag-waving, Trump-admiring crowd, which carried signs calling Murphy a “dictator” and advising, “Stay poor, vote Democrat.” I can’t even be sure the protesters were Bellmawr residents; the borough of approximately 12,000 people is led by Democrats, from its mayor to all six city council members, and a majority of its registered voters identify as Democrats.
But even in heavily Democratic New York City, where there are no right-wing protests I’m aware of, there are signs that the liberal populace is chafing at the lockdown, especially as the weather gets better. The city is starting to restrict access to parks where people have been ignoring social distancing rules. But on a balmy Saturday night on the Upper East Side, mainly young and white bar-goers sipped cocktails on the street, huddling together without masks, turning parts of Second and Third avenues into Bourbon Street. In Harlem some people tried the same thing the same night, but I watched the police quickly break up the crowds. Reportedly, they gave at least one bar owner a summons for violating the rules of the lockdown (establishments can sell alcohol, but only with some kind of food, and patrons have to take it away).
The enforcement of social distancing here has been widely inequitable: Basically, white people get to flout the rules, while black and brown residents who do the same have been beaten, cited, and arrested. But across demographics, we yearn for an end to the lockdown: at least the resumption of outdoor dining and small group gatherings with social distancing precautions; farther in the future, a return to work and school, but safely.
To be fair, the owners of Atilis Gym implemented some measures to mitigate risk: taking members’ temperatures (although reportedly members could enter with a fever of 100.4), requiring them to fill out a health questionnaire, wear masks, and maintain social distancing inside, with no showers or group classes. They estimate that will keep them at 20 percent of normal capacity. How long that would sustain any business, even once it’s open legally, is a big question. But Smith told Fox it’s about “the Constitution,” not profits.
As the morning wore on, there was no clash with police, although Hegseth kept predicting one. “The state police are staged very nearby,” he breathlessly told anchor Ed Henry, who kind of rushed him off the screen, with a flattering “Thanks, Pete, right in the middle of this ongoing battle!” Fox had other big news: mainly President Obama’s mild criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the pandemic in commencement speeches over the weekend. Karl Rove, the former GOP political maven made irrelevant by Obama’s 2012 reelection, called his statements “a political drive-by shooting.” (Hegseth, for his part, dismissed Obama as “not that articulate” on Sunday, while Trump called him “grossly incompetent.”) So subtle, guys.
Oh, and they also endlessly hyped “Obamagate,” the ludicrous charge that the former president and his vice president, Joe Biden, the almost-certain Democratic nominee, illegally “unmasked” former national security adviser Michael Flynn before Trump took office, leading to his being charged and convicted after confessing to lying to the FBI about conversations with a Russian official. (Here’s a thorough debunking.) The only scandal is that Attorney General William Barr reversed others in the Justice Department and dropped the charges.
It’s been a long time since I waded into the swamp of Fox News nontroversies and the tireless confection of “alternative facts” that poison the minds of the network’s viewers. Fox has been particularly deadly during this pandemic, with most of its prime-time hosts downplaying the danger and then lying about downplaying it, hyping Trump’s crackpot hydroxychloroquine cure (testing now shows it tends to make Covid sufferers fare worse). I’m glad I visited Fox World, but I didn’t want to stay.
I didn’t have to. Around 10:30 am, local police officers approached the gym. “We are and only were here for everybody’s safety today,” one officer told the owners and the crowd. “We planned for the worst and hoped for the best, and it seems like that’s what we have out here today. Formally, you are all in violation of the executive order. On that note, have a good day. Everybody be safe.” Then he walked away, and the crowd cheered.
Fox was denied its dramatic confrontation, but Hegseth declared victory anyway, tweeting:
Police just showed up to @TheAtilisGym. Entire exchange was respectful. The officer notified the gym they were “violating the Governor’s order.” Then said, “have a nice day” and walked away. The crowd roared. @GovMurphy blinked. #Freedom #ReOpenAmerica —Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) May 18, 2020
It’s unclear whether the gym will be allowed to stay open permanently and, if so, whether that will inspire other business owners to violate the shutdown. But it was good to see Fox denied the confrontation it so wanted to have live, on its air.