vox--2020-06-06--George Bush is only for now

George Bush is only for now

One of my favorite show tunes is “ For Now , ” the concluding number of the terrifically entertaining Tony-winning musical Avenue Q , which ran on Broadway from 2003 to 2009 , then ran off-Broadway from 2009 to 2019 .
The show posits a sort of Sesame Street for 20-somethings , set in a neighborhood populated with both puppets and humans who learn important lessons about entering adulthood .
“ For Now ” sums up the musical ’ s ultimately sunny message : Nothing in life will last forever .
You are going to be fine , no matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no matter how much you might long to go back to college .
How could you possibly not be fine ?
You ’ re young and , if you ’ re at the theater , presumably financially stable .
Things are great !
“ For now , we ’ re healthy .
For now , we ’ re employed .
For now , we ’ re happy , if not overjoyed ” goes one lyric .
( The song brims with the bouncy sincerity that is the hallmark of multi-award-winning composer and lyricist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s music and lyrics with Jeff Marx . )
The crescendo of “ For Now ” builds to a sequence where the company shouts various things that are only for now , like so : Here ’ s a video that will give you a sense of what the number is like ( though it ’ s not from a stage production ) : Avenue Q isn ’ t plotless , exactly , but it has about as much story as any given episode of Girls , if you were to replace @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with singing puppets .
“ For Now ” works so well as a closer to Avenue Q because it ’ s a reminder that — as nearly the last lyric in the whole musical goes — “ Life may be scary , but it ’ s only temporary.
” When you ’ re in your 20s , right after college , it ’ s easy to dwell on things that feel like they might last forever , but none of them will .
You ’ ll figure it out .
You ’ ll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only be for now as well .
You ’ re going to keep going up and up and up .
I still love this song as much as I did when I first heard it in 2007 ( when the show ’ s terrific touring cast swung through Southern California ) .
But it ’ s also a lie .
When George W. Bush left office in early 2009 , replaced by Barack Obama , the creators of Avenue Q held a contest to replace the exclamation of “ George Bush !
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for fans of the show to contribute their own spins on the lyric , with options ranging from “ recession ” to “ Prop 8 ” becoming contenders .
In the end , the show ’ s producers ultimately decided that “ George Bush ” worked better than any possible replacements and decided to just stick with it .
That decision wasn ’ t the end of the story .
Over the years , many alternatives ( “ recession ” and “ Fox News , ” among others ) were swapped in for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Now , ” and in the last years of the off-Broadway run , somewhat appropriately , “ Donald Trump ” replaced “ George Bush ” and provided an unexpected symmetry .
Two Republican presidents , both assumed to be broadly disliked by the theater-going audience , both things that are only for now .
( Here ’ s a really great timeline of Avenue Q lyric replacements . )
“ For Now ” isn ’ t the most famous song in Avenue Q ( though it should be ) .
No , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ either “ Everyone ’ s a Little Bit Racist ” ( “ Everyone ’ s a little bit racist , sometimes/ doesn ’ t mean you go around committing hate crimes ” ) or “ The Internet Is for Porn ” ( the title is really the most representative lyric ) .
Both of these songs have become strangely passé since the musical launched .
“ The Internet Is for Porn ” feels dated because , while the internet remains a wonderful repository of porn , the idea of the internet as either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of sex-soaked depravity feels extremely early 2000s .
But “ Everyone ’ s a Little Bit Racist ” is dated in a more interesting way .
The song is all at once a chuckling eye roll at the notion of overstepping PC culture , an attempt to argue that microaggressions are no big deal ( though the song would never call them microaggressions ) , and a satire of both of those views — one designed to make the audience complicit in its central assertion that we ’ re all a little bit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Genius , you ’ ll see the annotations are filled with people arguing about the “ true ” interpretation of the song .
Does “ Everyone ’ s a Little Bit Racist ” mean to tell us that we should stop caring about microaggressions and other racist statements and actions that don ’ t rise to the level of hate crimes ?
Or is it creating a rich and layered satire of anti-PC comedy by turning the idea that “ everything ’ s a little bit racist ” into a literal children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ songs almost always present overly simplistic morals , and many of the other songs in Avenue Q present overly simplistic morals , too .
“ Everyone ’ s a Little Bit Racist ” might be doing just that .
But whatever interpretation you choose , one thing is clear : “ Everyone ’ s a Little Bit Racist ” is part of the last gasp of a particularly pernicious cultural narrative from the 1990s : Caring about how you or others feel isn ’ t cool .
What ’ s really cool is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a fuss .
And for as much as I love Avenue Q — and I love Avenue Q — it can ’ t escape all of the ways in which it hides its big beating heart behind a faux edginess , meant to seem cool .
Then again , when Avenue Q was written in the early 2000s , many other artists were over caring , too .
A brief history of ironic bigotry as a comedy device , particularly as it pertains to South Park The most famous example of “ caring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ probably the long-running Comedy Central series South Park , with debuted in 1997 .
At times throughout its 23 seasons ( and counting ) , the show has produced genuinely brilliant satire ; at others , it ’ s been a herald of our current age of entropy .
The most charitable interpretation you can make of South Park is that series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are really great at presenting racism , sexism , and other forms of prejudice ironically , to poke fun at society ’ s foibles .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the mouth of Cartman , their most obviously awful character , then make sure to end each episode with a heavy-handed lesson that usually equates to some form of “ Give people a break already !
” — an idea elastic and formless enough to encompass both anti-racism and racism .
Even under this most charitable interpretation , however , you have to grapple with the idea that even today , a lot of people take the ideas South Park has espoused across its run incredibly seriously , deciding that , sure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care about climate change or voting or systemic racism .
Lots of people viewed Cartman ’ s racism and anti-Semitism not as an elaborate ironic goof but as something to emulate in order to win comedy points .
The more that basic idea of boundary-pushing-as-bold-and-edgy-humor was repeated , the more the irony chipped off and revealed actual bigotry .
To give credit to Parker and Stone , recent seasons of South Park haven ’ t exactly done an about-face on the show ’ s original approach , but they have seemed a little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regarding climate change ) .
Parker and Stone are still libertarian dung-flingers ( which can be a lot of fun if you ’ re unlikely to end up covered in dung but can be exhausting if you are ) , but they seem a little more aware that their own point of view is ever so slightly myopic .
But it wasn ’ t just Parker and Stone .
Ironic bigotry was kind of a thing in the 1990s .
The two South Park creators weren ’ t the heralds of this movement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Tons of comedians with some degree of cultural weight broke out in this world .
And many of them remain significant cultural figures , even if they ’ ve completely changed their comedic voice in the years since .
( Sarah Silverman is an obvious example of one figure who ’ s completed such a shift . )
Parker and Stone are notable for being the two guys who still operate in that mode and are still largely popular .
Outside of South Park , Parker and Stone ’ s most lasting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Book of Mormon , which opened in 2011 — somehow still less than 10 years ago !
— to wild critical acclaim , lots of Tony Awards , and a general sense of Parker and Stone vaulting from potty-mouthed class clowns to part of the American mainstream .
( They were already in that mainstream , I would argue , but having a hit show on Broadway still carries way more cultural clout than having one on Comedy Central for pointless , New York-media-centric reasons . )
The Book of Mormon treats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it comes to the Ugandans they ’ re meant to be missionaries to , well , let ’ s look to Helen Shaw ’ s apt description of the problem in an excellent essay at Vulture about how The Book of Mormon already feels like it ’ s from another time : What Shaw gets at here is something that many white Americans have gotten better at understanding in the long gap between 2011 and 2020 : The media is too susceptible to prioritizing the emotions of white people and writing off people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the status quo .
The humanity of an imaginary white Mormon who will probably never see The Book of Mormon is easier for many white Americans to conceive of than the humanity of a black theatergoer sitting one row ahead of you and not laughing at the jokes about Ugandans .
A white theatergoer might simply conclude that the person in the next row should just lighten up already !
Everyone ’ s a little bit racist sometimes !
Believing that problems are only “ for now ” is inherently a position of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Q , you ’ ll find a kind of dry run for much of what The Book of Mormon later turned all the way up to 11 .
And the connection between the two shows isn ’ t just thematic .
Parker and Stone brought in someone to help them craft The Book of Mormon into something Broadway-ready .
And the person who helped them was Robert Lopez , the co-writer of Avenue Q. I don ’ t mean to suggest that Lopez is insincere .
Far from it .
His post-Book of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Disney , and if nothing else , Frozen ’ s “ Let It Go ” ( which he co-wrote with his wife and writing partner Kristen Anderson-Lopez ) is an ultra-sincere power ballad to belt out in the shower .
Lopez is really good at what he does .
He just spent a lot of time steeped in a cultural context that rewarded ironic detachment , working in a medium that too often removes any sense of culpability inherent in an audience that is whiter and richer than the average American population @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like “ George Bush is only for now ” — a lyric in a song that taught me a lot about getting through rough patches — can only be swapped out for a lyric like “ Donald Trump is only for now ” if you are relatively sure that once either man leaves office , you will be fundamentally okay .
Equating a president you don ’ t like with bad sex or bad hair is a position of extreme privilege .
So is the idea that everything in life is only for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for now ” if you have the expectation that America is a ladder that keeps going up and up and up .
That ’ s true for me , but I ’ m white , and I have enough money .
I have the luxury of believing my setbacks are only temporary .
Yes , it ’ s worth understanding that every bad situation we get into indeed is only for now , and yes , it ’ s worth understanding that in the vast sweep of human history — or even just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personal history — things will change .
The end hasn ’ t come yet , so there ’ s no reason to expect it will come tomorrow .
But when it comes to our own personal histories , “ for now ” is not always a guarantee .
Assuaging people ’ s fears by saying that difficult moments are only temporary is all well and good if you ’ re trying to help people endure something truly dark and terrible , trying to help them imagine a light on the horizon even when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s much harder to stomach if you ’ re treating bad things , horrible things , brutal things as unfortunate but survivable circumstances that happen largely to other people , as if they ’ re merely peripheral characters within your own story who should really just learn to take it easy .
Can ’ t we all just get along ?
We can agree we ’ re all racist , right ?
A little bit ?
It is so easy to believe that everybody ’ s problems are like your own when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problems .
It ’ s so easy to numb yourself to the horrors of the world because confronting them might require examining your own culpability .
I love “ For Now ” so much , and it ’ s a song that found me when I needed it most .
But it ’ s a song designed to placate people like me , to turn a haircut or a president or systemic racism into a boss in a video game .
Where I live , just across the freeway from downtown Los Angeles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of police sirens have been omnipresent sounds .
The mayor instituted a curfew last weekend , and anyone caught in violation of it could be arrested .
The city feels not like itself , breathing and alive , but like a brute-force attempt to impose some other , more sterile city over the one I love .
A friend and I took a walk around downtown last Saturday .
Storefronts were missing windows , the Shake Shack looked like it would be closed for a bit , and the words “ Fuck cops @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had sold me on untold devastation , but it mostly looked like shattered glass that will be easily replaced in time , a temporary setback to the gigantic wheels of gentrification .
It is a failure of imagination to think that all problems are merely inconveniences .
It is a failure of empathy to believe that all other people experience life like I do , as a series of steps and events carrying me toward some uncertain but hopeful future .
It is a failure of understanding to assume that optimism is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because the country has so , so many social issues and injustices with deep roots that will not be so easily torn out of the ground to build something better .
But it ’ s worth trying to build that something all the same , and that will require some degree of getting really , truly invested in something bigger than yourself .
The comedy of not caring worked for an era when academics earnestly declared that history was over , that capitalism had won .
It doesn ’ t work as much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being sucked into a bathtub drain .
Is that the fault of Avenue Q or South Park or any other art of this ilk ?
No , of course not .
Nothing can escape the cultural context in which it was created .
But it is our fault if we choose the comforting lies of the past over the grimmer realities of the present .
An early version of this article originally appeared in Emily VanDerWerff ’ s newsletter , Episodes .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

One of my favorite show tunes is “For Now,” the concluding number of the terrifically entertaining Tony-winning musical Avenue Q, which ran on Broadway from 2003 to 2009, then ran off-Broadway from 2009 to 2019. The show posits a sort of Sesame Street for 20-somethings, set in a neighborhood populated with both puppets and humans who learn important lessons about entering adulthood.
“For Now” sums up the musical’s ultimately sunny message: Nothing in life will last forever. You are going to be fine, no matter how terrible your current circumstances seem and no matter how much you might long to go back to college. How could you possibly not be fine? You’re young and, if you’re at the theater, presumably financially stable. Things are great! “For now, we’re healthy. For now, we’re employed. For now, we’re happy, if not overjoyed” goes one lyric. (The song brims with the bouncy sincerity that is the hallmark of multi-award-winning composer and lyricist Robert Lopez, who co-wrote Avenue Q’s music and lyrics with Jeff Marx.)
The crescendo of “For Now” builds to a sequence where the company shouts various things that are only for now, like so:
Sex!
is only for now
Your hair!
is only for now
George Bush!
is only for now
Here’s a video that will give you a sense of what the number is like (though it’s not from a stage production):
Avenue Q isn’t plotless, exactly, but it has about as much story as any given episode of Girls, if you were to replace most of the show’s characters with singing puppets. “For Now” works so well as a closer to Avenue Q because it’s a reminder that — as nearly the last lyric in the whole musical goes — “Life may be scary, but it’s only temporary.” When you’re in your 20s, right after college, it’s easy to dwell on things that feel like they might last forever, but none of them will. You’ll figure it out. You’ll have new problems, but those will only be for now as well. You’re going to keep going up and up and up.
I still love this song as much as I did when I first heard it in 2007 (when the show’s terrific touring cast swung through Southern California). But it’s also a lie.
A brief history of Avenue Q’s sociopolitical commentary
When George W. Bush left office in early 2009, replaced by Barack Obama, the creators of Avenue Q held a contest to replace the exclamation of “George Bush!” in “For Now.” They called for fans of the show to contribute their own spins on the lyric, with options ranging from “recession” to “Prop 8” becoming contenders. In the end, the show’s producers ultimately decided that “George Bush” worked better than any possible replacements and decided to just stick with it.
That decision wasn’t the end of the story. Over the years, many alternatives (“recession” and “Fox News,” among others) were swapped in for “George Bush” in “For Now,” and in the last years of the off-Broadway run, somewhat appropriately, “Donald Trump” replaced “George Bush” and provided an unexpected symmetry. Two Republican presidents, both assumed to be broadly disliked by the theater-going audience, both things that are only for now. (Here’s a really great timeline of Avenue Q lyric replacements.)
“For Now” isn’t the most famous song in Avenue Q (though it should be). No, the most famous song in the show is either “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” (“Everyone’s a little bit racist, sometimes/ doesn’t mean you go around committing hate crimes”) or “The Internet Is for Porn” (the title is really the most representative lyric). Both of these songs have become strangely passé since the musical launched. “The Internet Is for Porn” feels dated because, while the internet remains a wonderful repository of porn, the idea of the internet as either a wonderful new invention or a den of sex-soaked depravity feels extremely early 2000s.
But “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” is dated in a more interesting way. The song is all at once a chuckling eye roll at the notion of overstepping PC culture, an attempt to argue that microaggressions are no big deal (though the song would never call them microaggressions), and a satire of both of those views — one designed to make the audience complicit in its central assertion that we’re all a little bit racist.
If you read the lyrics on Genius, you’ll see the annotations are filled with people arguing about the “true” interpretation of the song. Does “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” mean to tell us that we should stop caring about microaggressions and other racist statements and actions that don’t rise to the level of hate crimes? Or is it creating a rich and layered satire of anti-PC comedy by turning the idea that “everything’s a little bit racist” into a literal children’s song? Children’s songs almost always present overly simplistic morals, and many of the other songs in Avenue Q present overly simplistic morals, too. “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” might be doing just that.
But whatever interpretation you choose, one thing is clear: “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” is part of the last gasp of a particularly pernicious cultural narrative from the 1990s: Caring about how you or others feel isn’t cool. What’s really cool is being above it all and not making a fuss. And for as much as I love Avenue Q — and I love Avenue Q — it can’t escape all of the ways in which it hides its big beating heart behind a faux edginess, meant to seem cool.
Then again, when Avenue Q was written in the early 2000s, many other artists were over caring, too.
A brief history of ironic bigotry as a comedy device, particularly as it pertains to South Park
The most famous example of “caring isn’t cool” comedy is probably the long-running Comedy Central series South Park, with debuted in 1997. At times throughout its 23 seasons (and counting), the show has produced genuinely brilliant satire; at others, it’s been a herald of our current age of entropy.
The most charitable interpretation you can make of South Park is that series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are really great at presenting racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice ironically, to poke fun at society’s foibles. They put their most jokingly offensive statements in the mouth of Cartman, their most obviously awful character, then make sure to end each episode with a heavy-handed lesson that usually equates to some form of “Give people a break already!” — an idea elastic and formless enough to encompass both anti-racism and racism.
Even under this most charitable interpretation, however, you have to grapple with the idea that even today, a lot of people take the ideas South Park has espoused across its run incredibly seriously, deciding that, sure, it’s cooler not to care about climate change or voting or systemic racism. Lots of people viewed Cartman’s racism and anti-Semitism not as an elaborate ironic goof but as something to emulate in order to win comedy points. The more that basic idea of boundary-pushing-as-bold-and-edgy-humor was repeated, the more the irony chipped off and revealed actual bigotry.
To give credit to Parker and Stone, recent seasons of South Park haven’t exactly done an about-face on the show’s original approach, but they have seemed a little embarrassed with some prior episodes (particularly regarding climate change). Parker and Stone are still libertarian dung-flingers (which can be a lot of fun if you’re unlikely to end up covered in dung but can be exhausting if you are), but they seem a little more aware that their own point of view is ever so slightly myopic.
But it wasn’t just Parker and Stone. Ironic bigotry was kind of a thing in the 1990s. The two South Park creators weren’t the heralds of this movement; they were just its biggest beneficiaries. Tons of comedians with some degree of cultural weight broke out in this world. And many of them remain significant cultural figures, even if they’ve completely changed their comedic voice in the years since. (Sarah Silverman is an obvious example of one figure who’s completed such a shift.) Parker and Stone are notable for being the two guys who still operate in that mode and are still largely popular.
Outside of South Park, Parker and Stone’s most lasting cultural contribution might be the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, which opened in 2011 — somehow still less than 10 years ago! — to wild critical acclaim, lots of Tony Awards, and a general sense of Parker and Stone vaulting from potty-mouthed class clowns to part of the American mainstream. (They were already in that mainstream, I would argue, but having a hit show on Broadway still carries way more cultural clout than having one on Comedy Central for pointless, New York-media-centric reasons.) The Book of Mormon treats its Mormon characters lovingly. But when it comes to the Ugandans they’re meant to be missionaries to, well, let’s look to Helen Shaw’s apt description of the problem in an excellent essay at Vulture about how The Book of Mormon already feels like it’s from another time:
The sequences in Uganda are grimly unfunny, especially as black actors are forced to sell jokes about curing AIDS by sodomizing babies. The romantic interest Nabulungi (Kim Exum) is the brightest girl in the village, and she thinks that “texting” means typing on a broken typewriter. That’s not a joke about poverty or disenfranchisement. That’s a joke about an African woman being an idiot. In 2011, some critics called the show out for its painful racism, but not many. The assumption was that the offended parties would be Mormons.
What Shaw gets at here is something that many white Americans have gotten better at understanding in the long gap between 2011 and 2020: The media is too susceptible to prioritizing the emotions of white people and writing off people of color who have legitimate grievances with the status quo. The humanity of an imaginary white Mormon who will probably never see The Book of Mormon is easier for many white Americans to conceive of than the humanity of a black theatergoer sitting one row ahead of you and not laughing at the jokes about Ugandans. A white theatergoer might simply conclude that the person in the next row should just lighten up already! Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes!
Believing that problems are only “for now” is inherently a position of privilege
If you look back at Avenue Q, you’ll find a kind of dry run for much of what The Book of Mormon later turned all the way up to 11. And the connection between the two shows isn’t just thematic. Parker and Stone brought in someone to help them craft The Book of Mormon into something Broadway-ready. And the person who helped them was Robert Lopez, the co-writer of Avenue Q.
I don’t mean to suggest that Lopez is insincere. Far from it. His post-Book of Mormon career has been largely spent working with Disney, and if nothing else, Frozen’s “Let It Go” (which he co-wrote with his wife and writing partner Kristen Anderson-Lopez) is an ultra-sincere power ballad to belt out in the shower. Lopez is really good at what he does. He just spent a lot of time steeped in a cultural context that rewarded ironic detachment, working in a medium that too often removes any sense of culpability inherent in an audience that is whiter and richer than the average American population.
My point is that a lyric like “George Bush is only for now” — a lyric in a song that taught me a lot about getting through rough patches — can only be swapped out for a lyric like “Donald Trump is only for now” if you are relatively sure that once either man leaves office, you will be fundamentally okay. Equating a president you don’t like with bad sex or bad hair is a position of extreme privilege. So is the idea that everything in life is only for now. It’s only “for now” if you have the expectation that America is a ladder that keeps going up and up and up. That’s true for me, but I’m white, and I have enough money. I have the luxury of believing my setbacks are only temporary.
Yes, it’s worth understanding that every bad situation we get into indeed is only for now, and yes, it’s worth understanding that in the vast sweep of human history — or even just in the vast sweep of your own personal history — things will change. The end hasn’t come yet, so there’s no reason to expect it will come tomorrow. But when it comes to our own personal histories, “for now” is not always a guarantee.
Assuaging people’s fears by saying that difficult moments are only temporary is all well and good if you’re trying to help people endure something truly dark and terrible, trying to help them imagine a light on the horizon even when it’s pitch black. It’s much harder to stomach if you’re treating bad things, horrible things, brutal things as unfortunate but survivable circumstances that happen largely to other people, as if they’re merely peripheral characters within your own story who should really just learn to take it easy. Can’t we all just get along? We can agree we’re all racist, right? A little bit?
It is so easy to believe that everybody’s problems are like your own when you don’t face any real problems. It’s so easy to numb yourself to the horrors of the world because confronting them might require examining your own culpability. I love “For Now” so much, and it’s a song that found me when I needed it most. But it’s a song designed to placate people like me, to turn a haircut or a president or systemic racism into a boss in a video game.
Where I live, just across the freeway from downtown Los Angeles, the whir of helicopters and blare of police sirens have been omnipresent sounds. The mayor instituted a curfew last weekend, and anyone caught in violation of it could be arrested. The city feels not like itself, breathing and alive, but like a brute-force attempt to impose some other, more sterile city over the one I love.
A friend and I took a walk around downtown last Saturday. Storefronts were missing windows, the Shake Shack looked like it would be closed for a bit, and the words “Fuck cops” were spray-painted everywhere. Local news had sold me on untold devastation, but it mostly looked like shattered glass that will be easily replaced in time, a temporary setback to the gigantic wheels of gentrification.
It is a failure of imagination to think that all problems are merely inconveniences. It is a failure of empathy to believe that all other people experience life like I do, as a series of steps and events carrying me toward some uncertain but hopeful future. It is a failure of understanding to assume that optimism is the natural offshoot of being an American, because the country has so, so many social issues and injustices with deep roots that will not be so easily torn out of the ground to build something better.
But it’s worth trying to build that something all the same, and that will require some degree of getting really, truly invested in something bigger than yourself. The comedy of not caring worked for an era when academics earnestly declared that history was over, that capitalism had won. It doesn’t work as much in an era when life feels like being sucked into a bathtub drain. Is that the fault of Avenue Q or South Park or any other art of this ilk? No, of course not. Nothing can escape the cultural context in which it was created. But it is our fault if we choose the comforting lies of the past over the grimmer realities of the present.
An early version of this article originally appeared in Emily VanDerWerff’s newsletter, Episodes.


vox--2020-06-06--Joe Biden now has the delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination

After months of fierce campaigning — and a worldwide pandemic interrupting the normal primary schedule — former Vice President Joe Biden has officially earned enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for president .
Biden , who has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out on April 8 , earned the last few delegates he needed to reach the 1,991-delegate threshold for nomination following primary races in seven states and the District of Columbia Tuesday .
He now has 1,995 delegates with eight states and three US territories still left to vote .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded — and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party , ” Biden said in a statement Friday evening .
The former vice president ’ s campaign got off to a slow start : He finished fourth in Iowa and left New Hampshire early , having finished near the bottom of the pack in that primary .
His prospects turned around on the strength of a victory in the South Carolina primary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the South , giving him an insurmountable delegate advantage .
But the coronavirus pandemic interrupted Biden ’ s campaign plans , postponing many primary races , and forcing the candidate to run virtual events from his home in Wilmington , Delaware .
Biden will officially be nominated at the Democratic National Convention , which was originally scheduled to be held in mid-July in Milwaukee , Wisconsin — however , the pandemic forced the party to reschedule for the week of August 17 .
He won ’ t be able to use general election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the convention .
The Biden campaign , along with the Democratic National Committee , raised $ 60.5 million in April , the last month for which reported data is available .
The fundraising haul brought them close to even with the Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump ’ s fundraising efforts for that month , although the Republicans have a massive ( $ 255 million to Biden ’ s $ 97.5 million ) cash-on-hand advantage .
Despite that financial disadvantage , Biden has enjoyed a steady lead in general election polling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1,062 US adults found Biden leading Trump 50 percent to 43 percent , a 7 percentage point lead — which is outside the margin of error of 3.8 percentage points .
The president ’ s approval rating has fallen as the twin crises of mass protests against police violence in the wake of George Floyd ’ s death and the pandemic have deepened .
Biden seemed to recognize the unsettling moment as he acknowledged reaching the delegate threshold Friday .
“ I ’ m once again asking every American who feels knocked down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to join our campaign , ” he said in the statement .
“ Because we aren ’ t just building the movement that will defeat Donald Trump , we are building the movement that will transform our nation.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

After months of fierce campaigning — and a worldwide pandemic interrupting the normal primary schedule — former Vice President Joe Biden has officially earned enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination for president.
Biden, who has been the presumptive Democratic nominee since Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out on April 8, earned the last few delegates he needed to reach the 1,991-delegate threshold for nomination following primary races in seven states and the District of Columbia Tuesday. He now has 1,995 delegates with eight states and three US territories still left to vote.
“It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded — and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party,” Biden said in a statement Friday evening.
The former vice president’s campaign got off to a slow start: He finished fourth in Iowa and left New Hampshire early, having finished near the bottom of the pack in that primary. His prospects turned around on the strength of a victory in the South Carolina primary, which kicked off successive wins across the South, giving him an insurmountable delegate advantage.
But the coronavirus pandemic interrupted Biden’s campaign plans, postponing many primary races, and forcing the candidate to run virtual events from his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden will officially be nominated at the Democratic National Convention, which was originally scheduled to be held in mid-July in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — however, the pandemic forced the party to reschedule for the week of August 17. He won’t be able to use general election funds until his nomination is made official at the convention.
The Biden campaign, along with the Democratic National Committee, raised $60.5 million in April, the last month for which reported data is available. The fundraising haul brought them close to even with the Republican National Committee and President Donald Trump’s fundraising efforts for that month, although the Republicans have a massive ($255 million to Biden’s $97.5 million) cash-on-hand advantage.
Despite that financial disadvantage, Biden has enjoyed a steady lead in general election polling. A recent NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist poll of 1,062 US adults found Biden leading Trump 50 percent to 43 percent, a 7 percentage point lead — which is outside the margin of error of 3.8 percentage points.
The president’s approval rating has fallen as the twin crises of mass protests against police violence in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the pandemic have deepened. Biden seemed to recognize the unsettling moment as he acknowledged reaching the delegate threshold Friday.
“I’m once again asking every American who feels knocked down, counted out, and left behind, to join our campaign,” he said in the statement. “Because we aren’t just building the movement that will defeat Donald Trump, we are building the movement that will transform our nation.”


vox--2020-06-06--What public health experts want critics to know about why they support the protests

Share All sharing options for : What public health experts want critics to know about why they support the protests As someone with asthma , Meredith Blake was very worried about getting sick in the pandemic .
With Covid-19 spreading across America , she stayed inside her home in Boston for 12 weeks , isolating from others as much as possible .
Her self-quarantine ended on June 1 .
After George Floyd ’ s killing at the hands of police in Minneapolis , she was compelled to march in the streets with a large crowd of other Bostonians , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mask and used lots of hand sanitizer wipes .
“ I was definitely a little nervous , ” about catching Covid-19 in the crowd , says Blake , a researcher at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative .
But showing up and speaking out was more important to her in this moment : “ I have a vested interest in the protection of black and brown people , not only professionally , but personally , ” she says .
She felt like she could no longer prioritize her personal safety from the coronavirus .
Blake @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctors every day , and knew joining a crowd was dangerous — for both herself and the community .
But she made a careful calculation : Covid-19 is a huge risk , and to her , the protests were worth it .
On the right , some commentators have accused public health experts of hypocrisy around the protests , for endorsing them after months of telling people to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus .
Some of those commentators asked : Is it fair if the grieving can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are marching en masse ?
Why should businesses stay closed when several high-profile experts say the protests are worthwhile ?
Author J.D .
Vance , for one , fears public health expert endorsements of the protests will erode trust in expert opinion .
“ I ’ m still amazed at how quickly the moral scolding ceased as soon as elite-favored protests began taking place , ” Vance tweeted .
I ’ ve talked to several public health experts who support the protests — both black and white — asking them what they wish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s what they say : Protesters are more afraid of doing nothing in the aftermath of George Floyd ’ s killing than the pandemic .
And centuries of systemic racism , lifetimes of discrimination , and years of watching black people die needlessly drive those fears .
“ It is hard for me as a public health professional , who also knows my history , to blanketly tell someone to take all these people off the street when they are protesting against 400 years of a different pandemic that happens to not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a social epidemiologist at the University of Miami , says .
“ It ’ s not something that potentially a white person is going to catch .
Right ?
” People are going out into the streets because they feel like their lives depend on it , because one in every 1,000 black men could die at the hands of police .
Because they fear an officer of the state will kill them for something petty , like being suspected of possessing a counterfeit $ 20 bill , as Floyd was .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reasons Covid-19 has harmed black people in higher numbers , and because black people are more likely to suffer the worst course of illness .
“ People are in the streets because they have to be , ” Rhea Boyd , a pediatrician who works in California ’ s Bay Area , says .
“ Because that is how dire things are .
Even in the setting of a pandemic , where it seems like being out there risks your life .
There are so many risks on your life .
You ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ try to protect it .
People need , and black folks in particular , need a ton of changes to happen immediately.
” Missing a funeral is painful .
Keeping a business closed is painful and causes real harm .
No one doubts that .
The question is : Can you live with the consequences ?
And what if on the other hand , you feel like your life , and the lives of people you care for , depend on protesting ?
Make no mistake : Protesting during a pandemic can spread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advice while demonstrating : wearing masks , distancing , using hand sanitizer , and getting tested for Covid-19 .
But it also must be said that there ’ s no perfectly safe way to demonstrate in huge gatherings during a pandemic , and the threat of new waves of Covid-19 is still very real .
New cases of Covid-19 , nationally , have been declining from a peak , but the national numbers obscure smaller outbreaks that are on the rise in some areas .
Things may be looking better , but there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ each day .
And that ’ s just the people who are getting tested .
According to Ashish Jha , a professor of global health at Harvard , the real number of new daily infections in the US may be closer to 125,000 .
The protests are also occurring at a deeply uncertain time during the pandemic .
The overall situation appears to be improving , but a new wave could be brewing under the surface as states reopen .
The incubation period of the virus , combined with limited resources for testing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ real-time knowledge of the state of the outbreak .
No one knows what ’ s going to happen next , or how big the next wave might be .
There are so many unknowns about how the virus will spread in a country with a patchwork system of response and varying levels of adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing .
“ I have a vested interest in the protection of black and brown people , not only professionally but personally ” That said , the virus ’ s deadly potential is still great @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dealing with Covid-19 on a timescale of months , if not years .
We also know mass gatherings are risky , even if people take precautions .
Yes , it ’ s safer that the protests are outside ( there are very few documented cases of outdoor coronavirus transmission ) .
Yes , it ’ s safer when people wear masks ; it ’ s safer when people try to distance themselves from one another .
But there ’ s no such thing as zero risk with this virus .
And the math @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t take a big spark to create an outbreak that numbers in the thousands .
“ I get very concerned , as do my colleagues in public health , when they see these kinds of crowds , ” Dr. Anthony Fauci , the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a top White House adviser on the pandemic , told WTOP on Friday .
“ There certainly is a risk .
I can say that with confidence.
” It ’ s possible Covid-19 will spread among those marching , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s also possible Covid-19 will spread due to the law enforcement response , throwing tear gas into crowds , making people cough , forcing them into smaller and smaller spaces , and then arresting them and confining them in small jail cells .
It ’ s possible the infection will spread both ways .
This is not lost on the public health experts , nor is the fact that the next wave of cases may disproportionately impact the minority communities protesting .
They ’ re more likely to get sick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers if new lockdown orders come .
“ I definitely worry about the potential spread of SARS-CoV-2 and how the protests that are going on may contribute to a second wave of Covid-19 , which would be disproportionately affecting the black community again , ” Jaime Slaughter-Acey , an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota , says .
“ Being a black epidemiologist ... the way that I see this is that those who are out there protesting are saying that the life of George Floyd , that black lives , matter , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life over their own individual life .
And there is nothing more unselfish than that.
” Why some public health experts say the protests are “ essential ” Some journalists have smelled a whiff of hypocrisy in epidemiologists endorsing the protests .
These same public health experts did not support anti-lockdown protesters who were arguing for reopening the economy .
They decried mass gatherings of people in a large swimming pool .
The argument is that health experts have been changing their recommendations , now that there ’ s a protest that aligns @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One thing I ’ ve been telling people is that the guidance hasn ’ t really changed from a public health perspective , ” Eleanor Murray , a Boston University epidemiologist , says .
“ It ’ s always been ‘ stay home as much as possible , except for essential activities.
’ But the definition of essential is not a scientific one — it ’ s a sociological one .
... Protesting police violence is an essential activity for a lot of people.
” Alison Bateman-House , a medical ethicist at NYU @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the costs and benefits of each type of protest .
“ Your desire for a haircut is not sufficient to counterbalance the potential of harm that you are imposing on others ” during a pandemic , Bateman-House says .
It ’ s also true that the stifling of the economy during the pandemic has made life worse for a lot of people .
But opening the economy back up was never the only answer .
The government could have been more generous in its support for people out of work .
Now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the mass racial justice protests .
“ For people of color and black folks , their cost of not doing something is a lot greater than potentially getting a virus , ” says Aisha Langford , a health communications researcher at NYU .
“ I could die as a black person in America — literally just living as a black person in America is a risk factor for dying , potentially at the hands of police , and potentially on national TV .
And history has shown that a lot of times , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t even brought to justice .
So it ’ s almost like your life is discarded .
If I ’ m quiet , and I do absolutely nothing , I could die because I exist.
” As Boyd put it in a recent American Medical Association panel , “ Protest saves lives .
The Black liberation movement , queer liberation movement , women ’ s liberation movement — all built on protest.
” If you believe the protests are essential , “ then I would say your social priority is to do harm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protesters , that means wearing masks and eye protection , avoiding shouting , keeping distance from others , and being tested for Covid-19 ( if possible ) after returning from the protests , and maintaining social distance in other aspects of life .
Law enforcement could do harm reduction too , as these crowds don ’ t appear to be going away .
That means not using tear gas and not placing people in crowded holding cells , as we know confined indoor spaces are the greatest place of risk of all .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ hundreds of protesters were locked up for more than a day in cramped cells — a perfect place for the coronavirus to spread .
BuzzFeed has estimated at least 11,000 have been arrested nationwide during the protests .
What ’ s worse : More people dying of Covid-19 , or sustained systemic racism ?
The debate about pandemic protests raises a question : What is the greater cost to society : exacerbating the spread of Covid-19 or not protesting for racial justice in this moment ?
“ I would say is that that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and that is almost a distraction , ” Bailey says .
“ A lot of people are thinking on a very short time horizon .
The protesters are not there just for themselves .
They ’ re there for generations to come .
They ’ re there for their children and grandchildren to live in a different society .
Right ?
So I don ’ t think that it is a distraction to try to quantify what that looks like.
” She worries that people who are bringing up Covid-19 risks are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement .
It ’ s difficult to make a direct comparison of the two threats , of racism , and of new Covid-19 cases .
Epidemiologists can model what happens when people get closer together during a pandemic .
They can tell us Covid-19 is more likely to spread when people convene , that more infections and deaths may result .
But they can ’ t easily model what happens to disparities in society , when a mass protest movement changes anti-racist attitudes for the better .
“ For people of color and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing something is a lot greater than potentially getting a virus ” The protest is fueled by the faith that it will be worth it : that forcing a reckoning on society will be enough to save more lives in the future .
And not just saving lives but easing the burden of systemic racism at all levels in society .
“ If there are places that immediately are divesting in their police force , I think that makes it worth it , ” Boyd , the pediatrician , says .
She mentions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police-themed playsets .
“ And I think that is huge — that there ’ s a cultural shift about how we think about policing , that it ’ s not a toy , that it ’ s a very lethal and dangerous system we ’ ve built that has racist implications in our society , ” she says .
And already , the protests may have had an impact on racial attitudes in America .
Support for Black Lives Matter is at an all-time high , according to the survey company Civiqs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ change compared to the pandemic ?
What is the worth of all the Instagram posts I ’ ve been seeing , of white people sharing guides for other white people to talk to their families about systemic racism ?
What is the worth of this protest movement and its potential impact on the November elections ?
What is the worth of showing how law enforcement can confront peaceful protesters with brutal means on live television ?
Might all of this jolt society into taking the health and well-being of black people and minorities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some changes .
Minneapolis is dismantling its police department and transforming it .
Voter registrations are surging .
But the larger cultural shifts are harder to quantify , harder to know how , if , and when they could make life better for black communities , and save lives .
This is the problem : How can we really compare the death and destruction of the pandemic with all that ?
They don ’ t operate in the same dimensions .
Yes , both racism and the pandemic could lead to death .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Racism is so much more multidimensional , and harming in a baffling array of ways .
Just look at the pandemic and how it has disproportionately impacted black and minority communities .
There are structural reasons for this .
Many racial and ethnic minorities , law professors Ruqaiijah Yearby and Seema Mohapatra explain , have been classified as “ essential workers ” and are unable to work from home , leave their job , or access paid sick leave .
They live in denser housing and more often polluted communities than whites @ @ @ @ @ @ @ housing policy that puts them at greater risk during a pandemic .
And when they do get sick , their access to health care is often limited ( as is their ability to pay for it ) .
“ Especially in the beginning of this pandemic , in order to get tested , you needed a referral in a lot of places from a primary care physician , ” Mohapatra says .
“ And many people of color , because of where they live , and you can trace it back to redlining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” That ’ s just one example of how structural racism is a superseding problem that is made clear when a pandemic arrives .
In the face of the worst-case Covid-19 scenario , the protest movement shows there ’ s hope for a better America It ’ s easy to think about the worst-case scenarios .
The protests could spread Covid-19 , and since many protesters are black , it could exacerbate the toll on black communities .
The protesters could embolden others to stop social distancing .
The protests could continue to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing sites have closed amid the unrest .
If Covid-19 cases spike some weeks after the protests , we won ’ t immediately know why — was it the police tactics , the tear gas ?
Was it simply the crowds ?
Was it the jailing ?
Was it the general “ reopening ” of our economy that is occurring at the same time ?
Before and during the protests , states were reopening without adequate measures like testing and contact tracing in place .
It ’ s possible that many locations were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infections , protests or not .
In the absence of clear information , fingers will point .
People will blame the new wave on whichever group they like the least .
The discourse will grow more polarized .
It ’ s possible the credibility of public health professionals will be strained , as conservatives blame them for giving the green light to the protests .
I ’ m scared about the pandemic .
I ’ m scared about a new wave exploding .
But as a white man of some privilege , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to judge if the protests are worth it .
There are real , deadly risks .
But these protests aren ’ t about cowering in fear of risks .
They ’ re about hope for change .
Hope is hard to quantify and hard to dismiss .
“ It ’ s hope that this type of mass movement has the same impact of other civil rights actions , ” Blake says .
“ I hope that policymakers , legislators , elected officials are paying attention to the calculated risk a lot of us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tragic , not only if there was a spike in Covid infections and deaths , but also if no policies were changed after this.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Share All sharing options for: What public health experts want critics to know about why they support the protests
As someone with asthma, Meredith Blake was very worried about getting sick in the pandemic. With Covid-19 spreading across America, she stayed inside her home in Boston for 12 weeks, isolating from others as much as possible.
Her self-quarantine ended on June 1. After George Floyd’s killing at the hands of police in Minneapolis, she was compelled to march in the streets with a large crowd of other Bostonians, in close proximity. She wore a face mask and used lots of hand sanitizer wipes.
“I was definitely a little nervous,” about catching Covid-19 in the crowd, says Blake, a researcher at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. But showing up and speaking out was more important to her in this moment: “I have a vested interest in the protection of black and brown people, not only professionally, but personally,” she says. She felt like she could no longer prioritize her personal safety from the coronavirus.
Blake works with public health professionals and ER doctors every day, and knew joining a crowd was dangerous — for both herself and the community. But she made a careful calculation: Covid-19 is a huge risk, and to her, the protests were worth it.
On the right, some commentators have accused public health experts of hypocrisy around the protests, for endorsing them after months of telling people to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Some of those commentators asked: Is it fair if the grieving can’t hold funerals for loved ones while others are marching en masse? Why should businesses stay closed when several high-profile experts say the protests are worthwhile? Author J.D. Vance, for one, fears public health expert endorsements of the protests will erode trust in expert opinion. “I’m still amazed at how quickly the moral scolding ceased as soon as elite-favored protests began taking place,” Vance tweeted.
I’ve talked to several public health experts who support the protests — both black and white — asking them what they wish people like Vance could accept.
Here’s what they say: Protesters are more afraid of doing nothing in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing than the pandemic. And centuries of systemic racism, lifetimes of discrimination, and years of watching black people die needlessly drive those fears.
“It is hard for me as a public health professional, who also knows my history, to blanketly tell someone to take all these people off the street when they are protesting against 400 years of a different pandemic that happens to not be infectious,” Zinzi Bailey, a social epidemiologist at the University of Miami, says. “It’s not something that potentially a white person is going to catch. Right?”
People are going out into the streets because they feel like their lives depend on it, because one in every 1,000 black men could die at the hands of police. Because they fear an officer of the state will kill them for something petty, like being suspected of possessing a counterfeit $20 bill, as Floyd was. They are going out because of the systemic reasons Covid-19 has harmed black people in higher numbers, and because black people are more likely to suffer the worst course of illness.
“People are in the streets because they have to be,” Rhea Boyd, a pediatrician who works in California’s Bay Area, says. “Because that is how dire things are. Even in the setting of a pandemic, where it seems like being out there risks your life. There are so many risks on your life. You’ve got to be out there to try to protect it. People need, and black folks in particular, need a ton of changes to happen immediately.”
Missing a funeral is painful. Keeping a business closed is painful and causes real harm. No one doubts that. The question is: Can you live with the consequences?
And what if on the other hand, you feel like your life, and the lives of people you care for, depend on protesting?
Make no mistake: Protesting during a pandemic can spread Covid-19
Many protesters are following public health advice while demonstrating: wearing masks, distancing, using hand sanitizer, and getting tested for Covid-19. But it also must be said that there’s no perfectly safe way to demonstrate in huge gatherings during a pandemic, and the threat of new waves of Covid-19 is still very real.
New cases of Covid-19, nationally, have been declining from a peak, but the national numbers obscure smaller outbreaks that are on the rise in some areas. Things may be looking better, but there are still around 20,000 new Covid-19 cases each day. And that’s just the people who are getting tested. According to Ashish Jha, a professor of global health at Harvard, the real number of new daily infections in the US may be closer to 125,000.
The protests are also occurring at a deeply uncertain time during the pandemic. The overall situation appears to be improving, but a new wave could be brewing under the surface as states reopen. The incubation period of the virus, combined with limited resources for testing, means people can’t have real-time knowledge of the state of the outbreak.
No one knows what’s going to happen next, or how big the next wave might be. There are so many unknowns about how the virus will spread in a country with a patchwork system of response and varying levels of adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing.
“I have a vested interest in the protection of black and brown people, not only professionally but personally”
That said, the virus’s deadly potential is still great. We’re still looking at dealing with Covid-19 on a timescale of months, if not years.
We also know mass gatherings are risky, even if people take precautions. Yes, it’s safer that the protests are outside (there are very few documented cases of outdoor coronavirus transmission). Yes, it’s safer when people wear masks; it’s safer when people try to distance themselves from one another. But there’s no such thing as zero risk with this virus. And the math of exponential growth means it doesn’t take a big spark to create an outbreak that numbers in the thousands.
“I get very concerned, as do my colleagues in public health, when they see these kinds of crowds,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a top White House adviser on the pandemic, told WTOP on Friday. “There certainly is a risk. I can say that with confidence.”
Related Why 15 US states suddenly made masks mandatory
It’s possible Covid-19 will spread among those marching, shouting out respiratory droplet-laden cries for justice. It’s also possible Covid-19 will spread due to the law enforcement response, throwing tear gas into crowds, making people cough, forcing them into smaller and smaller spaces, and then arresting them and confining them in small jail cells. It’s possible the infection will spread both ways.
This is not lost on the public health experts, nor is the fact that the next wave of cases may disproportionately impact the minority communities protesting. They’re more likely to get sick, more likely to be labeled essential workers if new lockdown orders come.
“I definitely worry about the potential spread of SARS-CoV-2 and how the protests that are going on may contribute to a second wave of Covid-19, which would be disproportionately affecting the black community again,” Jaime Slaughter-Acey, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota, says. “Being a black epidemiologist ... the way that I see this is that those who are out there protesting are saying that the life of George Floyd, that black lives, matter, and that they’re prioritizing black life over their own individual life. And there is nothing more unselfish than that.”
Why some public health experts say the protests are “essential”
Some journalists have smelled a whiff of hypocrisy in epidemiologists endorsing the protests. These same public health experts did not support anti-lockdown protesters who were arguing for reopening the economy. They decried mass gatherings of people in a large swimming pool. The argument is that health experts have been changing their recommendations, now that there’s a protest that aligns with their social justice politics.
“One thing I’ve been telling people is that the guidance hasn’t really changed from a public health perspective,” Eleanor Murray, a Boston University epidemiologist, says. “It’s always been ‘stay home as much as possible, except for essential activities.’ But the definition of essential is not a scientific one — it’s a sociological one. ... Protesting police violence is an essential activity for a lot of people.”
(It’s not surprising a lot of epidemiologists feel this way. When not dealing with a pandemic, they often study societal inequities and the social determinants of health. Because of this work, we now know a lot about systemic racism and its impacts on health.)
Alison Bateman-House, a medical ethicist at NYU, says we need to think carefully about the costs and benefits of each type of protest.
“Your desire for a haircut is not sufficient to counterbalance the potential of harm that you are imposing on others” during a pandemic, Bateman-House says. It’s also true that the stifling of the economy during the pandemic has made life worse for a lot of people. But opening the economy back up was never the only answer. The government could have been more generous in its support for people out of work.
Now think about the costs and benefits of the mass racial justice protests.
“For people of color and black folks, their cost of not doing something is a lot greater than potentially getting a virus,” says Aisha Langford, a health communications researcher at NYU. “I could die as a black person in America — literally just living as a black person in America is a risk factor for dying, potentially at the hands of police, and potentially on national TV. And history has shown that a lot of times, people [the perpetrators] aren’t even brought to justice. So it’s almost like your life is discarded. If I’m quiet, and I do absolutely nothing, I could die because I exist.”
As Boyd put it in a recent American Medical Association panel, “Protest saves lives. The Black liberation movement, queer liberation movement, women’s liberation movement — all built on protest.”
If you believe the protests are essential, “then I would say your social priority is to do harm reduction,” Bateman-House says. For protesters, that means wearing masks and eye protection, avoiding shouting, keeping distance from others, and being tested for Covid-19 (if possible) after returning from the protests, and maintaining social distance in other aspects of life.
Law enforcement could do harm reduction too, as these crowds don’t appear to be going away. That means not using tear gas and not placing people in crowded holding cells, as we know confined indoor spaces are the greatest place of risk of all. In New York, Gothamist reports, hundreds of protesters were locked up for more than a day in cramped cells — a perfect place for the coronavirus to spread. BuzzFeed has estimated at least 11,000 have been arrested nationwide during the protests.
What’s worse: More people dying of Covid-19, or sustained systemic racism?
The debate about pandemic protests raises a question: What is the greater cost to society: exacerbating the spread of Covid-19 or not protesting for racial justice in this moment?
“I would say is that that is the wrong question to be asking, and that is almost a distraction,” Bailey says. “A lot of people are thinking on a very short time horizon. The protesters are not there just for themselves. They’re there for generations to come. They’re there for their children and grandchildren to live in a different society. Right? So I don’t think that it is a distraction to try to quantify what that looks like.” She worries that people who are bringing up Covid-19 risks are really just trying to silence the protest movement.
It’s difficult to make a direct comparison of the two threats, of racism, and of new Covid-19 cases.
Epidemiologists can model what happens when people get closer together during a pandemic. They can tell us Covid-19 is more likely to spread when people convene, that more infections and deaths may result. But they can’t easily model what happens to disparities in society, when a mass protest movement changes anti-racist attitudes for the better.
“For people of color and black folks, their cost of not doing something is a lot greater than potentially getting a virus”
The protest is fueled by the faith that it will be worth it: that forcing a reckoning on society will be enough to save more lives in the future. And not just saving lives but easing the burden of systemic racism at all levels in society.
“If there are places that immediately are divesting in their police force, I think that makes it worth it,” Boyd, the pediatrician, says. She mentions how Lego has pulled its marketing of police-themed playsets. “And I think that is huge — that there’s a cultural shift about how we think about policing, that it’s not a toy, that it’s a very lethal and dangerous system we’ve built that has racist implications in our society,” she says.
And already, the protests may have had an impact on racial attitudes in America. Support for Black Lives Matter is at an all-time high, according to the survey company Civiqs.
Support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement is the highest it has ever been in over three years of polling @Civiqs. This weekend was the single most significant shift in Americans' racial attitudes since we began asking the question in April 2017.https://t.co/BP52L4Ao49 pic.twitter.com/il1ebBtxLG — Drew Linzer (@DrewLinzer) June 3, 2020
What is the worth of that cultural change compared to the pandemic? What is the worth of all the Instagram posts I’ve been seeing, of white people sharing guides for other white people to talk to their families about systemic racism? What is the worth of this protest movement and its potential impact on the November elections? What is the worth of showing how law enforcement can confront peaceful protesters with brutal means on live television? Might all of this jolt society into taking the health and well-being of black people and minorities more seriously?
Already there have been some changes. Minneapolis is dismantling its police department and transforming it. Voter registrations are surging. But the larger cultural shifts are harder to quantify, harder to know how, if, and when they could make life better for black communities, and save lives.
This is the problem: How can we really compare the death and destruction of the pandemic with all that? They don’t operate in the same dimensions. Yes, both racism and the pandemic could lead to death. But comparing deaths to deaths feels off. Racism is so much more multidimensional, and harming in a baffling array of ways.
Just look at the pandemic and how it has disproportionately impacted black and minority communities. There are structural reasons for this.
Many racial and ethnic minorities, law professors Ruqaiijah Yearby and Seema Mohapatra explain, have been classified as “essential workers” and are unable to work from home, leave their job, or access paid sick leave. They live in denser housing and more often polluted communities than whites — a result of years of racist housing policy that puts them at greater risk during a pandemic. And when they do get sick, their access to health care is often limited (as is their ability to pay for it).
“Especially in the beginning of this pandemic, in order to get tested, you needed a referral in a lot of places from a primary care physician,” Mohapatra says. “And many people of color, because of where they live, and you can trace it back to redlining ... really don’t have access.” That’s just one example of how structural racism is a superseding problem that is made clear when a pandemic arrives.
In the face of the worst-case Covid-19 scenario, the protest movement shows there’s hope for a better America
It’s easy to think about the worst-case scenarios.
The protests could spread Covid-19, and since many protesters are black, it could exacerbate the toll on black communities. The protesters could embolden others to stop social distancing. The protests could continue to hurt the pandemic response; already some testing sites have closed amid the unrest.
If Covid-19 cases spike some weeks after the protests, we won’t immediately know why — was it the police tactics, the tear gas? Was it simply the crowds? Was it the jailing? Was it the general “reopening” of our economy that is occurring at the same time? Before and during the protests, states were reopening without adequate measures like testing and contact tracing in place. It’s possible that many locations were set up for a new wave of infections, protests or not.
In the absence of clear information, fingers will point. People will blame the new wave on whichever group they like the least. The discourse will grow more polarized. It’s possible the credibility of public health professionals will be strained, as conservatives blame them for giving the green light to the protests.
I’m scared about the pandemic. I’m scared about a new wave exploding. But as a white man of some privilege, I feel it’s not for me to judge if the protests are worth it.
There are real, deadly risks. But these protests aren’t about cowering in fear of risks. They’re about hope for change. Hope is hard to quantify and hard to dismiss.
“It’s hope that this type of mass movement has the same impact of other civil rights actions,” Blake says. “I hope that policymakers, legislators, elected officials are paying attention to the calculated risk a lot of us are making, because it would be tragic, not only if there was a spike in Covid infections and deaths, but also if no policies were changed after this.”


vox--2020-06-06--A reading list to understand police brutality in America

Over the past few weeks , police brutality has raged across America in response to nationwide protests against police brutality .
Some people have been left searching for answers .
Were the police always this bad ?
How can so many violent events possibly have happened ?
Should we just get rid of the police altogether ?
What would that even look like ?
I ’ ve compiled a reading list of nonfiction books that can help you understand where we are right now , how we got here , and where we can go next .
But I want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ below is not enough .
We ’ re in a moment of national crisis , and reading is only helpful insofar as it informs your actions .
Let these books be a starting point , not the only thing you do .
Take action .
Also , please buy these books from black-owned bookstores .
All the links I ’ ve provided below will take you to a black-owned bookstore whenever possible , and here ’ s a list of other black-owned bookstores where you can shop .
Books on the current state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander In one of the most influential books of the past 20 years , Alexander shows how the criminal justice system works to replicate the effects of Jim Crow laws and create a new racial caste system .
This book laid the intellectual basis for the revitalized critique of America ’ s criminal justice system over the past decade and is essential reading .
Law professor Franklin Zimring goes deep into the numbers to figure out how often the police kill civilians , why , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a data-driven snapshot of the situation on the ground circa 2018 .
Invisible No More : Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie While sexual violence committed by police is the second-most frequently reported form of police misconduct , it is not the second-most talked about .
Police misconduct attorney Andrea J. Ritchie aims to change that in this book , which looks at the often-ignored ways in which police can prey on women from vulnerable communities .
The Black and the Blue : A Cop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Injustice in America ’ s Law Enforcement by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris Matthew Horace , a black man who spent 28 years in law enforcement , explains the culture of racism deeply embedded in America ’ s police departments .
Horace ’ s first-person account is supplemented with reporting by journalist Ron Harris , but what ’ s most indelible in this book is Horace ’ s account of finding himself with a gun to his head and pinned to the ground by a white officer .
A Good Time for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Sun Yung Shin In this provocative anthology , 16 writers explain what it ’ s like to live as a person of color in Minnesota , the state where George Floyd was killed by police .
White Fragility : Why It ’ s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo Robin DiAngelo is a sociologist , and she also leads workshops in diversity training .
In White Fragility , she examines the enormous defensiveness white people exhibit when talking about race , why it exists , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how we got here Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi In this National Book Award winner , Kendi traces the development of racist ideas in American thought from the colonial era through to the present .
He convincingly argues that American racism was developed in order to justify structural inequalities that were already in place , and that they were most often not the result of ignorance or thoughtlessness from the uneducated , but the product of deep thought from some of America ’ s most beloved intellectuals .
The Counter-Revolution @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Horne argues that the American revolution was prompted less by grand ideals about liberty and equality and universal truths than it was by fears that the elite of the colony might face a slave revolt like those sweeping the Caribbean and that the central freedom for which our Founding Fathers fought was the freedom to own other people .
Horne is writing more for fellow historians than for lay readers , but the force and clarity of his argument come through regardless .
Black Power : The Politics of Liberation in America by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ landmark book from 1967 features the first known use of the phrase “ institutional racism.
” Civil rights organizer Stokely Carmichael ( later known as Kwame Ture ) and political scientist Charles V. Hamilton examine the roots of racism in America and why reform is so difficult .
Coming in for particular criticism are the black civil rights movement ’ s ostensible allies among liberal groups , whom Carmichael and Hamilton argue are complacent and invested in the status quo .
Ersula J .
Ore , a professor of ethics , African American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history of lynching as a means of civic engagement for white people .
She argues that for white people , lynching is a way of declaring what they believe America to be : a nation of white people , from whom black people are to be excluded by any means necessary .
Fight the Power : African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City by Clarence Taylor Historian Clarence Taylor traces the history of police brutality in New York City , from the so-called Harlem Riots of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the present day .
He also chronicles the stories of those who tried to fight back against police violence toward communities of color , including both their defeats and their victories .
From # BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Academic Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor places the # BlackLivesMatter movement in its historical context , tracing the lines from early American racism to contemporary mass incarceration and police violence .
Cornel West called this book “ the best analysis we have of the # BlackLivesMatter moment of the long struggle for freedom in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go from here How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi Kendi ’ s memoir asks us not to stay trapped by the system in which we currently live , but to imagine what an equitable anti-racist society would actually look like .
Most importantly , he asks us to actively work toward building it .
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale “ The problem is not police training , police diversity , or police methods , ” writes sociologist Alex S. Vitale .
“ The problem is policing itself.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to reduce crime , spending , and injustice and to increase public safety is to abolish the police and create new alternatives .
Beyond Survival : Strategies and Survival from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepezna-Samarasinha Our current criminal justice system and its focus on the police is not the only system societies have ever used to fight against violence and injustice .
This anthology by social activists lays out strategies from the transformative justice movement to resolve violence on a community-based level and to prevent it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Daily has a reading list of accessible scholarly articles on institutional racism in America .
• The Association of University Presses has set up a storefront on Bookshop.org featuring books on equity , justice , and inclusion .
• Haymarket Books has a list of books on mass incarceration and policing .
• Electric Literature has a reading list on the police abolition movement .
• This Google Drive is a list of anti-racist resources for white people .
• Noteworthy : The Journal Blog has a list of children ’ s books @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about racism .
Now that you know the background , it ’ s time to take action .
To get you started , here are articles at The Cut and Lifehacker that will outline ways to donate your time , skills , or money to support the protesters and fight against police brutality and systemic racism .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Over the past few weeks, police brutality has raged across America in response to nationwide protests against police brutality. Some people have been left searching for answers. Were the police always this bad? How can so many violent events possibly have happened? Should we just get rid of the police altogether? What would that even look like?
I’ve compiled a reading list of nonfiction books that can help you understand where we are right now, how we got here, and where we can go next. But I want to be clear: Reading the books below is not enough. We’re in a moment of national crisis, and reading is only helpful insofar as it informs your actions. Let these books be a starting point, not the only thing you do. Take action.
Also, please buy these books from black-owned bookstores. All the links I’ve provided below will take you to a black-owned bookstore whenever possible, and here’s a list of other black-owned bookstores where you can shop.
Books on the current state of America, racism, and the police
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
In one of the most influential books of the past 20 years, Alexander shows how the criminal justice system works to replicate the effects of Jim Crow laws and create a new racial caste system. This book laid the intellectual basis for the revitalized critique of America’s criminal justice system over the past decade and is essential reading.
When Police Kill by Franklin Zimring
Law professor Franklin Zimring goes deep into the numbers to figure out how often the police kill civilians, why, and who they are killing. This book is a data-driven snapshot of the situation on the ground circa 2018.
Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color by Andrea J. Ritchie
While sexual violence committed by police is the second-most frequently reported form of police misconduct, it is not the second-most talked about. Police misconduct attorney Andrea J. Ritchie aims to change that in this book, which looks at the often-ignored ways in which police can prey on women from vulnerable communities.
The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America’s Law Enforcement by Matthew Horace and Ron Harris
Matthew Horace, a black man who spent 28 years in law enforcement, explains the culture of racism deeply embedded in America’s police departments. Horace’s first-person account is supplemented with reporting by journalist Ron Harris, but what’s most indelible in this book is Horace’s account of finding himself with a gun to his head and pinned to the ground by a white officer.
A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, edited by Sun Yung Shin
In this provocative anthology, 16 writers explain what it’s like to live as a person of color in Minnesota, the state where George Floyd was killed by police.
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo
Robin DiAngelo is a sociologist, and she also leads workshops in diversity training. In White Fragility, she examines the enormous defensiveness white people exhibit when talking about race, why it exists, and how to dismantle it.
Books on how we got here
Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
In this National Book Award winner, Kendi traces the development of racist ideas in American thought from the colonial era through to the present. He convincingly argues that American racism was developed in order to justify structural inequalities that were already in place, and that they were most often not the result of ignorance or thoughtlessness from the uneducated, but the product of deep thought from some of America’s most beloved intellectuals.
The Counter-Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne
Historian Gerald Horne argues that the American revolution was prompted less by grand ideals about liberty and equality and universal truths than it was by fears that the elite of the colony might face a slave revolt like those sweeping the Caribbean and that the central freedom for which our Founding Fathers fought was the freedom to own other people. Horne is writing more for fellow historians than for lay readers, but the force and clarity of his argument come through regardless.
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton
This landmark book from 1967 features the first known use of the phrase “institutional racism.” Civil rights organizer Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) and political scientist Charles V. Hamilton examine the roots of racism in America and why reform is so difficult. Coming in for particular criticism are the black civil rights movement’s ostensible allies among liberal groups, whom Carmichael and Hamilton argue are complacent and invested in the status quo.
Ersula J. Ore, a professor of ethics, African American studies, and rhetoric, traces the history of lynching as a means of civic engagement for white people. She argues that for white people, lynching is a way of declaring what they believe America to be: a nation of white people, from whom black people are to be excluded by any means necessary.
Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City by Clarence Taylor
Historian Clarence Taylor traces the history of police brutality in New York City, from the so-called Harlem Riots of the 1930s through to the de Blasio administration of the present day. He also chronicles the stories of those who tried to fight back against police violence toward communities of color, including both their defeats and their victories.
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Academic Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor places the #BlackLivesMatter movement in its historical context, tracing the lines from early American racism to contemporary mass incarceration and police violence. Cornel West called this book “the best analysis we have of the #BlackLivesMatter moment of the long struggle for freedom in America.”
Books on where we can go from here
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Kendi’s memoir asks us not to stay trapped by the system in which we currently live, but to imagine what an equitable anti-racist society would actually look like. Most importantly, he asks us to actively work toward building it.
The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
“The problem is not police training, police diversity, or police methods,” writes sociologist Alex S. Vitale. “The problem is policing itself.” Vitale argues that the best way to reduce crime, spending, and injustice and to increase public safety is to abolish the police and create new alternatives.
Beyond Survival: Strategies and Survival from the Transformative Justice Movement edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepezna-Samarasinha
Our current criminal justice system and its focus on the police is not the only system societies have ever used to fight against violence and injustice. This anthology by social activists lays out strategies from the transformative justice movement to resolve violence on a community-based level and to prevent it before it ever begins.
Additional resources:
Now act
Now that you know the background, it’s time to take action. To get you started, here are articles at The Cut and Lifehacker that outline ways to donate your time, skills, or money to support the protesters and fight against police brutality and systemic racism.