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Opinion: Challenging a ‘Return to Normal’ After COVID-19 Pandemic Subsides

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Lately, I have been stunned by the social dialogue around higher rates of COVID-19 diagnoses and deaths among Black people as a “Black people’s problem.”

Old racist myths about Black inferiority and poor choices by Black people have been woven into the discussion.

Do some people actually believe that Black people are more genetically prone to catching COVID-19? Or that the cultural structures of Black communities discourage Black people from practicing physical distancing?

Well, yes, apparently some do. I have heard the most outrageous questions and comments, and I view these questions and comments as stemming from white supremacist indoctrination. This indoctrination presents a patronizing savior response to educate, guide and “help out” Black people.

These questions and comments are also a dangerous blaming technique: A way to excuse wide-scale systematic oppression. A way to insinuate that if only Black people made the easy choice to move out of food deserts and eat the right foods, took time off from work and stayed home, or became “good” citizens and followed the rules then health inequity wouldn’t exist.

These perspectives are indoctrinations that have become unquestioned habit and normalized. They are, in effect, the unconscious white supremacist paving stones for the road back to normal. 

Why would I ever want society to return to “normal?”

Normal is a prevailing U.S. culture where health inequity is a Black problem. Where the need for accessible health care is still up for debate. Where health justice and equitable policies languish without action.

I disagree with “returning to normal.”

As long as health inequity and high mortality rates remain a Black people’s problem, then real-world policies and active procedures will be slow in coming.

Returning to normal means returning to a network of systems that are killing people of color. I have every right to be outraged. I have every right to demand something better. Something that goes far beyond “accessibility.” Something that equates with inclusions, usability, and effectiveness. I have every right to be part of creating something that resembles health justice. Every person of color does.

The systems of this country are flailing.

The economic system, justice system, education system, health system and on and on. They are disintegrating. Now is the best time to birth new systems. This is the moment to serve the final blow to systems that are killing people of color.

This is the ideal time to experiment with the policies and procedures of health justice that before now could not find room to grow. No, not homogenized approaches to the multifaceted needs and desires of Black people.

Instead, make room for the Black-prioritized actualizers who have been planning for this moment. Let’s invest our time, our energy, our resources, and our support to the development of many paths that prioritize progressive change over returning to normal. 

Preston Vargas, PhD, leads the Black Brothers Esteem program at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Join us at sfaf.org/BBE.

Preston Vargas, PhD

Preston Vargas, PhD

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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Activism

Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

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Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)
Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

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Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 28 – June 3, 2025

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