COVID-19, Heightened Rhetoric and the Intersection of Race and Economics!

Over the past several days, protests of defiance against state government-mandated shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have become increasingly personal and political, with the protestors’ not-so-subtle support of President Trump. Though over the past few days, the commander chief has adopted a more passive/aggressive stance in his agenda. Truckloads of angry and unhinged protesters have taken to courthouses, statehouses and other public venues in an effort to voice their dissatisfaction and flex their politically reactionary muscles toward what they consider (incorrectly, I might add) to be a deeply unacceptable infringement upon their civil rights.

In various pockets of the nation, these men and women have brazenly expressed their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, complete with guns, signs, bullhorns, confederate flags, ironic swastikas and various other trappings of white supremacy. Interestingly and notably, they engage in such scurrilous activity under the guise of claiming to promote liberty and freedom. Indeed, some of these protesters and their conservative supporters have even gone as far as to invoke the legacy of founding father Patrick Henry and renowned Civil rights activist Rosa Parks. As can be imagined, the latter comparison has provoked considerable outrage among many on the…