It feels like the movie called “The Perfect Storm” because many things are happening at once: Hurricane Laura, COVID-19, the opening of universities, the RNC after the DNC, and finally the vicious shooting of Jacob Blake. I don’t know how any sane person can stay focused on anything like work or even writing a blog. I just pray that God and the ancestors will not allow this situation to persist and will protect the innocent because the police don’t seem to be able to deal with that responsibility.
Since Hurricane Mitch and Georges back in the day, every time I see an eye like the one associated with Hurricane Laura I feel fear for the people on the ground. This fear has only increased since Katrina but new named Storms come to the surface of my mind, like Matthew, Michael, Dorian, Maria, Harvey, and Irma. While I know that we can’t control a hurricane, but we may be influencing it through the burning of fossil fuels leading to warmer ocean temperatures –the fuel of hurricanes. For people of color, this is another series of threats that many have faced their entire lifetime from systemic racism, harassment, job security, educational access, and police violence.
This storm is different, because of COVID-19. Many have mentally and emotionally struggled over the last 6 months, but with this impending storm, a new struggle emerges. Shelters must take in fewer people because of COVID-19 while power, transportation, and communication will be impacted and the money required to recover will be hard to come by for many because so many people are not working. Will the government help and not play politics? Nature through the Coronavirus, a warming Climate and now Hurricane Laura is trying to get our attention.
Uncertainty about the impacts of climate change, Hurricane Laura, COVID-19, and the police violence toward black people make for “the Perfect Storm” on August 26, 2020– what I fear is that a new “Perfect Storm” sits on tomorrow’s horizon for us, our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.