On May 25, onlookers recorded Minneapolis police officers kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old Black man, for eight minutes and 46 seconds, killing him. It was a horrifying reflection of the long history of police violence against Black people in the United States.
Floyd’s murder sparked an ongoing wave of protests across the country. Many people have taken to the streets demanding justice for Floyd; Breonna Taylor, a 25-year-old Black woman whom police shot and killed in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 13; Ahmaud Arbery, a 26-year-old Black man whose murderers went unpunished for months in Georgia; and a growing number of others. The brutal murders of these innocent people are as good a reason as any to take to the streets.
However, we are in the midst of a pandemic, and many of the protests are not safe from the perspective of disease prevention. While many protesters appear to be wearing masks, it is clear from numerous videos and photographs that they are huddled closely together. By not respecting the six-foot social distancing rule, people increase their risk of contracting and spreading the virus “exponentially,” according to Dr. Sarah Ruff of the University of North Carolina in UNC Health Talk.
I understand why so many people are protesting right now. I am furious, too, though as a White man, I also know that I cannot fully understand the existential fear that many Black people feel right now and every day. I will never comprehend the fear that I will be shot, beaten, or strangled to death by police, that I will be shot while taking a jog, or that an officer will press their knee into my neck for nine minutes until I die.
However, I do understand how it feels to belong to another group facing an existential threat right now: the immunosuppressed.
I was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2012. Throughout my four years of treatment, my immune system was much weaker than most people’s. For many cancer patients, even the everyday infections can be lethal. During this deadly pandemic caused by a highly contagious virus, cancer patients and other immunosuppressed persons are in even more danger than usual. Not only are their immune systems unequipped to fight the coronavirus, but also many are forced to risk exposure to the virus more often than their peers because they have to visit the hospital on a regular basis for treatments. It is difficult for White people to grasp the struggles facing many people of color. It is also difficult for those with competent immune systems to fully understand just how vulnerable and afraid immunosuppressed people feel during the time of COVID-19.
The problem of police brutality is, at its core, an issue of public health and safety — both of which are inextricably related to race. Widespread institutional racism in law enforcement poses a serious danger to the health and safety of Black people, as well as other people of color. But the crowded and chaotic character of these protests poses a similarly lethal threat to the lives of immunosuppressed Americans.
Frankly, anyone who attends the protests or comes into contact with protesters (knowingly or unknowingly) may be at risk; even those without weakened immune systems or other health problems can die from COVID-19. Moreover, Black people are more than 3.5 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than White people due to historic and lasting disparities in American health care. In April, the national Black Lives Matter organization tweeted, “The push to re-open this country against medical advice, when Black folks are dying most, is fueled by a calculated choice to sacrifice Black lives. OUR LIVES MATTER.” If these protests help spread COVID-19, it is likely that communities of color will suffer disproportionately.
The organizers of these protests are probably not willingly risking their supporters’ lives. Due in part to the president’s mixed messaging about the pandemic’s severity, many people do not understand that, while wearing masks mitigates the spread of the coronavirus, it is not a substitute for social distancing: The two prevention tactics work best in concert. Even if organizers do not entirely understand the risks, however, they bear responsibility for the health and safety of their legions of protesters.
On the participant side, many have decided this cause is important enough that they must put their own lives at risk. But that is not how contagion works. By attending any large gathering, people risk not only their own lives, but also those of the other attendees and anyone they encounter later on, even in passing. If people do not maintain social distancing at a demonstration, they may either infect other protesters (no one can know for sure whether they are infected at any given time) or get infected and bring the virus back to their friends, family, or anyone else with whom they might come into contact. If they live with an immunosuppressed person, they just might kill them. I do not say that to be combative: It’s just a fact.
Even in this extraordinary time, Americans must make a powerful statement against police brutality and racism. But however we protest, it must not endanger the public. There are ways to protest safely, even during a pandemic. Imagine if protesters had instead marched through America’s cities separated by six feet. I am sure there are other methods that would not have risked numerous lives — methods that would have strengthened the cause rather than forcing people to choose between health and expressing their righteous outrage.
I am not writing to criticize the movement against police brutality. I am an ardent supporter. I am simply highlighting the dangerous public health implications of this latest round of protests. My leukemia treatment gave me intimate knowledge of just how deadly viruses can be. I do not mean to suggest that the immunosuppressed face more dire circumstances than those of Black people, but we must consider their well-being, too. Besides, if protests are conducted safely, they will both save lives and encourage more people to join their ranks. The more Americans marching, posting, and voting in support of a social movement, the more likely that movement will succeed.
We have to succeed — for George Floyd, for Breonna Taylor, for Ahmaud Arbery, for all the victims of racist police, past, present and future. These protests have achieved a massive degree of policy change in remarkably little time, and they seem to be convincing a large number of Americans that Black lives do, indeed, matter. But that number might be even greater if protesters take every precaution to ensure they are demonstrating safely. Protest and safety are not mutually exclusive, even during a pandemic. With more planning and imagination, we can have it both ways.
Image Credit: “File:2020.06.06 Protesting the Murder of George Floyd, Washington, DC USA 158 20208 (49978001278).jpg” by Ted Eytan from Washington, DC, USA is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 // “File:George Floyd Protest Against Police Brutality in Dallas.jpg” by Matthew T Rader is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0