In 1963, just two years after I was born, Sam Cooke sang a song called a “Change is gonna come.” It’s been too hard living, but I’m afraid to die ‘cause I don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky…there been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long, but now I think I’m able to carry on. It’s been a long, time coming, but I know a change gon’ come, oh yes it will.
Black Americans have to be involved at all levels of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot afford to be silent, detached, denied, or prevented from being at the decision-making tables in terms of COVID-19 public health policies, research, clinical trials, remedies, and vaccine development. Our lives and future are at stake.
“America has an ugly history of racism,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said after addressing Democrats at an annual state dinner in New Hampshire, according to The Boston Globe. “We need to confront it head-on. And we need to talk about the right way to address it and make change.”