Reopen protesters are flirting with insane ideas in coronavirus era | Opinion
COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, yet those who protest advocate a return to something that would put us all in danger. To compare themselves to Rosa Parks is reckless.
- Albert Bender of Nashville is a Cherokee activist, journalist and author of "Native American Wisdom."
The recent demonstrations in Nashville and other cities against the stay-at-home orders involved those who not only wanted to risk their lives in the name of the economy but the lives of their fellow citizens.
They had the nerve to proclaim this is in the name of “freedom.” This is the epitome of nonsense and lunacy. The COVID-19 is still on the rise in Tennessee.
There are some very unflattering names for these folk, including “covidiots,” which I will not overwork in this column. These demonstrations have for the most part been characterized as very small by the media in relation to the huge, literal life-and-death issues involved. These right-wing rallies range in numbers from a few hundred in some cities to only 16 in Jackson, Tennessee. The country as a whole is overwhelmingly in favor of the stay-at-home orders, according to the latest polls.
These demonstrations are not a grassroots movement but are organized by right-wing political groupings inspired by the Donald Trump government. The Confederate flag was reportedly seen flying at some protests. This certainly is a dead giveaway as to the political leanings of these so-called freedom-loving Americans.
Hear more Tennessee Voices: Get the weekly opinion newsletter for insightful and thought provoking columns.
In a disgraceful attempt to associate this racist, selfish, self-centered movement, one Trump associate proclaimed that this was being done in the spirit of Rosa Parks.
Parks, as anyone who knows even a rudimentary history of the civil rights movement will recognize, was a fearless African American heroine who fought against a savage system of racism and discrimination that had little parallel in modern world history.
Can anyone imagine Parks marching in a demonstration in which the Confederate flag was flying? The very suggestion of such an association between these uncaring sociopaths and the valiant, self-sacrificing Parks is beyond outrage.
The media says that the South is leading the charge against the stay-at-home orders, but again the South, at least some of its governors, are starting to look like deranged denizens who have been prematurely released from mental institutions.
A good example is Brian Kemp of Georgia, who issued an order on April 24 to reopen fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, nail technicians and beauty shops. Seems the governor, to use an old southern saying, wants citizens to “make pretty corpses.”
Kemp moved to reopen the most nonessential businesses beginning with hair salons, gyms and tattoo parlors when people can do their hair at home, exercise in their living rooms and tattoos can surely wait. This is insane.
Albert Bender of Nashville is a Cherokee activist, journalist and author of "Native American Wisdom." Email him at albertbender07@yahoo.com.