We are at an inflection point in American history. COVID-19 and the resulting economic impact have left more Americans unemployed than in any other point since the Great Depression. Millions cannot pay rent, and nearly as many cannot pay for groceries. And during a time of profound racial violence against communities of color, those struggling the most to keep their jobs and their homes in this pandemic are Black Americans.
What makes all this even more shocking is the fact that our government, our supposed “democracy,” is actively leaving millions of people behind in the wake of COVID-19. In over half a year, during a period when COVID-19 deaths and COVID-related job losses continued to climb, the most relief many Americans received from their government was a single, $1,200 check, all while corporations got billion-dollar bailouts—nothing sums up the ineptitude of our democracy in 2020 better than this.