Wednesday, May 20: COVID-19 Day of Mourning

As of today, more than 90,000 people have died of the novel coronavirus in the U.S.  Tomorrow is a National Day of Mourning, organized by Indivisible, MoveOn, the Center for Popular Democracy, and other activist groups. As part of that, there will be a 24-hour livestream during which all the victims are named. You can get the link to join any part of the livestream or submit a name to the list by registering here.

There will also be socially distanced actions all across the country. The big one will be in Washington, D.C., where protestors are expected to drive a 200-car funeral procession from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) residence to the White House, according to Common Dreams. In places where people are going to be on foot, like New York City, Indivisible is encouraging groups of three to five people to come up with their own strong visuals that can be shared on social media. To list your event or join one in your area, check out the toolkit.

If you can’t do an in-person protest, text the word RESIST to 50409 and use Resistbot to send an email to your elected officials in under two minutes. One topic you can address is the HEROES Act, a $3 trillion bill passed by House Democrats on Friday that would extend beefed-up unemployment benefits, provide another round of one-time $1,200 direct stimulus payments, and authorize $1 trillion in funding for state and local governments. The bill doesn’t go far enough, but that probably doesn’t matter when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate hasn’t yet felt the urgency of acting immediately to provide more relief to people gravely impacted by coronavirus. Reach out to your senators — regardless of where they stand — and tell them why you personally support and need the HEROES Act. The more personal your story is, the better. Tell them how many times you had to call unemployment before you got through. Tell them about your small business closing! Light a fire under the people whose salaries you pay to represent you.

And whatever you do, don’t act like these racists in Alpharetta, Ga., who were willing to be quoted by name in the Washington Post. Scott Friedel, for instance, said, “When you start seeing where the cases are coming from and the demographics — I’m not worried.” The story is like a bizarro version of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death” with people running to embrace the plague, rather than fleeing it. This time, Death doesn’t have to sneak into a party; He just has go to to Avalon, that “dreamscape of suburban aspiration.” Beware, Scott Friedel! Beware!