Cat Zavis: Why People are Demanding to Get Back to Work

This is such an excellent read which uncovers and illuminates the many layers of what fuels protests to reopen workplaces in the midst of a pandemic, and even though doing so would cost thousands of lives. It's so important that we not demonize and dehumanize these people, but instead choose to understand them and to recognize a much larger picture. There are deep roots of what has brought about such desperation, disparity, despair, and anger. What has been so long needed is to dismantle the exploitative predatory capitalist system which feeds us harmful cultural stories, policies, and rationals for injustice, cruelty, and violence that have brought us to this place of horrific suffering, fear, and loss where we find ourselves today. I hope that you will consider sharing this excellent article. Thank you. And bless us all, no exceptions. — Molly

Why People are Demanding to Get Back to Work
By Cat Zavis

“We want to work, we don’t want a government hand-out.”
“We are essential. We are essential.”

These are the voices of our fellow citizens gathered in various locations throughout the country demanding that States re-open.

Many liberals and progressives, both on social media and in the media, are horrified by their actions, deeming them insensitive and ignorant, using a variety of slurs and derogatory terms to describe them.
 
What I hear in their cries are expressions of angst and suffering, not only economically. They are suffering from a crisis of identity. These are people who determine their personal worth and value through their work. Why? Because that is the message of the capitalist marketplace — your worth and value is not inherent in you, but is a reflection of how valuable you are to the company or business for which you work. They have absorbed that message. So now that they are home without the ability to work and earn a living (which also has severe economic consequences for them), they feel worthless.

In addition, they have been told by the ruling elite on both the Right and the Left that it is “them” — the poor, people of color, and immigrants who take government hand-outs. It is lazy people. And they don’t want to see themselves through the judgmental lens through which they judge the ‘other’. They need to feel a sense of dignity and respect and that comes through their ability to provide for their family. They need to feel valued, like they have something to contribute and instead they are being told, “your job is not essential” (which they understand to mean “I am not essential”), so stay home.

Furthermore, many of them cannot afford to stay-at-home. They live paycheck to paycheck. And they do not want a government hand-out. They want their dignity more than their health and well-being. I heard a story about a single mom who is a hairdresser and has $15 in the bank. This level of economic distress and desperation does not excuse their atrocious behavior that has most recently included storming state capitals with weapons and endangering the lives of government officials.  

Yes, I recognize that many, many people are suffering a similar fate economically, or even worse, and they aren’t out protesting and putting many people’s lives at risk. Yes, I recognize that the essential workers are largely people of color and immigrant workers and they are literally put their lives at risk so that others of us can have our basic needs met and that these workers have no choice either because if they don’t work, they will not be able to feed their families.

If we can ignore the cries of these people, we do so at our own peril. They are being used as pawns by the Right. And the Democrats are not helping the matter. They are passing stimulus packages that pad the pocketbooks of the super-wealthy while throwing vastly inadequate support to the rest of us.

The coronavirus is an opportunity to disentangle from the distorted capitalist message that your worth or value is dependent upon what you earn and to reconnect with the highest ethical messages of all religious traditions that instruct us to care for each other. When Jesus told his followers “sell what you have and give it to the poor”, he was not demeaning the poor for receiving but uplifting the very notion of caring, in part, through giving. This message can help people understand that they are valuable – just because they are embodiments of the spiritual energy of the universe. They are essential to their community and their family. Their long-term well-being and the well-being of their family and all of us is what matters now. Staying home and taking care of oneself and one’s family is an act of collective love and is a real contribution. This is what being valuable and essential looks like now. 

If we cannot show understanding and compassion for the real pain in these people’s lives, we risk the likelihood that many of them will become the shock troops for an anti-democracy movement that could have profound impact on the 2020 elections and its aftermath.