I have questioned whether we are closer to martial law as the pandemic quarantine goes on. The odd Blue Angel flyover did little to change my mind as I wondered what the purpose of that was to tribute medical personnel when they are inside most of the time doing their job and to have to step outside to watch planes just simply fly over without any of the performance style flight actions the Blue Angel’s do did little to assuage my suspicions. Anything Trump is involved with is something always worth questioning as nothing he does comes from a place of good.
Of late there have been several incidents over social distancing. We have had police intervention at a Funeral in Williamsburg leading questions about being Anti-Semitic given the advance notice; then we have had a Doctor accosting young people in Louisville over the issue ending up with assault; followed by a fight in a Walmart (that may be just another day);a bar fight; a woman who died after a fall with another dispute; a dollar star another fight; a street brawl in New York City by teens which finally culminated with Police beating a man in New York and another in Jersey City over social distancing policies.
As I walk the city I have seen many examples of those with masks, respecting space and attempting to do their best finding some type of distancing in closely contained quarters and equal numbers of those not. I only care about myself and my ability to maintain my sense of security and well being regardless of Covid or not.
And what the debate centers on is a loss of civil rights from requiring masks which lead to many kinds of curious inferences and whyy banks are closed to walk ins to the fear by many black individuals and of course others who simply feel it is all just too much. But then we have Google and Apple coming up with Apps to lend to tracking and tracing. Where is Edward Snowden and his crew who had no problem post 9-11 doing just that monitoring the emails and calls of American citizzzens over protecting us while violating our civil rights then but now during a pandemic its a no go?
Today in my discussion at the Coffee shop there was again a litany of complaints about others not following the mandates and rules governing the social distancing policies of the State of New Jersey, versus those of Jersey City, Newark, Bayonne, Hoboken and Weehawken all within a 10 minute light rail ride between all of them. The current policy of wearing face masks on public transit and the percent of ridership falls to largely riders to be compliant and in turn you again see some compliant and some not. The issues of the Subways in New York have led to finding two dead bodies of homeless individuals following the recent announcement of shutting them down nightly for intensive cleaning. It was then at one a.m. when they were found. Really they just died right then? Or how long were there corpses riding the trains all day without notice?
I cannot stress enough that we have no clue what the fuck is going on here. I am not sure anyone does. I am not a Police officer nor am I Cop and to me they are very different. A Police Officer is honorable, dependable and reliable to enforce and protect, a Cop is someone who does the job and has more prejudicial biases and other inherent factors that led them to become these enraged individuals who are more dangerous than any of the criminals they allege to protect us from.
And in turn upholding the law becomes challenging as the reality is much law is written so vague and circumspect that it makes it challenging to enforce let alone prosecute and like this current quarantine nonsense almost impossible to do so. There are city mandates, state mandates, recommended mandates and all of them often parallel but not and some are incredibly so wordy and poorly written that few understand the meaning, let alone what the outcome will be if one violates the orders. Case in point – face masks. State has mandated them on public transit and in closed in confined spaces. In other words any business that is open to the public – grocery stores, drug stores and the like. There is no actual ability to enforce so it falls to the business person to do so. And in turn many Police are not doing so and that message is very visible and in turn absurd. New York had the same then they changed their mind and made it mandatory anywhere and everywhere. Again enforcement and compliance varies. And in Jersey City tonight they are voting on an ordinance to “urge” compliance with masks all the time, at the same time they are discussing rent freeze ordinances which means nothing and in turn will do little to actually do something to accelerate testing, tracking and tracing.
So in other words we got shit. So Police are now our Mothers and Fathers and even they cannot keep up with the daily changing goal post and endless changes to the opening or in turn closing of city rules and regulations. So they go back to the basics and rely on being a cop who uses race, age and neighborhood to determine guilt. In other words: Business as usual.
We are in this for another 12 months and in turn that will add up to 18 in total so we are in this for the long haul. The reality is that we cannot live in fear but we can live in reality and that means being proactive. When I heard that the Farmer’s Markets were returning I was thrilled and of course told that once again I was being exposed to contaminated food. Well I have been for years and hence why I try to shop organic and shop for myself as having numerous people handle my food already adds to the risk so having another to shop, bag and in turn deliver adds more so I am better off doing it myself. And as I cannot change anyone else’s behavior I can only change mine. So I take the precautions and to my best to cover my ass. As for those hanging out on stoops, in parks, on corners I have no interest or concern as they are not my concern, I can move out of the way and avoid it as I have that ability. What I don’t have is when those lie to me, fail to tell or disclose to me their status or exposure and in turn that reminds me of the issues of consent and disclosure when it comes to sexuality and that was what it has been like that for me since AIDS. We forget that and as a result we are not fucking nuts over a virus that we can avoid, we can get well from if we are treated and tested quickly and that again is another problem the lack of adequate affordable health care. That too is the next bigger problem, then all the masks, social distancing violations and utter oblivion and noncompliance could ever be. I am the Police but I am no one’s Cop.
Off the Rack Publishing 