GUEST POST FROM DR. THOMAS

Covid-19 & Police Violence

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Dr. Claudewell S. ThomasPsychiatrist

Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired. He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more

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Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, with the Iron Cross, the Swastika, the KKK Cross, and the twisted cross of MOM (aka POTUS) going on before, as SARS-CoV-2 looks on and licks its chops. The image of the warrior cop has been brutally exploited. The civil servant whose primary responsibility is to serve and protect has disappeared under images of SWAT overlapping the SEAL team and calls for military equipment to take on bad guys who are portrayed as heavily armed by cartels. 

The week ago murder of George Floyd by a vicious Minneapolis cop named Dauvin with the assistance of four fellow cops, under cover of office filmed by a courageous outraged teenager. Without their cell phone coverage, the entire episode would have gone into the books as resisting arrest and death due to preexisting health problems. With the opening up of shops, personal services, restaurants, beaches, hiking trails, and public parks despite warnings and concern for prematureness, protesters poured into the streets mostly peaceful and wearing masks.

The confinement due to Covid-19 may have predisposed to the psychology of reinforcement of restriction on the part of most cops vs a "damn the torpedoes" psychology on the part of marchers anyway with the help of troublemakers tear gas, rubber bullets, military phalanx clearances appeared across the country. One church was set afire in Washington D.C., allowing Trump and his Attorney General to assert military leadership and martial law threat in defense of religious freedom. Thus standing in front of a fire-damaged St. John's church and holding a sullied prayer book our President declared his intent to use Federal military might over the objection of weak, mostly democrat governors, mayors and congressmen, and women to save America.

The pretense of weekly informational press conferences to keep Americans informed about Covid-19 has been given up again despite alleged reinstatement because of its popularity. For over three weeks, Dr. Fauci has had no meetings with Trump or Pence nor has Dr. Birx. The politicization of mask-wearing and self-isolation has weakened those measures and false advertising of hydroxychloroquine, bleach and bogus vaccines has endangered lives. The SARS-CoV-2 virus will reassert itself in the next few weeks, we have 2 years before assured vaccines are available. Civil unrest with fascistic oppression can only help the virus's cause.