Maybe it’s just the sound of his voice. Maybe he enjoys hearing about himself. Maybe he’s Moses blessing us from Mount ESPN with some proclamation that’s going to make the world safe. He reminds me of Barkley. Nope, love me some Chuck and even when Barkley is wrong, off base, or unclear. He redeems himself out loud. Check the Moses Malone tribute. Not this mofo who goes from bad to worst to damn he smoking better shit than me. To what the fuck is this N-word thinking.
I am a community health nurse who has a caseload of 5 to 15 patients daily since the inception of the Pandemic. I live in Springfield Mass where the outdoor basketball courts are hoopless because of something called mitigation efforts. A place where human beings are told to stay inside upon the outset of the pandemic. In skin-tight ramshackle apartments with aunties, grandmas, grandpas, uncles, and assorted elderly folks with preconditions that exposure to the virus escalated. I never went to lock down mode. I have sent patients to the hospital with the virus. I have been exposed with no mask, knee to knee with patients who tested positive. Science is not guiding this. Fear emotional group think and everlasting proclamations of body counts. Body counts that cannot mention the first aspect of infection control. Don’t mix infected with the uninfected.
Now out of Sir Faceplate devoid of hairline comes the latest coonfunnery. A world-class athlete has a moral obligation to become a guinea pig for a drug that has failed to meet FDA standards. An athlete who for 20 years fully grasps that his body is the temple of God. An athlete who fully understands homeostasis that delicate balance between diet, exercise, mental acuity, rest, and what not to put in his body. A world-class athlete who has every right to talk to wifey, his doctors, health team, and the family fucking dog to make a personal decision on what to put in his body.
I get it he’s been on the front line of the issues, but it’s been the on-court accomplishments that have given him the platform. Yep, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity have been riding rough neck.
Here’s what I did. Lost 10-pound, exercise every day, and adhere to a vegetarian diet. Got the blood pressure meds straight, canceled the gym membership and embraced being outdoors. Last summer I grew vegetables in the backyard. Covid has turned me into a proficient cook. Amazon is my bestie for life.
It ain’t the Covid that will kill you. It’s the preconditions, age, occupation, location, and our beloved governor’s choices of allowing elderly and high-risk patients to share the same living spaces and sometimes the same room as the infected.
For the past 400 years, the black body has fought the never-ending battle to own itself. From lynchings to auction blocks to Tuskegee the black body mischievous miscreants are hell-bent on its destruction. Deep inside the subconscious of the American dream myth-making magic, we aren’t 3/5 of a human being. We are somewhere between apes and bigfoot. Take a look at Officer Derrick’s knees on the neck of brother Floyd. My Grandmother showed more humanity to the chicken necks she snapped in Jamaica.
Now the latest obstacle to black bodies challenges for autonomy. COVID-19. Should I or shouldn’t I get vaccinated? Healthy skepticism is mandated by anyone who has a minor comprehension of the war against the black body. The community needs to be fully engaged on a COVID-19 survival guide. That plan needs to be personal, realistic, and meaningful to you and your family. Certainly, take into consideration the community and the greatest good for humanity. Do love your black body. Thousands have fought for the right of its autonomous being. Don’t be enslaved to the hype whether it comes from a syringe or heroic mouthpieces dancing from the flat screen. Press pause, one deep breath, and think.
