Unmasking Whiteness

Statistics about masking reveal so much about how whiteness works. White people like me have been incessantly trained to trust institutions like the government, the police, the CDC and corporations. We follow their lead. Because they so often work for white folks. It’s a rude awakening when some of us come to find out that these exist to serve and protect profit and properties, not the general public. 

These institutions – and others like churches and media outlets – know that profit necessitates mask-free public places. No matter what. So they suppress news about new variants, long covid, death rates, the effectiveness of face coverings and what this disease is doing to the other half of America who work in crowded conditions for low wages and lack access to decent healthcare. 

White people are made to believe that going mask-free means that we are marching to the beat of our own drum - when we are really just sheep being herded off to a corporate pasture. Of course, Black people and Native folks know better. For me, wearing a mask in public is more than protecting ourselves and others. It is a “f*** you” to powerful institutions who only care about protecting themselves.