Covid-19 has truly had it out for us this year. After having my internship interrupted, dealing with my first heartbreak, and having every vicinity around me closed or limiting their services, it’s safe to say that everything I had that was “good” this year was taken away from me. I’ve tried to optimistic about life but at this point, I’m just fed up. I will always have a special place for my home, but living in the projects can be very annoying. I had this whole plan of getting my permit, getting some lessons only to be told that my local dmvs aren’t giving out written tests. But, aside from the unfortunate events in my life, I just wanted to rant about the bigger picture that this virus has painted. In advance, sorry for the bad grammar you are about to read.
Low Wages For What?
I’ve mentioned before that I think this whole virus needed to happen in order for people’s true colors to come out. I stand by that 100%. I’ve always been an advocate for giving POC, specifically the black community, as we need recognition. In a country driven by capitalism and greed, it’s disheartening seeing my mom get screwed over financially. During this time we have been thanking essential workers for their service. It’s seen on social media, commercials, and we’ve labeled them as the “superheroes” during this pandemic.
Ironically, many of their wages are extremely low despite putting their health on the line and working in person. Even more troubling is many of these workers don’t receive 401k benefits, sick days, etc. Hell, many of these workers such as my mother are immigrants so the system uses their lack of education or their fear of deportation to continue paying them less wages. These people work so damn hard only to make a low a** wage that they can barely live by.
No One Really Cares For The Essential Workers
I’m tired of the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer. It’s ridiculous how hard people can work only to make the minimum. Meanwhile many people who are working remotely are making a greater amount of money. Don’t get me wrong they earned their positions, but it makes me angry that these workers especially in healthcare aren’t getting the income they deserve. Mark my words that after this pandemic ends, these essential workers won’t get the benefits they deserve, will have no increase in pay, and everything will sadly go back to normal. These “superheroes” will only receive a pat on the back with no rewards handed to them. Clearly NY can’t afford to send out these checks, hence they reopened the economy. They clearly care more about money than the health of its people. When you see how poorly money is distributed in the country, you will find it upsetting.
I just find it appalling how little people’s health or even race is cared about. I know the race card seems random, but I’m just gonna rant about a lot of things here. I don’t understand why Breonna Taylor’s cops are still free. It’s so damn stupid and it clearly shows that the justice system does not favor black girls at all let alone people of color. People don’t take action when it doesn’t impact them and that’s what this country is a prime example of: selfishness. You saw this with the George Floyd impact. Companies started to speak up regarding the importance of black lives only because people called them out on their silence and would threaten to boycott them. I know it’s human nature to not care about an issue that doesn’t pertain to you. However, we must not be blind especially when many people out here are suffering and live live with major disadvantages.
Hardships on finding jobs
I am so thankful that I have a great amount of money saved up. I never knew times would get this bad, but I’m glad that my working days have payed off. However, we clearly see there’s a great amount of unemployment. For recent graduates, finding a job seems impossible. Companies these days don’t seem to be offering new positions for the fear of the virus. And for us current students, we have a bunch of unpaid internship opportunities available. One of these days I’ll rant about the issues I have with unpaid internships. But, it’s annoying that at times like these people are listing unpaid internships knowing that people desperately need money.
So there you have it, my rant. 2020 is just so eerie, awful, and toxic all around. Now I will say that it has exposed people’s true characters and opened other people’s eyes. It just sucks that it has to be in the expense of people’s suffering.