Member-only story
Listen, I like coffee shops and sit-down restaurants too, OK?
Even as an introvert, I enjoy going to public places (so long as I don’t have to really talk to anyone), opening a laptop, doing some work, and just people watching.
As someone who normally travels through airports every week, I’ve become habituated to Delta Sky Club food and airplane seats that lie to me with names like “Comfort Plus.”
And like a lot of others, I’ve lost almost all of my income in the past few months.
It isn’t only nail salons and shopping malls that haven’t been operating. Schools have been closed and conferences canceled, so as someone who speaks at these as my primary source of revenue, I understand the stress associated with prolonged shutdowns of large parts of the economy and society. Obviously, we have to do more to support families in these dangerous times, and whatever we’re doing now is not working well for anyone.
But please, fellow white folks, no more nonsense about how these shutdowns amount to tyranny.
Or how asking you to wear a mask in public, or requiring it in a private business, is an act of oppression.
