Member-only story
The Evil of Silver Linings (Covid-19)
People love silver linings.
Since this pandemic took place, I’ve kinda been glued to Twitter. And amidst all of the coronavirus coverage, amidst stupid and malevolent governmental actors, and amidst horrifying stories of loved ones being affected and dying — as well as the disproportionate impact on prison(er)s, I’ve also seen what we might call “silver linings.”
I’ve seen people feeding others. I’ve seen women — black women — giving hand sanitizer and orange juice to the homeless. People are paying other folks’ rent; resources are being creatively deployed — not by our capitalistic (and, quite frankly, evil) system, but instead by ordinary, everyday people. In seeing these stories, we are reminded that we “come together” in times of crisis. As Osita Nwavenu claims, “For crises like this, it turns out, we keep in strategic reserve not only masks and ventilators, but a supply of progressivism.” We watch everyday heroines and heroes enact what Saidiya Hartman might call a undocumented form of socialism. We see people sharing and redistributing resources. And, in seeing them, we recognize our capacity for compassion, for care. We feel good. And we feel good because we (think we) are good.
We see the silver linings.
And we are inspired.
