LONG TIME EQUALITY ACTIVIST STAYS VIGILANT IN COVID-19 ERA Joey Leslie
18
July 2020
o u t a n d a b o u t n a s hv i l l e .c o m
When thousands of people filled Nashville’s streets in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in late March, Marisa Richmond watched from home with guarded optimism. She is black. She is a transgender woman. She is a senior citizen. Therefore, she is in several “high-risk categories” for contracting COVID-19. Weighing the health risks, she felt the socially responsible thing to do during the pandemic was to stay “safer at home.” The irony and unfairness of the situation deserves to be spelled out. Because for many black and transgender people in the US, “safer at home” isn’t just a catchphrase born of a pandemic—it’s a long-understood reality that, once you’re out your front door, you are not safe. “It’s unfortunate that the necessity of expressing our ongoing outrage over police brutality and systemic racism runs counter to the need to remain apart because racial disparities in health care have been highlighted by the pandemic,” Richmond said in a Facebook post. “If you are participating, please be careful. I hope to rejoin you on the front lines soon.”
