If All Lives Matter, Then Wear a Mask: COVID-19, Abortion, and the Origins of the Modern-Day Republican Party

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

I'm tired of reading about people who don't want to wear masks. Let me tell you why I wear a mask every time I go out. I do it for you. I do it to protect you. I would like the same level of care and concern in return.

I'm tired of seeing people who say the death toll wasn't as bad as we were led to believe it would be. Let me tell you why we lost over 100,000 image bearers instead of the projected numbers in the beginning. It's because of the social distancing and precautions people are taking.

I'm tired of seeing people who say, "All lives matter" but do nothing to demonstrate this sentiment. If all lives matter, then wear a mask.

So this post is laced with love for those who are anti-abortion. I refuse to use pro-life when the only life being theoretically protected under this political rhetoric is the child in the womb while a blind eye is turned to countless other lives, like Black lives during interactions with law enforcement and Brown lives at the border.

So this post is laced with love for those who want to legislate womens' bodies because they believe that the women should have made better decisions and not gotten pregnant while saying they care about the vulnerable baby. Yet these same people, some of you who will read this, complain about needing to social distance and wear a mask. Do you not realize that by these actions you can protect the lives of the vulnerable? By social distancing and wearing a mask, we protect our immunocompromised neighbors, our elderly neighbors, our Black and Brown neighbors who are being disproportionately impacted, and our neighbors of all ages with underlying medical conditions. Where is your love for these lives? Where is your pro-life stance when presented with the opportunity to protect these lives? You moan about not wanting to wear a mask and about the ways your privileged and comfortable life has been disrupted, proudly declaring no one can force you to comply with any regulations regarding PPE. You demand businesses reopen and support those business owners who want to sue their governors for not allowing bowling alleys or other non-essential businesses to reopen. Do you not see how you are aligning closely with the armed white supremacists, that the only difference is that you aren't toting a gun outside your governor's office? I keep thinking about the NowThis Politics video with Ekemini Uwan where she explained that "deep lovelessness for one's neighbor" and racism are motivating anti-lockdown protests and the ignoring of scientists and scientific data. Let us be people who love our neighbors well, in word and deed. The absolute least we can do to demonstrate love is wear a mask.

And for those who want to say that places should be able to reopen and if people go out and contract the disease then it was their own decision, you can't even see how faulty your logic is and the disconnect between this and your anti-abortion rhetoric (what you call pro-life). You say you prize the life of the unborn child and will support legislation to protect that baby but oppose legislation to protect people who are vulnerable to death if they contract COVID-19. Be consistent.

Also, please do some research on the origins of the modern day Republican party. It did not begin as a political movement opposed to abortion. It came right out of opposition to racial integration. Know your roots. If you don't know where your beliefs stem from, you can't eradicate that which is damaging. As Dr. Christina Edmondson of Truth's Table explained, unconfessed sin doesn't just go away. That's not how sin works.

-Listen to the Almost Heretical podcast episode "Good News and Bad News with Lisa Sharon Harper."
-Read The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church's Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby.

As Ekemini stated in the linked video above, we are all connected. We can work together to protect our most vulnerable neighbors from COVID-19. I believe Black women. I trust Black women. I am looking to Black women to lead this country in all of their wisdom, strength, and love.

#trustblackwomen #believeblackwomen #ekeminiuwan #lisasharonharper #covid19 #wearamask #seekjustice #socialjustice #justice #loveyourneighbor #love #challengethenarrative #broadeningthenarrative