what you missed and what you should remember
JANUARY
In January our country went through a tumultuous storm of controversy and confusion. On the 6th, a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the election of Joe Biden. That day, several legislators who were supporters of Donald Trump tried to negate the election results of several states in order to start investigations and recounts because of unsubstantiated allegations of mass-election fraud. Five people died or were fatally injured during the attack. However, the attempt failed and Congress certified President Biden as the winner of the election and the 46th president of the United States. On the 13th, former President Trump was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives for “incitement of insurrection” one week before his term expired. President Biden was eventually sworn in as the 46th president of the United States of America on January 20th.
FEBRUARY
February 2020 marked several sobering points in our fight against the coronavirus. In early February, news broke of an alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths by New York governor Andrew Cuomo. This scandal has been connected to allegations of Gov. Cuomo being a controlling and demanding leader and it is especially concerning as the U.S. passes 500,000 Covid-19 deaths. The F.B.I. is currently investigating the claims of the nursing home deaths. At around the same time, a massive winter storm hit Texas leaving around 4.5 million people and businesses without power. The damage the storm wrought on much of Texas raised concerns about the winter weather preparedness of the state’s government and power providers. The failure of Texas’ renewable energy systems (wind turbines and solar panels) was a main point of contention among legislators with some initially blaming those systems for the failure of the grid while others brought up the fact that natural gas systems (which provide 5 times more energy than wind) were to blame as well as Texas’ isolated power grid. Despite the concerning events of February, there were also points of positivity. One of those points was on the 18th when NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed on Mars starting out a new period of exploration and research into “preserved signs of biosignatures in rock samples.”
MARCH
March saw the introduction of new voting legislation in various states which has become a hot button issue throughout the country. While many believe that the new laws are a form of voter suppression that target historically disenfranchised groups, proponents of these bills have suggested that they help bolster election security especially after widespread allegations of electoral fraud in the most recent presidential election. Spring break has come and gone but many states and cities are still dealing with the aftermath of large, maskless crowds of partiers potentially creating coronavirus super-spreader events.
Miami Beach in particular was overwhelmed by the crowds they saw and issued a curfew to try to curb the amount of people that would be out on the streets. On the 16th, 8 people were killed in the Atlanta Spa Shootings shocking many and sending a wave of fear throughout the AAPI community. Although investigators have yet to determine whether the attacks were racially motivated, many people have drawn a connection between the gunman’s characterization of the spas as “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate” with supposed historical dehumanization and sexualization of Asian women. Sadly, on the 22nd of March the U.S. experienced another mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado where ten people were killed. This shooting happened very recently so not much is known about the shooter and his motivations but some believe that he was motivated for religious reasons while others are assuming him to be someone suffering from mental illness.
These past three months have been a whirlwind of tragedy, hope, and discovery; it can be hard to keep track of everything let alone contemplate what has happened. The first step is to engage and remember!
Sources
Safdar, Khadeeja, et al. “Police Identify Five Dead After Capitol Riot.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 8 Jan. 2021, www.wsj.com/articles/police-identify-those-killed-in-capitol-riot-11610133560.
“Goals.” NASA, NASA, mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/science/goals/#:~:text=The%20mission%20of%20the%20Mars,been%20favorable%20to%20microbial%20life.
Futrelle, David. “Opinion | Robert Aaron Long Apparently Thought He Was the Victim of His Own Desire. He's Not Alone.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Mar. 2021, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/18/robert-aaron-long-apparently-thought-he-was-victim-his-own-desire-hes-not-alone/.
Mosley, Tonya, and Serena McMahon. “A Century Of Objectifying Asian Women: How Race Played A Role In Atlanta Shootings.” A Century Of Objectifying Asian Women: How Race Played A Role In Atlanta Shootings | Here & Now, WBUR, 22 Mar. 2021, www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/03/22/objectifying-asian-women-racism.
Richard Fausset, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Marie Fazio. “8 Dead in Atlanta Spa Shootings, With Fears of Anti-Asian Bias.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/17/us/shooting-atlanta-acworth.
Fausset, Richard, et al. “Why the Georgia G.O.P.'s Voting Rollbacks Will Hit Black People Hard.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/25/us/politics/georgia-black-voters.html.
Mckinley, Jesse, and Luis Ferré-sadurní. “New Allegations of Cover-Up by Cuomo Over Nursing Home Virus Toll.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Feb. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/nyregion/new-york-nursing-homes-cuomo.html.