Dear Governor DeWine:
For the last 10 weeks, I have been impressed by the show of leadership and care you have demonstrated to the Ohio people. Over this period, I often reflected on how lucky I was to be living in Ohio during a pandemic. I observed the governor and his public health team led by Dr. Acton, put partisanship aside in the service of caring for and preserving life. Your daily press conferences provided information to educate and reassure residents of this state as we navigated the coronavirus. Statewide ads reassured us that “we’re all in this together.” We heard the governor and lieutenant governor say in so many ways that life is precious; more precious than business. To that end, the state shut down businesses to encourage social distancing and ensure that healthcare workers would be available to care for those who got infected by the virus, as well as those whose health required immediate attention. These acts staged concern about the life and well-being of all Ohioans and I watched with due respect.
At the same time, I was worried about how the crisis was being used to justify austerity measures that challenged the message of care. Budget cuts amounting to $775 million directed primarily at public education and healthcare (Medicaid) left me skeptical of the messages that we are all in this together and life is precious. The reduction in public school budgets, which affect kindergarten through higher education institutions, disproportionately impact poor students who rely on public education. These students are disproportionately black and youth of color. According to one report from 2018, almost 14 percent of black Ohioans did not have a high school diploma. By comparison, statewide, only 9 percent of residents had not graduated from high school. Likewise, cuts to Medicaid, which provides access to healthcare for poor residents denies such access at a time when people of color are disproportionately being affected by a need for medical care. These austerity measures will only exacerbate existing inequalities in the life and life chances of Ohio’s minoritized population. These are significant hits and contradict the message of care and affirmation of life as precious; more precious than profits.
My concerns about these contradictions went out the window, violently upended by your deafening silence and rhetorical leadership during this current moment. Right now, cities across the state are seeing a multiracial coalition of protestors denouncing the genocide of black people in this country, including right here in Ohio. These protestors are using the recent spectacle of police violence against George Floyd (MN), Ahmaud Arbery (GA), Tony McDade (FL), and Breonna Taylor (KY) to call attention to the persistent violence against black people in this country. Their protests highlight the racialized violence of subpar housing and education, inadequate employment and unlivable wages for honest work, lack of access to medical care, environmental racism, and the everyday indignities that beleaguer black life. Calling attention to these injustices, protesters say, “no justice, no peace”; they declare “Black lives matter” and ask for action to be taken. Instead, they are met with additional violence. Police assault marchers with rubber bullets, which are actually “rubber coated metal bullets”, asphyxiate protestors with teargas, and blind them with mace and pepper spray.
In search of your responses to these current events, I came across your remarks at a press conference in Columbus. You affirmed the right to protest as a first amendment right and noted that protestors were calling attention to Floyd’s “tragic death,” which occurred when a police officer ground his knee into Floyd’s neck for eight minutes. You also noted that protesters had other injustices in mind, many of which I have outlined above. You condemned violence, which you said was spearheaded by a small number of “violent individuals who posed a threat to law enforcement and safety of citizens and community.” In your condemnation of violence, you mentioned the safety of community and the need to protect small businesses “from unnecessary destruction.” I waited to hear condemnation of police violence; instead you called in more force in the form of the national guard. Although rhetorically welcoming the voice of protesters (“protecting the first amendment”) and asserting that these voices should be allowed to be heard, I saw no effort to listen.
As the governor, it is your job to listen. Better yet, it is your job to do something to rectify these injustices. Listen to what the protesters are saying. Their demands are rooted in the same message you have shared with us since March. Life is precious; more precious than business. When protesters affirm that Black lives matter, they remove what appears to be an asterisk appending actions and concerns related to the coronavirus.
After watching you act swiftly and decisively these last ten weeks, it is clear you have the power and the will to act. Take a stance in favor of life and make good on those earlier messages that life is precious; more precious than business. Call off the police. Call off the national guard. Redirect funding to education and healthcare. Show us that we’re in this together. Show us that our lives too, are precious.