An Editorial By Preston Love Jr.

Dear Coronavirus,

Woe is not me and not my community’s. Listen, Corona, you won’t steal our joy. You don’t know who you are dealing with.

You don’t know that my people, my community, endured crossing the ocean, on our backs, on what could be called slave ships. We survived. You don’t know that we were enslaved as a people, beginning in 1619, and worked in killing heat as slaves to build this country. We survived, and we have flourished. You don’t know that we survived being lynched and murdered in the midst of a so-called “religious” nation. We have survived previous disasters, poverty, and racism. So, I say to you, we survived nationally and locally — in our beloved North Omaha, from redlining, racism, discrimination, massive incarceration, and disinvestment.

So, may I say to you, Corona, “We ain’t scared of you.”

Let me remind you that this people and community are determined to stay home during your reign, stay socially distant, wash our hands, but not the least of it, we as a people will collaborate and unify against your oppression and tyranny. Examples are the efforts of the Advocacy Task Force, NOISE, Empowerment Network, our community elected officials, NONA, Charles Drew Health, OPS, our clergy and churches, our black media, Black Votes Matter, countless individual heroics — and guess what, while we are doing that, we’re going to make sure we are all counted during the census and vote like crazy in the 2020 election, specifically by voting by mail.

We, because you have forced us to stay home and reflect, will reaffirm our faith in God, our culture and our history. So please understand there is no “Woe is me,” as we relearn how to unify and collaborate to provide education, services, and food in our villages. We will defy you with prayer and not entertain you with “woe is me” mentalities in our community. You cannot steal our joy. We will bury you with our spirit, our prayers, and our resolve. Thank you for reminding us of who we are.

DISCLIAMER

Preston Love, Jr., is the founder of Black Votes Matter Institute for Community Engagement, which is the fiscal agent of North Omaha Information Support Everyone (NOISE) in 2019 and 2020.
He is a longtime community activist in North Omaha and an adjunct instructor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. This article was previously published in the Omaha Star and Omaha World-Herald.

For Black Omahans, coronavirus spurs resolve, unity, renewal

An Editorial By Preston Love Jr.

DISCLIAMER