In Brief: Segregation Now, Segregation Forever?
Equal access for the unvaccinated is the civil rights issue of our time.
Once upon a time, Democrats were the party of blatant racism. Now they’re the party of disguised racism. One manifestation is in limiting activities based on vaccination status. Political analyst Joseph Hippolito explains why:
On Jan. 23, thousands of protesters appeared in Washington, D.C. to demand an end to vaccine mandates. The fact that the protest took place six days after the nation commemorated the life of Martin Luther King Jr. holds profound significance.
More than five decades after King’s assassination, Americans face the worst segregation since the civil rights movement. That segregation has nothing to do with the myth of “systemic racism” decried by the “woke.” It has nothing to do with race, creed or gender. It does, however, have everything to do with the authoritarian agenda the “woke” seek to promote.
Just as equal access to facilities, opportunities and legal status motivated King and his contemporaries, so has equal access for the unvaccinated and unmasked become the civil-rights issue of our time. Just as segregationists sought to limit access for the sake of an alleged greater social good, so do the “progressives” who demand that vaccinations and mandates continue indefinitely for the sake of “public health” and “the common good.”
Just as bigoted segregationists viewed African-Americans as second-class citizens whose every movement must be closely monitored and controlled, so do bigoted “progressives” view the unvaccinated.
He points to various examples, from kids in LA schools to the declaration from Utah’s Salt Lake Tribune that the governor should “deploy the National Guard to ensure that people without proof of vaccination would not be allowed, well, anywhere.”
All this panic not only disregards studies showing that COVID-19 vaccines and masks can be detrimental, let alone ineffective, or statistics showing the vaccinated to be more likely to be infected with variants. It disregards the growing number of countries discontinuing vaccination and mask mandates as both detrimental and ineffective — including Great Britain, which had adopted some of the strictest measures.
Perhaps more tellingly, the panic disregards the Supreme Court’s decision against the federal government’s quest to impose mandates on private businesses.
“Yet, Hippolito, observes, "power can be a robust intoxicant, and panic an even more robust accelerant.” He points to recent polling showing how many Democrats support punishing the unvaccinated with things like forced quarantine, fines, or even imprisonment.
These Democrats are the same people who brag about being “compassionate” and “inclusive,” who constantly demand “social justice.”
If “segregation” fails to describe any of the policies listed, then the term holds no meaning.
How do we protest? Just like civil rights protesters:
Young African-Americans protested the segregation of lunch counters by actually sitting at those counters. Unvaccinated, unmasked citizens could protest similarly by organizing large groups to patronize businesses, libraries, schools or other places that demand masks or proof of vaccination. Yes, people will get arrested, just as the young African-Americans did six decades ago. But unjust laws that violate the American spirit and Constitution fail to disappear on their own.
After all, he concludes:
When it comes to respect for the Constitution and its values, today’s “progressives” are no different than yesterday’s bigoted segregationists.
