Vaccination, Masking and Activism- A Charleston, SC Response

The late Mary Smith, costumed as Syphide,
 the Spirit of Mobility

We've been invited to participate in some community events in the near future. Some of the organizations involved have decided not to require proof of vaccination or masks for their events. This morning, we transmitted our response to one such invitation. 

" Given the extreme transmissibility of Omicron and the likelihood that we'll be in the midst of a massive outbreak by the date of your January event, proof of vaccination or recent negative test and masking are necessary precautions now and should be the standard for your planned gathering. So is masking. 

You don't want to take out the entire sustainable living community in Charleston in one night. A single carrier of Omicron could well infect half the people present at this event. D_____'s wife died from complications of Covid 19 Delta after having been fully vaccinated in July. She was unable to get into a hospital due to overcrowding until it was too late. Had people been vaccinated, she could have been admitted, treated and probably be alive today. 

Summerville Transit Advocacy

I understand that the anti vaxxers are loud and persistent. I also understand that a number of them can be found in the healthy living component of the environmental movement. They hate big Pharma. They honestly believe herbal supplements and their personal superior health will keep them from getting Covid, getting sick and dying. They're wrong. 

Sometimes you have to do the right thing, for the right reason even when it costs you. When the price of compromise is killing irreplaceable members of our small, lowcountry struggling progressive community, that is too high a price to pay to satisfy the person who believes being a vegan, trips to the gym and recycling makes them immune to a virus which has killed about 15 thousand people in SC and continues to kill 20 people a day, an increase from about 10 a day two weeks ago and on it's way back to the 100 a day we were experiencing last summer, after we all could have been vaccinated.  

Chris Jackson on the
Bus to Beach

As advocates of a sustainable human presence on this planet, we have to recognize the reality that our individual decisions impact others and the planet. We cannot be free to do whatever gratifies our immediate needs. The unlimited individual volition model is the property of our gun toting, gas guzzling opposition. They don't care how many people die from covid, global warming's natural disasters and famine or the military conflicts which erupt from their boundless faith in the economics of take, keep and use up. 

I've been going to the door of gatherings for the past month, counted the number of people in the room, noted the lack of masks and turned around in the cold and headed home. I'm not the only one who does this.

Our organization marches to a motto, "Together, We Go Forward!"  Together means we value every person with us. We don't leave them behind or alone. We see a future worth fighting for ahead. We've lost four wonderful people in the past few years: Moya, Mary Smith, Katherine and Julia Hamilton. Had Covid not hit, my wife would have probably gotten the treatment she needed and not died from sepsis. That's 20% of our core strength. If the devil wants any more of my people, he's going to have to fight me for them. I'm not going to make it easy. 

Do the right thing for your gathering. Mask up, require proof of vaccination and I'll bring you a box of 100 personal bottles of belt loop carabiner hand sanitizer for you to hand out at the door."

If we cave in to the antivaxxers in hopes of filling some rooms and holding events, we surrender to the core values of our opposition and exile the disabled, and medically vulnerable to the sidelines. If we do that because our antivaxxers are physically attractive people who exercise a lot and believe their freedom is more important that the survival of the vulnerable among us, that is ableism. It is a close cousin to the fascist concepts of racial and personal superiority we've fought WWII, the Civil Rights movement, the Gay Pride movement and the movement for the rights of the differently abled to liberate ourselves from. 

Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit remains, at its core a social justice organization dedicated to a society that offers life, mobility and survival to all on the way to a fulfilling, inclusive community. Just as we stand up for the elderly and disabled when the seats run out on the bus, we should mask, vaccinate, test and distance to protect our fellow passengers on this journey to a more just and healthier society.