Content Warning: Discussion of Ableism, Racism, and Police Violence.
Disabled people are being slaughtered. Thousands are dying each month from COVID and the brutal symptoms they get after infection. Prices are rising for everything while disability income remains inaccessible for most who need it. At least 1/4th of the houseless population are disabled people((United States Interagency Council of Homelessness, Homelessness in America: Focus on Chronic Homelessness Among People With Disabilities. https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Homelessness- in-America-Focus-on-chronic.pdf)), who are pushed onto the streets due to financial hardship and a lack of a social safety net. It does not help that 70% of people who get COVID end up with disabling long term symptoms (known as Long COVID) ((SCMP, 70 per cent of HongKongers who had COVID experienced long-term after effects, survey of 10,000 patients finds. https://www.scmp.com/yp/discover/news/hong-kong/article/3217748/70-cent-hongkongers-who-had-covid-experienced-long-term-after-effects-survey-10000-patients-finds)). In midst of this ongoing pandemic, violence against houseless people rises. This is in the form of endless sweeps toward encampments, vigilante violence, and escalating rates of police murders; it cannot be ignored how around 50% of all people murdered by cops each year are disabled (and also often Black) people((O’Hara, M. Up to half of people killed by US police are disabled. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/29/media-must-report-police-violence- towards-disabled-people)). This rise of criminalization toward houseless people has forced many into the prisons. Due to poor ventilation and non-existent COVID safety protocols, prisons have functioned as death camps against disabled people. These are bleak times to exist as a disabled person.
Yet this mass violence against disabled people is not unprecedented either. The Trans-Atlantic Slave trade literally had multiple checkpoints designed to kill off enslaved disabled Black people((James, C.L.R., The Black Jacobins, pages 7-9.)). Medical neglect against Indigenous communities has been occurring for 500+ years, continuing today in the “united states” through underfunded tribal health services which struggle to provide care for disabled Indigenous patients—if their even able to access the care at all. The ugly laws literally banned disabled people from public space for nearly 100 years in the “united states”. And their legacy continues through the criminalization of houselessness and anti-loitering laws, as nearly 1/3rd of all prisoners in the “united states” are disabled((Bronson, J., Maruschak, L. M., & Berzofsky, M. Disabilities Among Prison and Jail Inmates, 2011–12. https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/dpji1112.pdf)). 110,000 disabled people died in that country between 2008-2019 alone while waiting to get on disability income((Picchi, A. Almost 110,000 Americans died while waiting for a Social Security disability hearing. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disability-benefits-gao-report-death-bankruptcies-waiting-hearings/)). The state and the racial capitalist order have been committing violence against disabled people for hundreds of years. This war is called eugenics.
The current period of massacre is the SARS-COVID genocide. It is an era of heightened brutality against disabled people primarily through careless COVID spread and the corresponding devaluing of disabled people((This devaluing of disabled people is happening unevenly, as the color line and gender marginalization play a major factor in how ableism is shaped per individual. For some disabled people, especially Black disabled people and Indigenous disabled people, eugenics has always been genocidal despite some periods being more intense than others.)), inflation, escalating violence against houseless people, and the intensification of the prison industrial complex. The undercounting of COVID data with only 5% of tests being recorded contribute to this genocide((Pettypiece, S. Covid testing providers scale back despite worries of another winter surge. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/covid-testing-providers-scale-back-worries-another-winter-surge-rcna47777)), along with rapid tests having a 75% rate of false negatives((Prater, E. COVID testing to protect loved ones this holiday season may provide you with a ‘false sense of security,’ new study finds. https://fortune.com/well/2022/11/15/at-home-rapid-covid-tests-provide-false-negative-sense-of-security-new-study-finds-omicron-holiday-vulnerable-loved-ones-friends-family-get-togethers-gatherings-safe-mask-physical-social-distancing/)). The minimization of COVID as a “cold” contributes to the murdering. So does the stigmatization of masking, as this airborne virus annihilates the immune system rather than strengthen it((John Snow Project Editorial, SARS-CoV-2 and “Textbook” Immunity. https://johnsnowproject.org/insights/textbook-immunity/)). The dominant culture of ignoring houseless people and encouraging violence against them is part of this genocide. Same is true with the inherent existence of prisons.
So Lets Fight this Genocide!
Here are some ways to Rebel Against Eugenics:
- Wear a mask in public. COVID is airborne and spreads even outdoors((Qi, L. Tang, W. Wang, J. etc. Outbreak Reports: An Outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Subvariant BA 2.76 in an Outdoor Park – Chongqing Municipality, China, August 2022. https://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/doi/10.46234/ccdcw2022.209)). Using a KN95 or KF94 or N95 mask is the best way to reduce COVID spread.
- Carry around spare change to give to houseless people.
- Get other people to wear masks. Careless COVID spread causes death and injury. Pushing people to mask will directly reduce the casualties of this genocide.
- Step in when houseless people are being harassed on the streets. This may range from cop watching to intervening against vigilante violence.
- Write letters to disabled prisoners and build relationships with them.
- Get to know your houseless neighbors, and support them (with their consent).
- Boycott restaurants, bars, and other super-spreader sites.
- Partake in efforts to defend houseless encampments against sweeps.
- Share and donate to fundraisers by disabled people.
- Study how anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, and other forms of racism influence ableist activity; incorporate that analysis into your liberatory practice. Do the same with transphobia, (trans)misogyny, and queerphobia.
- Support your local struggle against the police.
Rest In Power Jordan Neely
If you want to print this piece as a zine, here is a printable version.