Black Lives Matter activists in conflict with NY leaders over vaccines

The activists of Black Lives Matter put in a protest against New York City’s leadership, saying its COVID -19 vaccine requirements are racist.

All of this started in the brawl between three Black women who went to Carmine’s Italian Restaurant. On Thursday, these three women have a video record of attacking the waitress at the said restaurant. They got charged and arrested for initiating a fight. 

Although the women claimed that the waitress called them out with racial slurs, there’s no public release of the recording yet. Carmine’s owner Jeffrey Bank denied that their hostess used any racial language as she’s just asking for proof of vaccination. 

Bank said, “Three women brutally attacked our hostess without provocation, got arrested and charged for misconduct, and then, over the last several days, had their lawyer falsely and grossly misrepresent their acts of wanton violence in a cynical attempt. To try to excuse the inexcusable.”

https://twitter.com/ChuckCallesto/status/1440743512413118467?s=20

While the incident seems to have been provoked by the city’s vaccine mandates that require people to show proof of at least one dose, it undermines another underlying issue – the racial vaccination difference in the U.S.

Even though the whole pandemic has taken a toll on every community,  Black people are less likely to get COVID-19 vaccination. Data from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that Black Americans are way behind other groups, and as they only have 30 percent of fully vaccinated individuals. 

Hawk Newsome, the black activist and co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, took action over the restaurant incident. With his sister Chivona Newsome, they formed one of the prominent Black Lives Matter organizations. Both siblings spoke at the protest. Hawk claimed that the city is just using vaccination requirements to cover its discrimination and racist ways.

Racial Disparity

Earlier this week, Newsome organized a protest outside Carmine’s. He pointed out current data showing that less than half of the Black residents in the city have the vaccine, and he is referring to individuals between the ages of 18 and 44. 

Newsome said, “That means that you’re excluding a tremendous amount of Black New Yorkers from engaging in everyday actions.”

Amara Enyia, policy and research coordinator for the Movement for Black Lives Matter, said that aside from the mistrust of medical establishments due to discriminatory treatment records, other factors drive racial differences. 

Black Lives Matter organizers rallied outside Carmine’s restaurant in Manhattan on Monday following an altercation over vaccine cards that involved a restaurant hostess and several Black patrons visiting from Texas. pic.twitter.com/cJCEN2cWMb

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 21, 2021

Enyia told Newsweek, “I think it’s important to note the historical context for vaccine hesitancy. There is a history of a healthcare system that has been harmful to Black people.”

Enyia also shared the case of Susan Moore. She was a Black doctor who died of COVID-19 after receiving racist treatment while in the hospital. As Enyia cited, only one of the more recent examples of Black people not receiving appropriate medical care prompted the mistrust. 

Newsome added that what provoked further mistrust was President Biden’s announcement of vaccine mandates. Although he previously pledged he wouldn’t take that step.

Newsome, who himself is unvaccinated, said, “I”m not an anti-vaxxer, and I’m no Fox News-watching conservative. Many Black people are not. They just do not trust this vaccine.”

Even the recent issue of the Haitian migrants’ mistreatment came to light. Newsome pointed this out and said that the president “made a lot of promises to us around all the Black Lives Matter movement.”

“Black people realize that Democrats are almost as bad as the Republicans when it comes to their treatment of Black people,” Newsome said. “It’s a very sobering feeling.”

Black people freedom

Though he also added, “ We’re fully aware that Republicans only care about Black issues when it impacts them. They were pro-police when there were Black Lives Matter protests, anti-police when they stormed the Capitol on January 6.“

While he didn’t affirm any comparison between Nazi Germany, and vaccine mandates, he firmly believes the vaccines would be used “to make Black people second-class citizens.”

He said that obliging the Black Americans to decide to take the vaccine or they could lose their jobs is just “completely unfair because as a Black person, I do not trust the government. The largest numbers of unvaccinated people are Black, and we will truly feel the penalty of not complying.”

According to Newsome, he wouldn’t get the COVID-19 vaccine until he could trust that it was safe. “I think each individual has their threshold. I’ll know mine when I reach it.”

As Enyia also said that structural issues could be hindrances to Black Americans getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Some of the barriers are whether they can get paid on time or access transportation. “If we’re looking at the profile of workers who tend to have the least opportunities to take paid time off, you’re looking at Black And Latino workers,” she added.

The White House was being contacted for their reaction to this Black Lives Matter issue.