Thread by @windthin

1/10 #SayTheirNames

The coronavirus pandemic has been every bit as devastating to black communities as police brutality, carrying away hundreds of young black men before their time due to a system that ages and sickens them prematurely.

propublica.org/article/how-co…

"They were pillars of their communities and families, and they are not replaceable. To understand why COVID-19 killed so many young Black men, you need to know the legend of John Henry."

The Rev. Dr. Kejuane Artez Bates was a big man with big responsibilities, son of a single father, father to 5-year-old Madison, full-time pastor and in his 10th year with the Vidalia Police Department. He died of COVID-19 at the age of 36.

#SayTheirNames

Thomas Fields Jr. was a father & former Navy chef, discharged due to diabetes. He was also a school culture facilitator at Malcolm X Academy in Detroit, where he grew up. He was planning to move to Virginia to be with his fiance.

He was 32 when he died in April.

#SayTheirNames

Dosha DJay Joi was an LGBTQ advocate & substance abuse counselor working toward his nursing degree. He served as a court-appointed special advocate for kids aging out of foster care & lobbied lawmakers in the Wisconsin capitol & D.C.

He was 28 when he died.

#SayTheirNames

Leslie Lamar Parker earned his GED, graduated from college, & became an IT specialist in his old school district, where he mentored students of color, ordering them lunch from DoorDash & supervising the tech club.

He will not see his 2 kids grow up. He was 31.

#SayTheirNames

Joshua Bush was an LPN (studying to become an RN) in South Carolina, where he often ran headfirst into racial stereotypes and prejudices. Bush also suffered from a rare enzyme abnormality that caused severe muscle cramps from overexertion.

He died in April at 30.

#SayTheirNames

Eugene Thompson put himself through school to become a barber before opening his own school, TaperNation Barber Academy, just last fall.

Uninsured with lifelong health issues, he left behind 6 children & his school was forced to close when he died in April at 46.

#SayTheirNames

Kendall Pierre Sr. was a father, uncle, barber, high school basketball coach, and pastor in the little town of Ama, Louisiana.

A lynch pin in his community, he died at 45 in April, leaving behind a community and family bereft without him.

#SayTheirNames

10/10 These posts are just glimpses into the lives of seven men who died too young. Statistics show that black men get and die from diseases that affect white men an average of ten years early.

Please read the ProPublica article in the first post.

And please, #SayTheirNames.