Erica, Pittsburgh
Erica, a rising sophomore from Pittsburgh, has been on the frontlines of protests and demonstrations throughout the pandemic. I spoke with her about American activism, and how it has been changed by the pandemic. Erica explains, “I think it’s more so the repercussions of the pandemic and the government’s complete inadequacy to respond to the needs of working class people, especially black people, than the actual pandemic itself, that has so drastically changed American activism. It’s being so tired of mistreatment and oppression by your own government for so long that the pandemic itself became the straw to break the camel’s back, so to speak.” For many, the pandemic served as a vessel to deliver proof of the vast inequalities in American healthcare. While avid activists like Erica have been fighting for true equality for a long time, she welcomes this new surge of support and nationwide protesting. Photography of large-scale protests and rampant police brutality has catapulted race-based injustice to the forefront of American politics. “This out-in-the-streets, all-encompassing revolution has been a long time coming. And I think these feelings of anger and inability to tolerate injustice aren’t going away anytime soon, and that’s for the benefit of the country, whether or not she deserves it.”