Author: Jannatul F. Barsha

Jannatul Barsha

Professor Wu

English 1121 

April 15,2020

                                                                 COVID-19

       The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on countries around the world, causing a global health crisis while forcing economies to shut down.  The COVID-19 is an open threat to the lives of millions. The virus was first discovered in the city of Wuhan, China. A 55 years old individual in China may have been the first person to have contracted COVID-19. Now doctors and scientists are trying to trace the virus back to where it originated to learn more about its spread. If, for instance, doctors can find the earliest cases, they may be able to identify the animal host where the virus lurks. 

          The novel coronavirus continues to spread worldwide, with over 1.2 million confirmed cases and at least 72,000 dead.  In the United States, there have been at least 706,880 cases and 32,230 deaths, according to a New York Times database. The virus is spreading faster than wildfires. Older Americans, those with underlying health conditions and those without a social safety net are the most vulnerable to the infection and to its societal disruption. 

         The common safety symptoms are fever, tiredness, dry cough, shortness of breath and some people may experience aches and pains, nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat and diarrhoea. There are laboratory tests that can identify the virus that causes COVID-19  in respiratory specimens. It takes about 7-14 days for the virus to completely infect our respiratory system. There is no vaccine for this pandemic so far. Scientists and doctors are trying their best to find a cure as soon as possible. 

 

          The entire earth has shut down. Coronavirus’s spread has left businesses around the world counting costs. The travel industry has been badly damaged, with airlines cutting flights and tourists cancelling business trips and holidays. Governments around the world have introduced travel restrictions to try to contain the virus. In order to stop the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak, many countries across the world have started implementing very tough measures. Countries and world capital have been put under strict lockdown, bringing a total halt to major industrial production chains.  More than 100 countries have travel restrictions because of coronavirus. Supermarkets and online delivery services have reported a huge growth in demand as customers stockpile goods such as toilet paper, rice, hand gloves, hand sanitizer , face masks and orange juices as the pandemic escalates.  

          The world looks different from the last global virus outbreak in 2003. Global growth is already slow, and financial markets already have very low interest rates, which means that central banks in almost every major country have little ammunition with which to mitigate any potential economic fallout. This puts greater pressure on governments to use the power of their purse to counter the economic fallout from the coronavirus. While the fallout from the coronavirus will disrupt supply chains and global demand that could also affect the U.S economy, the current situation also creates a lot of uncertainty over the longer term. Congress and the Trump administration can do a lot to counter the risks associated with the spread of the virus by engaging in fiscal policies that will provide relief to affected populations and mitigate disruptions to U.S firms.   

           One of the areas that scientists are witnessing a big difference in air quality. It seems that the pandemic is already leading to huge reductions in air pollution in those regions that have been 

significantly affected by COVID-19 such as China and Italy since all the industry, aviation, and other forms of transport grind to halt. This pandemic is also likely to have a significant impact on other environmental factors, including the emission of greenhouse gases as the global economy heads into recession. 

           I have never felt this helpless before in eighteen years of my life. Me and my family have been self- quarantined for the past four weeks. This unexpected virus has been highly affecting all of us. I was hoping that the year 2020 would be sunflowers and sunshines and everything would be great since it is a new decade. But who knew we all would be home lockdown. Both my parents stopped working, all the schools and colleges had shut down. Everyday I live with this fear now that either me or my beloved ones might get affected by coronavirus. All my dreams and plans that I was living with seem to be in a path of hopelessness. Some of us are lucky that we are not being affected financially but whoever has been living in poverty is being affected the most and are being starved. It is getting harder to get food items from grocery stores as limited people are allowed at a time in the stores. It almost feels like I am being caged at my own place. But all I can hope for is that all this ends for everyone’s well-being so that we can go back to our normal lives.

Jannatul Barsha 

Professor Wu

English 1101

April 15, 2020 

                                                  Hannah Jones Reflection

                As an optimistic individual, I have always believed and felt that slavery is an African American success story because they found pathways to not escape it but fight it. They were dehumanized in every possible way by the Whites. It definitely was an extremely challenging time for the Blacks as they were deprived of natural human rights and prejudiced because of their ethnicity, color etc.  Though it took many years of blood, sweat, and tears, they survived it. As they were determined, defiant, and supportive of each other, they directed themselves to the route of having a better respected life where they would be allocated with equal rights. As the phrase goes “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, every human being has the natural rights of living their life without the intervention of others, including the government. 

                In the article “the 1619 project”, Hannah Jones shares her utmost personal experience and talks about unjust slavery that limited Black’s human rights. She truly believed that her father should not be working in the military as she knew he would not be treated the same like other Whites even if he joins the military.  Even after joining the military, he was not much appreciated and was demoralized by the extremists that there was no point of him being in the military. Hannah Jones points out that the flag is nothing but a shame to the land of America where justice is being denied over and over for many years. In addition, she also questioned her dad’s preferences in the article as her dad assumed that America might hold uprightness and treat him as an American.

 

However, expectations did not turn into reality. Therefore, Hannah-Jones contributes to authenticity and brings up the bitter-sweet truth of America about how African-Americans were enslaved and were forced to cultivate their country to prosperity and profitability as they produced food, cooked, cleaned, served and did all the hardships without being provided quality life choices. According to Hannah-Jones beliefs, America never would have been the same if it was not for African-Americans. Moreover, she also mentions how the amendments made fake promises of protecting every individual’s natural rights and did wrong the Blacks. In the article, it states, “ Through centuries of black resistance and protest, we have helped the country live up to its founding ideals”. This piece of quotes demonstrates Hannah-Jones’s idea of how America would not have been able to establish its foundation of egalitarian society. A society where everyone is treated fairly and equallymore or less ; men and women, young and old, tall and short, black and brown, Christian and Muslim, gay and straight etc. Back in the days, women did not have any sanctuary or any surety that they would be abducted, tortured or even raped. They did not have the authority over their kids either. Additionally, they were nagated of the right to vote so that their voices and choices can be oppressed from time to time. Education for Blacks was kept prohibited so that they remain untaught and ignorant of their rights. America owes a big one to the community of African-Americans. 

         I was never aware of racism and slavery until I moved to the United States. It taught me a vast quantity of terms, words, and ideas. In my judgement, I think African-americans did not inherit inequality  but they were wronged by the Whites. They were being used and maneuvered by the unjustifiable White people for their own selfish motives and interests while the Blacks suffered in the dark. It is crazy to acknowledge all the history that America holds and often times it surprises to even believe that there have had been a time when slavery existed. As I live upto my choices, I do not anticipate that I would have been able to survive a timeline like this. In my opinion every individual deserves to have basic rights of freedom of choice, religion and speech. They also should have the right to practice their preferred religion and beliefs and no one should be forbidden to speak their mind and express their ideas and thoughts.

 

                                                         Wilentz Reflection

             Compared to Hannah-Jones, Wilentz have a completely different overview on slavery. In the article, “American slavery and the Relentless Unforseen”, Wilentz shares his point of view and explains that slavery was obligatory and slavery should not have ended. Throughout, he discusses how and in what ways the enslaving of African-Americans was a huge need for America itself to be established both socially and economically. If you put yourself in his place and think logically, I think you too are going to be able to see that he is right in a sense because slavery was bound to take place later or sooner as the Whites found the Black’s with lack of education, absence of asic knowledge of how the world works and endless poverty. 

              In my opinion, nothing is meant forever. If slavery started with a notion, it also had a motive to dessicate. I believe that Wilentz stays unbiased and dispassionate while pointing out his thoughts on the table whereas Hanna-Jones gets up close and personal throughout her write-up since she confronted the circumstances and watched her dad suffer racism. 

              Before reading those articles, I used to assume that Abraham Lincoln was a god in disguise. I get amazed how the history books are written in favor of the oppressionist and people who are in power. It is almost like we and our future generations are being blind-folded from the truth so that we remain ignorant and dead from the neck up.