So there’s a story I’ve been meaning to get to this week. This will have to be a sort of placeholder for something longer. While there’s a lot to say, the particular outrage can be summed up in this comment by Esther Lucero from the Seattle Indian Health Board:

 

Yeah. That’s about it. The SIHB asked for testing kits for the population that they serve, which lives in and among a number of early hot spots in Seattle and to the city’s north. Tests were not sent, but in the 2nd half of April they did receive a box of supplies. They opened it and found the body bags.

SIHB and King County agree (generously of SIHB) that this was a mere mistake by an equipment distributor that works on contract with King County Public Health Department. But it also serves as a metaphor, for the government’s treatment of indigenous people across the US and even a great deal of non-indigenous people as well.

There is, of course, more to this story, but I’ve been spending my writing time on the pursuit of justice for the murderers of Ahmaud Arbery. Go to commondreams.org for more on this particular story and indianz.com for more on how Native Americans are being affected by both COVID-19 and the government response.