We figure things out in our own time, and I think I realised something about my response to the prospect of getting Covid at work. Quite personal, but maybe worth sharing. About family, culture, and occupational disease.
1/9

Employers have mostly paid attention to death, ignoring #LongCovid. I've got my own personal reasons I won't go into for dreading chronic illness, but it also relates to where I grew up.
2/9

I was listening to Si Kahn's song "Goodbye, Monday Blues" when I made the connection between the breathlessness of Covid and brown lung.

3/9

The South Carolina cotton mill town I grew up in had plenty of people who had a hard time breathing because mill bosses hadn't given a damn about safe working conditions.
4/9

Poet Ron Rash captured it beautifully in this poem from his collection *Eureka Mill*.
5/9

Here's one story of many, from the @SOHPoralhistory collections: https://docsouth.unc.edu/sohp/H-0239/excerpts/excerpt_7927.html
6/9

How many of us, trying to work and stay safe, are seeing this in the context of knowing older generations with brown lung or black lung, struggling for breath?
7/9

The point is that my refusal to endanger myself because a boss says so is more than just a rational calculation of government statistics about death within 28 days. It is informed by history, personal & community, stories & memories. And that is just as significant and valid.
8/9

I'll close with another bit of history, the Great Textile Strike of 1934, about workload, not safety, but a reminder that we do have power if we'll use it. I like the way Laura Beard puts it:

9/9

This interview was part of a brilliant documentary. If you've never seen it, you should: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/uprisingof34