Powerless, troubled need our help, attention

Red, white and blue decorations, fireworks, barbecues. The Fourth of July weekend is a time of bubbling American excitement and pride. However, this year feels undeniably different.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been relentless, taking hundreds of thousands of victims around the world, with the United States as the most affected nation. Beyond the virus, our country has recently felt different socially and culturally.

Deaths of Black Americans such as George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Elijah McClain and countless others have left many of us in justified states of shock.

National outrage and protests have conquered media in addition to COVID coverage for weeks, with many people affirming that "enough is enough." Where does our nation go from here?

It's hard to say, and it's a loaded question. I don't intend to answer that. However, it's important to say that the United States is a country with plenty of influence, power and resources to work towards fixing its problems.

Many other countries do not have these same privileges.

In our pre-COVID world, while the United States was arguably doing well, extreme poverty and violence persisted in other nations.

Yemen is going through one of the worst famines ever. Palestinian people are being murdered, and extreme poverty is rampant in many regions in Sub-Saharan Africa and regions in South Asia.

There many other struggling nations that have gone relatively unnoticed by American media and politics.

As a powerful social and political influence, the United States needs to keep the voiceless, struggling people around the world in mind.

While we fight for Black lives and the safety of our loved ones during the pandemic, we must also protect those that do not have the power or resources to do much more fighting.

Chloe Hirth

Grayslake