MSNBC's Joy Reid: Texas and Mississippi Have 'Structures' That Say 'Black and Brown Lives Matter Less'

On Wednesday, MSNBC’s Joy Reid socked it to white conservatives.

John Hopkins physician Dr. Kavita Patel and network contributor Jason Johnson waxed on red state refusal where masks are concerned — if you haven’t heard, places like Texas and Mississippi aren’t requiring ’em.

Plus, is it time for a gladiator-style fight for vaccines?

But first, a backstory: As reported by Tupelo’s Daily Journal, Mississippi experienced statewide vaccination appointment postponement due to snow and ice.

From February 16th:

The Mississippi State Department of Health posted notices alerting residents scheduled for vaccination at drive-thru sites on Monday and Tuesday that their appointments would be automatically rescheduled for the same time on a different day because of hazardous weather conditions.

And to be clear:

To reduce risk of infection, the health department is encouraging Mississippians to continue practing current safety measures: Wear masks, social distance, avoid large gatherings and wash hands frequently.

The MSDH is also recommending vaccination to those currently eligible: Mississippi residents or those who work in Mississippi who are ages 65 and older or who have certain underlying conditions, health care personnel and residents of long-term care facilities.

As for the Longhorn state, just days later, the Texas Tribune put it thusly:

This week’s storm delayed the delivery of hundreds of thousands of doses that were scheduled to arrive, preventing what might have been 1 million injections by hundreds of providers… More than 100,000 first doses and 300,000 second doses that were supposed to be delivered this week are still awaiting shipment due to weather conditions around out-of-state warehouses and across the country, according to the federal vaccine tracking system.

RedState’s Nick Arama related around the middle of the month, “Nearly Half of Texas’ Wind Turbines Freeze Contributing to Power Emergency, Over 2 Million Without Power.”

Now on with the show: As noted by LifeNews, host Joy asserted Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott believes “Texans apparently…don’t need light and heat.”

And Dr. Kavita noted medical workers in both places are having a rough go of it. All of em:

“When these things unfold, Joy, it feels like nobody cares. When you see all these health professionals just feeling slapped down, it feels like nobody cares. … [T]exas, Mississippi — they’re all feeling that way tonight.”

“No, absolutely, I’m sure,” Joy agreed. “The doctors are exhausted.”

The crew brought especially terrible news.

If I understand this correctly, the governments of both states have policies to maybe kill all people who aren’t white, so they can work for all people who are white, who are also all people who are — and people who are all — rich.

Joy laid it out:

“[J]ason, there is a term called ‘necropolitics,’ which is essentially the politics of who gets to live and who gets to die. And these states — what they have in common — is that they have structures which say that black and brown lives matter less. And so all that matters is the black and brown people get their behinds into the factory and make me my steaks, make me my stuff. Get there and do my nails. Work. Get back to work now, and do the things I — the comfortable, affluent person — needs.”

Jason took the conch shell and spoke of the virtues of a Lord of the Flies-style vaccination plan’s superiority to the one being delivered:

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Hunger Games would be more humane, right? If they made people line up and fight for vaccines, at least then you have a fighting chance.”

It turns out the Republican Party plans to starve people to death, including select relatives:

“No, they’re just gonna starve people. And it’s always seemed ironic to me that the party of supposedly family values is basically saying, ‘You kids starve, Aunty starves, Uncle starves, and my wife and my smart son get to eat and get to live and get the vaccine.'”

The communication and journalism professor pegged the problem:

“And here’s the problem: It used to just be an issue of harming black and brown people. But this is harming what’s left of the Republican base. Mississippi’s a red state. They’re killing a lot of their own supporters.”

Joy: Yeah.

Dr. Kavita nodded.

Jason continued:

“Texas is a red state, even though it’s through suppression. They’re killing a lot of their own supporters. So it’s not even political. It’s just nihilism. And an absolute lack of empathy for the human impact and the catastrophe that so many Americans are living through right now.”

From Merriam-Webster: