Meet the Black Man Who Is Being Blamed for the Coronavirus Pandemic

[TexasTowelie]

The GOP is, so far, pinning blame for the gross mismanagement of the pandemic on four things—none of which, of course, includes them. One is Obama, another is China, another is the impeachment hearings, and the last is the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Since the beginning of April, the fourth object of blame has been gaining traction in mainstream media. There are two reason for this. One, Ghebreyesus came under criticism from Taiwan for not being critical enough of China during the early stages of the crisis. Two, the very fact that a black African is running a globally important institute will strike many white American voters as the manifestation of affirmative action on a global level. He is there not because he knows what he is doing, but because he is a black man in a position that should have gone to a qualified white man. Therefore, we are paying a heavy price for leftist political correctness.

There is no way to stop millions of white Americans from thinking in this way. But Ghebreyesus is in fact the head of this institution for a very good reason. He had considerable success as the top health official of a "underdeveloped" country, Ethiopia.

Wikipedia:

...as Minister of Health, Tedros received praise for a number of innovative and system-wide health reforms that substantially improved access to health services and key outcomes. Amongst them were hiring and training roughly 40,000 female health extension workers, cutting infant mortality from 123 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2006 to 88 in 2011, and increasing the hiring of health cadres including medical doctors and midwives. In July 2009, he was elected Board Chair of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for a two-year term.

These achievements are significant because a large part of the world lives in conditions that are similar to Ethiopia. The West, or the "developed" countries, are supposed to have the means to deal with public health challenges, and so appointing a WHO director from that part of the world does not make that much sense. What the United Nations needed, when it appointed Ghebreyesus in 2017, was an expert with a solid record when it came to social conditions that are challenged by a lack of economic and technological resources, professionals, and political stability. This is Ghebreyesus. This is the man politicians in the richest country in the world are blaming for the present crisis.

Read more: https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/04/03/43326669/meet-the-black-man-who-is-being-blamed-for-the-coronavirus-pandemic


Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the World Health Organization. POOL / GETTY IMAGES