I could hardly believe my eyes when I read a recent memorandum from the New York State Department of Health. There, brazenly written down in black and white, was a directive that healthcare providers and facilities prioritize New Yorkers of “non-white race[s]” when distributing lifesaving treatments for COVID-19.
In the name of equity, New Yorkers are now supposed to receive different levels of healthcare, as determined not by need but by a race-based hierarchy. The reasoning behind this directive is that “longstanding systemic health and social inequities have contributed to an increased risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19.” It is as if equal protection under the law no longer exists or the 14th Amendment never passed. Policies like this are not only unconstitutional and illegal, but they are moving our nation backward.
Injecting this kind of race-based progressivism into New York’s official healthcare policy creates two classes of New Yorkers — those deserving of lifesaving treatments and those undeserving, with race as the deciding factor. A responsible leader should be committed to expanding quality care for all, not rationing it based on race. With this ordinance, Gov. Kathy Hochul is proving to be another woke, cookie-cutter politician in the mold of her disgraced predecessor.
When it comes to equality and race in America, the Left has lost the plot entirely. They claim to want unity, yet they constantly stoke division through cynical policies and partisan indoctrination. How far is the governor willing to take her state-sanctioned, race-based, and unconstitutional unequal treatment? After healthcare considerations, what is next?
Enough is enough. Gov. Hochul should prioritize the long-term stability and social health of our state for all New Yorkers rather than promote harmful, racist edicts. Instead of further dividing society along racial lines, the governor should rescind this directive immediately and take steps to show that she has in mind the best interests of all residents of our great state, regardless of race.
This memorandum and similar policies are not isolated policy shifts — they are emblematic of the Left’s new woke progressivism. More elected officials than ever are implementing policies that divide people based on a distorted view of our nation and an obsession with fueling racial animosity. It was the federal Food and Drug Administration that first suggested race could be a determining factor in prioritizing access to care. Similar policies are unfolding in schools across the country, where lessons inspired by critical race theory have been exposed by concerned parents and advocates. And now it is seeping into the plans of state health departments.
These policies inject pessimism and distrust into our national conversation. They teach us that we are not united under the same banner of freedom and equality, striving toward a better union, but rather that we are hopelessly divided by immutable characteristics.
Thankfully, more people than ever before are paying attention. They want to stop the madness. Glenn Youngkin’s come-from-behind win in Virginia’s gubernatorial race was a rejection of this toxic ideology.
New York is having a reckoning of its own. Residents of New York are fleeing to greener pastures in record numbers. Only California has suffered greater population loss. And it was not bad weather that pushed these former New Yorkers to the exit gates. It started with the oppressive taxes and regulations, and now it is the pernicious, liberal ideology that continues to drive mass out-migration. Without serious reform, this mass exodus will continue, and the challenge of renewal will become increasingly difficult in states like New York.
The fight for the soul of New York and the future of our nation has never been more important. Sadly, directives such as this one show that Gov. Hochul has no intention of returning sanity to our great but mistreated state. Thankfully, New Yorkers and Americans everywhere understand what is at stake and will exercise their voice at the ballot box by empowering new leadership.
Claudia Tenney represents New York’s 22nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
