Editor's note: Maitreya Bhakal is an Indian commentator who writes about China, India, the U.S. and global issues. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

For a nation whose very founding is based on a genocide and the deaths of millions, it is perhaps not surprising that the death of the 600,000th American by COVID-19 on June 15 elicited more or less a collective yawn. The pandemic by then had already been entrenched as the new reality, and the media and the nation had moved on the more important topics than people dying.

The U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic can largely be summed up in a single statement made by Trump era White House chief of staff Mark Meadows: "We are not going to control the pandemic." The richest nation in the world became the sickest – and its ruling regime didn't care.

This is to be expected. If the regime could be so oblivious to the deaths of millions abroad due to its invasions, or the deaths of thousands at home due by its Gestapo-style police force or drug overdoses – it would hardly care about a few hundred thousand more people dying from a deadly disease.

The race to die

Apart from a general disdain for human life, another specific factor helps explain the lack of concern: the racial composition of the deaths. America is a largely racist, Apartheid state – almost everything in America is segregated by race.

Racial minorities are considered by the much of the majority white population as backwards and criminal. They face widespread discrimination in every walk of life, from law and order to healthcare. Every U.S. citizen is not equal before the law – in practice, the law and its application differ widely depending on race. Racial minorities are imprisoned at far higher rates than the majority white population. In 2018, Black Americans were 33 percent of all sentenced U.S. prisoners, but only 12 percent of the U.S. adult population. Meanwhile, white Americans accounted for 30 percent of all prisoners, but 63 percent of the adult population. 

This ubiquitous racial segregation applies to healthcare access too. Racial minorities are more likely to die from COVID-19 than the white majority, that has access to better healthcare and medical facilities. Compared to a white settler, an indigenous native American is 2.4 times as likely to die and 3.4 times as likely to be hospitalized. Black Americans are twice as likely to die, and Hispanics 2.3 times as likely. 

While the will to save lives in most nations is based on egalitarian concerns independent of race; in the U.S., race (along with class) is a central concern for COVID-19, as it is with everything else. The statement of the then White House chief of staff that the regime was "not going to control" the pandemic should be interpreted in this context.

Pandemic preparation

When the virus first hit U.S. shores, it did what came naturally: first, deny it, and then, when that didn't work, blame it on a foreign plot.

"Don't worry about the coronavirus. Worry about the flu." announced Buzzfeed News on 28 January, 2020, five days after Wuhan went into lockdown. When this didn't work, U.S. President Trump and his officials and the media openly blamed China for the pandemic and used racist dog whistles like "Chinese virus," knowing full well that it would cause violent racist hate crimes against Asian Americans. And given the racist cesspool America is today, it did.

The U.S. had enough advance warning to prepare, but refused to take advantage of early signals and advice from other nations. While other countries were hunkering down and preparing for the storm, imposing lockdowns and activating mass testing and contact tracing, the U.S. was busy blaming China and silencing experts and whistleblowers.

Health expert Anthony Fauci was censored from speaking publicly about the disease. A whistleblower in Washington was fired after he exposed deficiencies in his hospital's coronavirus protections. A government employee in Florida was not only fired but also had her house raided by the police – after she allegedly exposed a COVID-19 cover-up by the regime. 

Freedom to die

Today, nearly 20 months after the pandemic began, it seems the only saving grace for the U.S. is the vaccine. The U.S. says it is vaccinating its people (of all races) as fast as it can. Yet, it is often accused of under-reporting its death toll and case count. Meanwhile, the new Delta variant is wreaking havoc across multiple states.

When the pandemic began, the U.S. regime and media declared COVID-19 as China's "Chernobyl," hoping that the pandemic would cause the downfall of the Chinese government. Instead, Chinese people are cruising through life happily and safely.

Meanwhile, Americans keep dying. An average U.S. street today has more active infections than the whole of China. While China's total death toll has been a constant 4,636 for ages – a massive 633,000 Americans have been sacrificed so far at the altar of the regime's criminal neglect and sadistic apathy – with many more likely on the way. 

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