The civil rights leader’s name is the conservative rebuttal to concerns about systemic racism. King’s name is a love song for bootstrapping individualists. It’s akin to a glide path to a safe landing for anyone accused of trying to elevate themselves by diminishing others.

King saw the grinding poverty facing Black people at home as inseparable from the war overseas. As he noted, “If our nation can spend 35 billion dollars a year to fight an unjust, evil war in Vietnam, and 20 billion dollars to put a man on the moon, it can spend billions of dollars to put God’s children on their own two feet right here on earth.”

Capitol Police Officer Marcus Moore “is haunted by the memory of being attacked, and of the sensory impacts — most particularly the explosions of flashbangs and other devices, as well as the sights, sounds, smells, and even tastes of the attack remain close to the surface.” Most of the officers who survived had to suit up and head right back out for work the next day. And again. And again.

Overestimates of the incidental COVID rate will make the current wave seem milder than it really is. At the same time, undercounting incidental cases will lead to overstatements of COVID’s current severity. Both kinds of errors will cloud our vision at a time when we need a clear-eyed view of the pandemic.