AMERICA Violence: Corona Anxiety, Racism and Job Losses make a deadly cocktail

As many Americans destroy and loot across the country, one must understand what drives Americans to indulge in such impulsive and dangerous behaviour whether it is shooting innocent people in the streets or destroying public property

• In late March, 43% of Americans felt nervous, anxious or on the edge most of the week (3 or more days). This may have come down a bit but not much
• 24% felt depressed most of the week (3 or more days)
• 12.7 million Americans suffer from Mental and Substance Use Disorders (3%)
• 13% of Teens in the age 12 to 17 suffered atleast one episode of depression in the previous 12 months (2017 data)
• 78% of Black Americans feel that America hasn’t done enough to give blacks equal rights, 37% of Whites feel the Same
• 71% of Black Americans feel that race relations are generally bad in America, 56% of Whites also feel the Same
• 40 million Americans lost their jobs since the start of the Corona Crisis
• While 1 in 3 Whites are categorised as low in personal trust, amongst Minorities it is closer to 45%

The death of George Floyd brought Corona anxiety, Historic Racism and huge unemployment issues together to form an extremely deadly cocktail leading to violence, riots and looting across the country. America can threaten China, Send humans to Moon, produce the most innovative technologies and be a very rich rich country but it is still a long way to keep its people really contended.

*Survey data is from Pew and WHO