The futuristic movie that has always resonated with me the most is the 2002 film, Minority Report, loosely based on the 1956 short story. The futuristic setting utilizes an Optical Recognition System where walking into a department store literally generates a computer screen pop-up that details your last visit, lists your purchase history, suggests other things you might like, or announces to the other shoppers that you’re wanted by the FBI. Think, Alexa, but triggered by an involuntary scan of your eyes and not your voluntary speech. Therefore, there’s no hiding your dubious dealings from the ORS unless you…

SPOILER ALERT!

I bring up Minority Report because last week I learned that immunization/vaccination certification is being worked on by start-ups and companies like Google and Microsoft. What in the HIPPA?! This would require individuals to prove that they’ve had the Covid-19 vaccine by possessing or producing a certification, most likely technological in form, and/or carrying passports before entering certain events or venues.

This is indicative of the white supremacist based capitalism that thrives on the division of our class-based society. This pandemic has only been around for a year but homelessness, inequitable and unaffordable healthcare, and several other illnesses and viruses continually plague society. However, strides to put the money and technology into reducing or eliminating those are rarely, if ever, seen and have seemingly been beat out by the production of a vaccine for the 2020 novel virus that is already spawning mutations.

Black and Indigenous communities have been hit hardest by this pandemic and also have the most legitimate reasons to distrust the vaccine due to this country’s history of genocide, testing on, and sterilization of members of the aforementioned communities. There is also a lack of access to affordable healthcare along with race and ethnicity related health disparities. So these same communities could be set up for who knows how many restrictions, similar to voter suppression, if they don’t have a record of having taken the Covid-19 vaccination.

I don’t know about you, but I’m about one news headline away from going straight Denzel Washington from The Book of Eli in here.