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Racism Made COVID Worse — Scholars Just Proved It
Knowledge of racial disparity made whites indifferent. That means we must discuss these disparities in a new way
Now we have proof.
Racism, in the form of white racial indifference, almost certainly made the COVID pandemic in the U.S. worse than it otherwise would have been.
For over a year, several of us have been making that case, primarily by examining circumstantial and anecdotal evidence and making certain inferences that flow from it.
But now, we needn’t rely on speculation and inference.
The evidence is in, and it’s clear.
Once white Americans knew that COVID was wreaking particular havoc in Black communities, they began to show a marked indifference to the pandemic and its risks.
That, in turn, resulted in greater opposition to masking, social distancing, and ultimately, vaccines intended to guard against the spread of the virus.
The results, of course, were predictable — ultimately, COVID caught up to them too. Now here we are, two years and nearly a million deaths later.
It didn’t have to be this way.
But thanks to white racism and racial indifference, it has been.
It’s a bold statement. But it’s eminently provable.
Before getting to the new scholarship, reflect upon what we already have known for some time.
Circumstantial evidence always suggested racial indifference made COVID worse
Recall please the first month of real COVID awareness — March of 2020.
It was then that the nation first went into lockdown, with businesses closing and schools shuttering in mid-month. People then began to wear masks and practice social distancing in public places, if they went out at all.
