George Floyd's Death and COVID-19 Both Illuminate the Same Issue: Institutional Racism in the U.S.
In the summer of 2014, the white police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed, 18-year-old black man in Ferguson, Miss. It ignited protests and social unrest first in Ferguson, then across the U.S., with Black Lives Matter emerging as both a rallying cry and a movement leading the loudest call in years for systemic changes to a racist and brutal policing apparatus.
Despite its widespread impact on American culture, not much changed in the six years since in terms of policy or facts on the ground. In fact, by many counts, it got worse. Perhaps emboldened by the rhetoric of a President that seems to often avoid condemning and sometimes even absolves anti-black violence, hate crimes have reached a 16-year high, according to the FBI. Despite overall access to insurance rising over the past few years, black Americans remain far more likely to be uninsured than white Americans. And when it comes to income inequality, the Census Bureau just recorded the highest income equality gap between all Americans in the five decades it’s been tracking such numbers; and between 2014 and 2019, the gap between how much the average white American makes and how much the average black American makes grew as well.
Then, COVID-19 hit, and exacerbated everything. Billionaires are getting even richer as millions of working and middle-class Americans lose their jobs, or have to make the impossible choice between their economic well-being or their physical health. All of us have been operating on some variety of a razor’s edge, some balancing work and 24-hour child care; others dealing with record levels of loneliness in a nearly completely digitized world; many struggling to simply feed themselves and their families; and everyone moving through an uncanny world where our neighbors and even our friends appear sinister behind masks.
For everything I said, it’s more pernicious for most black Americans. The early data make it pretty clear: black Americans are suffering the most from the impacts of the virus. They are getting COVID-19 and dying from it at disproportionately high numbers even as states all across the country re-open. Black Americans are more likely to live in food deserts, regions with more air pollution and bad water quality, and in communities with under-resourced health care systems, leading to higher rates of conditions like diabetes, chronic lung disease, heart disease, and other ailments that put them at risk for severe cases of COVID-19.
Disgustingly, some protestors who demanded early reopening at the start of this month marched with Confederate flags, nooses, and swastikas, as if to blame those dying the fastest for the audacity to impede white American’s daily lives. It’s no surprise that there has been a seething understanding among both anti-racist advocates and public health advocates that, to many Americans, including our federal leadership, black lives still don’t matter.
No surprise still when we watched a video of Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, appearing to choke to death George Floyd, a black man, while the latter begged "Please," "I can't breathe," and "Don't kill me." All the man had allegedly done was try to use a counterfeit $20 at a deli in downtown Minneapolis.
Over this weekend, thousands in nearly every major city in the U.S., as well as Berlin, Toronto, London and more, took to the streets—for many, it was their first time venturing outside for any sort of group event or gathering since lockdowns went into effect—to express outrage over Floyd’s death, but also fury over the poor handling of this pandemic which has proven to NOT be “the great equalizer,” as much as that has been claimed. A virus, yes, operates indiscriminately; however, the spread of an infectious disease is, in some significant ways, determined by economic, political, and health care systems. What COVID-19 has wrought on the U.S. further lays bare the systemic, toxic, and deadly anti-blackness inherent in our institutions.
Grocery Workers Fear Confrontations With Shoppers Over Mask Rules
Many grocery stores throughout the country currently require wearing a face mask while shopping. But some customers have started to push back, endangering the employees who have to confront them. Read more here.
The Conditions in America’s Nursing Homes are ‘Getting Worse’
Even as health officials try to improve safety measures in nursing homes, which have been devastated by coronavirus, employees say they’re at risk whenever they report for duty. Read more here.
Antibody Tests May Be Causing More Confusion Than Clarity
Antibody tests that tell people whether they have previously been infected with the coronavirus were praised as a way to end lockdowns. But in many communities, these testing programs have been scaled back or put on hold. Read more here.
Assisted Living Residents Are Falling Through the Cracks of COVID-19 Response
Assisted living facilities, home to about 800,000 older Americans, have been largely overlooked in coronavirus-relief efforts, leaving many facilities under-regulated, understaffed and underfunded. Families and caregivers say their residents are “falling through the cracks.” Read more here.
LESSONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
In Yemen, the Virus Is Spreading Unseen and Unchecked
Yemen officially has one of the Middle East’s lowest COVID-19 case counts, but not because the virus has been contained. After years of war, mistrust of government and no proper health care services, health care providers have had to convince many that the virus even exists, writes TIME’s Joseph Hinks. Read more here.
The Latin American Country With One of the World’s Worst—and Most Ignored—Outbreaks
As of the end of the day on May 30, Peru has more confirmed cases of COVID-19 than all but 10 countries. Yet it’s received little international attention. TIME’s Ciara Nugent unpacks what’s going on in the South American country. Read more here.
Letter From the Future: Hong Kong’s Restaurant Scene Could Set the Tone for the Rest of the World’s
In Hong Kong, restaurants are putting significant measures in place to keep diners safe, and it seems to be working: Hong Kong hasn’t recorded a cluster of coronavirus cases related to restaurants since the safety measures were put in place in late March. Read more here.
Indigenous Groups Around the World Are Taking COVID-19 Responses Into Their Own Hands
First-nations communities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand often face similar health care access challenges. Here’s how they are managing the pandemic. Read more here.
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Today's newsletter was written by Elijah Wolfson, and edited in part by Lucas Wittman.
