Covid Journal, June 11, 2020
Covid Exposes Institutional Racism
Research is demonstrating that different communities of racial background are affected differently when it comes to issues like Covid-19. It’s likely that this isn’t the first time that disparities have occurred. It’s just the first time it’s really been tracked and reported because of the goal to find Covid everywhere.
In Montreal, Canada, research has shown that black Canadians show higher incidences of cases of Covid-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, Montreal districts with higher numbers of Black people and more cramped housing have registered the most cases of COVID-19, according to an analysis by CBC News.
The findings echo similar observations made in other major North American cities, where the novel coronavirus has disproportionately affected the poorest and most racially diverse neighbourhoods.
“This says the conditions in which people are living leave them exposed in a very serious, excessive way to COVID-19,” said Tiffany Callender, executive director of the Côte-des-Neiges Black Community Association.
Unlike in some other jurisdictions, in Canada, public health officials have not disclosed data on the race of COVID-19 patients. That has frustrated community activists like Callender, who says such information could have been used to identify and protect vulnerable communities.
While many seem to be having an ‘aha moment’, I would think it should be pretty obvious that the combination of social interaction, inability to physically distance, lower incomes and lower paying jobs and higher levels of intensification all contribute to the widening disparity that needs to be addressed, under the broader label of ‘inequality’.
The racism continues.
Obviously, the United States is not immune from these issues. Another similar CBC story exposes some of the truths we seem to have been all to happy to ignore until Covid-19 came along as a ‘great equalizer’.
There’s no transcript for the video, but a quick review of the content includes reference to figures as high as 70% of African-Americans are getting Covid in certain areas compared to other ethinic / racial areas. Here’s another resource worth reviewing.
The concerns with all of this? What if it leads down a possibly unwanted path of more racial profiling than we already engage in?
A Gag Video That Pokes Fun At … Everything
The man could never create software that was virus-free and worked hard to monopolize access to computers, but I’m sure he can be trusted with a vaccine to ‘save the world’.
No conspiracies … 100% tongue in cheek.