State Racism, Social Justice and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2021

This commentary draws together the confluence of current events-COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice. Vulnerability to COVID-19 cannot be understood by age alone but within the context of inequity. We first review how COVID-19 has disproportionately affected Black and Latinx populations across the life span with the latest data from New York City Department of Health. We then discuss critical race theory and analyze longstanding inequities in health, economic, and social conditions that heighten the risk for vulnerability. We conclude with a discussion for the social work profession on the issues of defunding the police to undoing stereotypes.

Cambridge University Press eBooks, 2023

In the United States, the impact of COVID-19 is influenced and exacerbated by an embedded social issue: structural racism and its attendant systemic inequities. 1 In this chapter, we address how structural racism -broadly construed as the deeply rooted discriminatory policies and systems that produce the chronic systemic inequities faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) people in American society -have influenced, with notable detriment, 2 COVID-19's impact in the United States. We argue that the pandemic's legal and policy legacy will be one of greater realized health equity and racial justice. The United States is at a pivotal political point. The confluence of an ever-looming pandemic intertwined with racial equity protests and a newly elected president provide the political impetus for monumental legal and social change. Notably, because of the pervasive nature of systemic inequities and structural racism, legal and social changes flowing from this pivot point will influence both health and non-health law realms. Probable changes to American law and policy are likely to be immense -historic in both scope and impact. We broadly examine these possibilities, providing an ultimate assessment of the probable far-reaching legal and policy legacy of COVID-19: naming and challenging the foundation of structural racism in the United States. Understanding the epidemiology of COVID-19 requires one to name racism as a fundamental cause of health inequity, and to acknowledge that racism and white * The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent American Medical Association policy.

Nature Communications

The impact of COVID-19 has been disproportionately felt by populations experiencing structural racial-and ethnicity-based discrimination. Here, we describe opportunities for COVID-19 response and recovery efforts to help build more equal and resilient societies, through investments in: (i) interventions focused on explicitly addressing racial and ethnicity-based discrimination; (ii) interventions supporting the delivery of universal services, and in ways that address compounding and intersecting drivers of exclusion and marginalization; and (iii) cross-cutting enabling measures, such as participatory mechanisms and data disaggregation. More than two years since the first SARS-CoV-2 infections were reported, the COVID-19 pandemic remains an acute global emergency 1. While many countries have successfully vaccinated significant portions of their populations, stark global inequities remain with imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines 2,3 , and potential new variants could further threaten the ability of governments to recover from the interconnected health, economic, and broader human rights crises. Within countries, the impact of COVID-19 has been disproportionately felt by populations experiencing structural racial-and ethnicity-based discrimination. Indeed, where disaggregated epidemiologic data are available, COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates are often significantly higher among people of African descent, indigenous peoples, and ethnic groups or other minoritized groups experiencing discrimination 4-6. This reflects what social

The American Journal of Bioethics

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a substantial human, social and economic toll globally, but its impact on Black/African Americans, Latinx, and American Indian/Alaska Native communities in the U.S. is unconscionable. As the U.S. continues to combat the current COVID-19 cycle and prepares for future pandemics, it will be critical to learn from and rectify past and contemporary wrongs. Drawing on experiences in genomic research and intersecting areas in medical ethics, health disparities, and human rights, this article considers three key COVID-19-related issues: research to identify remedies; testing, contact tracing and surveillance; and lingering health needs and disability. It provides a pathway for the future: community engagement to develop culturally-sensitive responses to the myriad genomic/ bioethical dilemmas that arise, and the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to transition the country from its contemporary state of segregation in healthcare and health outcomes into an equitable and prosperous society for all.

Social Science, Humanities and Sustainability Research

This essay speaks to the inequalities and inequities that have had a major impact on the political, economic and social fabric of the world in general and the United States in particular.These disparities and inequities came to the forefront in the world and our country as a consequence of the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic.The pandemic exposed the inefficiencies in our government and its institutions that were unable to abate the pandemic in a timely manner. These inefficiencies resulted in many citizens becoming ill and tragically it was reported there were over 100,000 deaths and rising at the time of this writing. Minorities were affected more than non-minority communities. The pandemic also highlighted the nation’s dependence on the work force that keeps the country safe and supplies the food and products that keep the economy going. First responders, health care workers and employees in the food supply chain became essential workers and were branded as heroes,” God bless them...

Studies in Social Justice, 2022

As several commentators and researchers have noted since late spring 2020, COVID-19 has laid bare the connections between entrenched structurally generated inequalities on one hand, and on the other hand relatively high degrees of susceptibility to contracting COVID-19 on the part of economically marginalized population segments. Far from running along the tracks of race neutrality, studies have demonstrated that the pandemic is affecting Black people more than Whites in the U.S.A. and U.K., where reliable racially-disaggregated data are available. While the situation in Canada seems to follow the same pattern, race-specific data on COVID-19 are hard to come by. At present, there is no federal mandate to collect race-based data on COVID-19, though, in Ontario, at the municipal level, the City of Toronto has been releasing such data. This paper examines the entanglements of race, immigration status and the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada with particular emphasis on Black immigrants and n...

Health Reform Observer - Observatoire des Réformes de Santé, 2023

This paper reviews the advocacy efforts, community organizing, establishment, operation, and lessons learned from a project in Hamilton, Ontario to build the first-ever COVID-19 clinic for Black and other racialized people, people with disabilities, and those experiencing barriers to access COVID-19 vaccinations. Community advocates, academics, and health leaders who are from and serve Black and other racialized and marginalized groups in Hamilton responded to the overwhelming impacts of COVID-19 on marginalized Black and other racialized groups in Hamilton through relational solidarities that allowed for community members to lead the advocacy, design, and operation of a clinic to serve those most in need with the knowledge and expertise most capable of such an intervention. Amidst resistance of municipal and provincial officials to act for healthy equity, racist backlash, and problematic organizational and institutional responses to the needs of Black and other racialized community leaders, Restoration House clinic advocates and community leaders responded to the demand by maintaining focus on community through collective solidarities. The Restoration House example offers several contributions to how we think about community and public health advocacy, organizing, and operational interventions through crises and beyond. Cet article passe en revue la campagne de revendication, les efforts d’organisation communautaire, la mise en place, le fonctionnement et les leçons tirées d’un projet mené à Hamilton, en Ontario, et visant à établir la toute première clinique COVID-19 pour les personnes Noires et racialisées, les personnes handicapées et celles qui rencontrent des obstacles à l’accès aux vaccinations COVID-19. Les défenseurs de la communauté, les universitaires et les dirigeants du secteur de la santé issus et au service des personnes Noires, racialisées ou marginalisées de Hamilton voulaient trouver une réponse adéquate aux effets disproportionnés de la COVID-19 sur les personnes Noires, racialisées ou marginalisées de Hamilton en utilisant les solidarités relationnelles qui ont permis aux membres de la communauté de diriger la revendication, la conception et les activités d’une clinique pour servir les personnes qui en ont le plus besoin avec les connaissances et l’expertise les plus à même de mener une telle intervention. Dans un contexte d’hésitation des autorités municipales et provinciales à agir résolument pour l’équité en santé, de réactions racistes et de réponses organisationnelles et institutionnelles défaillantes aux besoins des leaders de la communauté Noire et d’autres communautés racialisées, les défenseurs de la clinique Restoration House et les dirigeants communautaires ont répondu à la demande en maintenant l’accent sur la communauté par le biais de solidarités collectives. L’exemple de la Restoration House apporte plusieurs contributions à notre réflexion sur la défense des intérêts de la communauté et de la santé publique, l’organisation et les interventions opérationnelles en cas de crise et au-delà.

University of Waterloo, 2021

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a final copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public.

Grassroots, 2020

Newsletter, RC48 Social Movements, Collective Action and Social Change (International Sociological Association). Available: https://www.isa-sociology.org/frontend/web/uploads/files/rc48newsletter_july_2020.pdf

Health Security

The long, fallacious history of attributing racial disparities in public health outcomes to biological inferiority or poor decision making persists in contemporary conversations about the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the disproportionate impacts of this pandemic on communities of color, it is essential for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to focus on how structural racism drives these disparate outcomes. In May and June 2020, we conducted a 6-state online survey to examine racial/ethnic differences in exposure to COVID-19, risk mitigation behaviors, risk perceptions, and COVID-19 impacts. Results show that Black and Hispanic individuals were more likely than White respondents to experience factors associated with structural racism (eg, living in larger households, going to work in person, using public transportation) that, by their very nature, increase the likelihood of exposure to COVID-19. Controlling for other demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, non-White respondents were equally or more likely than White respondents to take protective actions against COVID-19, including keeping distance from others and wearing masks. Black and Hispanic respondents also perceived higher risks of dying of the disease and of running out of money due to the pandemic, and 40% of Black respondents reported knowing someone who had died of COVID-19 at a time when the US death toll had just surpassed 100,000 people. To manage the current pandemic and prepare to combat future health crises in an effective, equitable, and antiracist manner, it is imperative to understand the structural factors perpetuating racial inequalities in the COVID-19 experience.