In light of the recent news that around the country, Black people are disproportionately dying to Covid 19 (40% of the deaths with only 13% of the population), corporate media and politicians like Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards reacted in shock and claimed he “needed to study this more” to understand how or why. Despite the fact that all signs of long-standing institutional racism in the U.S., which have been studied by social scientists for decades, clearly show where this problem is stemming from, the so-called powers that be just can’t seem to figure out what’s wrong or don’t care to acknowledge the facts and truth behind it all. Because doing so would require them to indict the entire system that they represent.
By the numbers, the symptoms of systemic racism speak for themselves. In Chicago, where Black people make up only 30% of the population, they constitute 70% of the deaths. In Michigan, where Black people constitute only 14% of the population, they account for 33% of the Covid 19 cases and 40% of the deaths. In New York City, Latinx people lead the death rate with 34% while only representing 29% of the population, and Black people come in second with 28% of the deaths though only 22% of the population. From city to city, state to state, we see that the darker the skin of the people, the more likely they are to die from Corona Virus.
Nothing screams more loudly of systemic racism than this! These statistics are symptoms of the original pandemic of white supremacist capitalism that has ravaged this country since its beginning. And the best example is right here in Louisiana, the fastest growing state for Covid 19 cases and deaths per capita in the nation. Here, where Black people make up only 32% of the population, they account for 70% of the 702 deaths. The same death rate rings true in Orleans Parish, once the top slavery port in the country, and now the number one site for Covid deaths per capita in the nation with over 400 deaths in less than a month. That’s enough to eliminate the entire NBA!
But this should come as no surprise in a city where 53% of its mostly Black population lives in poverty, which leads to us also having the number one incarceration rate in the entire world’s history. Due to our exploitative economy that loots $8 Billion of wealth from its workers who are forced to subsist on slave wages, New Orleans consistently ranks highest in all measures of inequity from our education system to the very life span of Black people versus white people, which differs by at least 2 decades in some neighborhoods. All of this is a product of low-paying jobs for Black people, who often can’t afford good healthcare either. Add to that the fact that those low paying jobs are somehow also the ones deemed “essential,” without essential hazard pay, without essential comprehensive healthcare, without essential paid time off for sick leave, and without essential protective equipment needed for workers. This creates the perfect storm of racism and classism where Black workers are the most exposed to the virus and the least protected.
This is only further compounded by the fact that the medical rationing mandated by most Federal grant programs forces hospitals to prioritize patients with preexisting conditions under those without them. This often leads to Black and Brown folks being screened out while white folks are accepted. The nastiest thing about this is that the preexisting conditions of poverty (detailed above) are of course the reason for the preexisting health conditions of many Black and Brown people. This type of medical discrimination builds on a long ugly legacy in this country that includes the Tuskegee experiments, the evil work of Dr. J Marion Sims (for whom a monument stood in New York City up until 2018) and the infamous theft of Henrietta Lacks’ genes. This horrific history coupled with the disparities of the present contribute greatly to why Black people are less inclined to heed admonitions from the medical industry or the government.
It’s the same wretched capitalist government, after all, who awarded private contracts to Gilead pharmacy to develop an antiviral drug all because one of their former employees sits on Trump’s cabinet. The same government who rejected tests from the World Health Organization so that a profit-making company could get paid off them instead. The same government that took weeks to demand its corporations like GE make ventilators. And yet, it was the workers who pushed the company to do this when the government would have had them continue to make fighter jets instead, while the company preferred to cut workers rather than maximize their knowledge, skill and desire to produce a dire need for ventilators that exists across the country.
But amidst all the racist capitalist chaos, there are countries out there with more planned economies showing us a better way. Cuba has deployed its doctors all over the world to help other countries (though the US government rejected them). Venezuela suspended mortgage and rent payments for 6 months and deployed thousands of doctors to make house calls to their citizens (right before the US government trumped up a drug war against their president so they could steal Venezuelan oil in the middle of a pandemic!). China sold the US 1,000 ventilators only for the US to turn around and sell them to Israel for profit.
Since it’s clear no level of the government will provide what we need, we the people of Louisiana must fight to get the fair medical treatment we’re owed. We can start by demanding that our local governments provide healthcare to ALL workers. At the same time, we must keep spreading the word that the disproportionate amount of Black death due to systemic racism is unacceptable, both during this pandemic and EVER! Measures must be ramped up now! Healthcare for ALL workers NOW! Get involved by supporting the two petitions below:
Sign here to demand health insurance companies prioritize the health of black people.
Send a letter to Governor Edwards and demand protective gear and hazard pay for New Orleans hospitality workers NOW!
In Solidarity,
Take Em Down NOLA