COVID-19 Exposes Continued US Racial Division, Calls for Black Stimulus Package

The COVID-19 virus has exposed the racial underbelly of American society where some are calling for race-based responses that point to longterm equity solutions.

By Kevin C. Peterson

There is a commonly held saying among US blacks that speak to the tragic relationship African Americans experience within our country in context of the larger white society. It goes: when white people have a cold, black people get pneumonia.

The saying makes explicit an explanatory truth: when hard times hit European Americans, those same difficult times are intensified among members of the black community — who are comparatively poorer, less well-housed, under educated and unhealthy. The facticity of this sobering realism is being spelled out in the current ghastly death-count related to COVID-19.

The United States now leads globally in battling on behalf of its citizens against the deadly virus. The virus has devastated Americans with a swift and unforgiving magnitude as witnessed in New York City, New Jersey and New Orleans. It has shattered hearts and wreaked havoc in our homeland.

Yet, the underbelly of racial disparity detected concerning this unabated disease is seldom discussed with any seriousness or planning by national leadership at the White House.

The Washington Post has reported arresting facts about black America and COVID-19 that are indisputable: