EP 1: How COVID-19 Is Shining a Light on Systemic Racism

Collectively Us - Unpacking Racism

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on Americans. Currently, 19 months into the pandemic, one out of every 500 Americans has passed away from COVID. And when you look at the statistics for marginalized communities these numbers become even more devastating. In today’s episode, we unpack the outsized impact that COVID-19 has had on Americans of color and why that is. We examine how historic, economic, and environmental factors have converged to create a prevalence of pre-existing conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure in these communities, and why urgent systemic change is needed. From housing discrimination to being denied access to healthcare, systemic racism has shaped the lives of countless Americans, and it’s going to take much more than the action of one individual to remedy this overwhelming problem, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try! We discuss some of the steps individuals can take to start to affect change and what a better world might look like. Join us today for a deeper look at the COVID-19 pandemic, what it has taught us about structural racism, and how we need to take collective action to change the system!

Key Points From This Episode:

• The outsized impact that the COVID pandemic has on Americans of color.
• The historic, economic, and environmental factors that have contributed to the prevalence of pre-existing conditions in marginalized communities.
• How this has facilitated the outsized impact that COVID has had on the health outcomes of Americans of color.
• The public health perspective on COVID and why where you live plays a massive role in your overall health.
• What it means to be an essential service worker during the COVID pandemic and how it exposes you to more people.
• A large percentage of low-wage essential service workers that are either Black or Hispanic.
• Why certain groups have a deep distrust of the medical establishment due to historic mistreatment.
• How this mistrust has inhibited people from these groups from procuring a COVID vaccine.
• Some of the steps we can take to address these inequities.
• The role that structural racism plays in the current inequities of the impact of COVID.
• How the COVID pandemic has shone a light on structural racism and its devastating impact on marginalized communities.

Tweetables:

“We’re all dealing with COVID, every one of us, it does not know race, but there are certain groups of people that are less equipped to deal with this virus.” — Ryon Coote [0:03:29]

“Your zip code is a better predictor of health than your genetic code.” — Julie Radlauer-Doerfler [0:06:37]

“Service industry people are constantly coming in contact with people, which exponentially increases their chances of getting the virus.” — Ryon Coote [0:16:35]

“Thousands and thousands of people are dying because we’re not figuring out how to take care of them . . . 80% of the vaccines have gone to upper or upper middle-class people worldwide.” — Julie Radlauer-Doerfler [0:21:31]

“When white folks get a cold, black folks get the flu, and then of course, when white folks get the flu, black folks die.” — Ryon Coote [0:22:45]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

The Accidental Suffragist on Amazon

The Accidental Suffragist on bookshop.org

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