As the world grapples with a global pandemic that has disrupted daily life in every way imaginable, Black people are again forced to also grapple with what it means to be Black in America.
This means that on top of wrestling with an unprecedented life-threatening virus, a looming economic collapse, massive unemployment, a fractured healthcare system, and an inept federal response, like most Americans, Black people must also confront challenges not shared by other Americans, challenges thoroughly shaped by race in this country.
If we are working to understand and confront one insidious virus wreaking havoc on the world, can we not do the same with another more longstanding virus—white supremacy?
This is to say that our current public discourse surrounding viruses may provide a better vocabulary and frame for understanding how white supremacy operates, how it has plagued people and societies for a much longer time, and has produced an incalculable death toll through genocide, slavery, colonialism, and post-colonialism for centuries.
Symptoms that continue to force Black people to make decisions as simple as jogging become matters of life or death.
