US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says the coronavirus pandemic has exposed inequalities in the US…
Via RNS
While the coronavirus is an equal opportunity killer, the poor and people of colour are disproportionately suffering and dying from COVID-19. These communities were least prepared to respond to the virus for reasons rooted in racism and inequality.
When the virus arrived, public health experts told us to protect ourselves by working from home, keeping social distance, isolating the sick and quarantining those who have come into contact with the sick. But all of these recommendations are easier for white, affluent suburbanites to follow. They have large homes they share only with family, and jobs that can be done online. Their financial reserves can cushion the impact of hard times.
Fabian Arias, a Lutheran pastor with Saint Peter’s Church in Manhattan, centre right, coordinates with volunteers as they prepare food delivery donations at a produce wholesaler, on 8th May, in the Bronx borough of New York. PICTURE: AP Photo/John Minchillo.
Those who work in restaurants, grocery stores, warehouses, hotels, slaughterhouses, agriculture, factories, construction, nursing homes, retail stores, maintenance and cleaning cannot work from home. Security guards, maids, janitors, bus drivers, truck drivers, waiters, dishwashers, cooks, cashiers, farmworkers, delivery people and receptionists must show up for work if they are going to be paid.
Many of these workers survive from paycheck to paycheck with meagre reserves to withstand the loss of their paychecks. About 1.8 million workers are paid the federal minimum wage ($US7.25 per hour) or less, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly half (48 per cent) of workers earn less than $US15 an hour. In bad times, they have hardly anything to fall back on. Nearly 70 per cent of Americans have less than $US1,000 in savings, according to GoBankingRates.
“Minorities and the poor are more likely to live in crowded quarters. They are more likely to have a family member who will bring the virus home from work. The idea of isolating or quarantining someone in an apartment with six or more people and one bathroom is a cruel joke.”
Also, poor people of colour are more likely to suffer from underlying conditions that put them more at risk if they do get sick. Sadly, many have either no health care or substandard health care, especially in states where Republican governors and legislatures have refused to expand Medicaid as proposed under the Affordable Care Act. Undocumented immigrants are afraid to go to hospitals because they fear federal agents will seize them there, and deport them or their family members.
These people were already on the edge. With the coronavirus they are in free fall with no end in sight.
Not only are they in danger at work, they are also at risk at home. Minorities and the poor are more likely to live in crowded quarters. They are more likely to have a family member who will bring the virus home from work. The idea of isolating or quarantining someone in an apartment with six or more people and one bathroom is a cruel joke.
We should not be surprised that African Americans are 2.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites, according to APM Research Lab.
The black community’s disadvantage can be traced back to slavery and the racism that blacks have historically endured. If African Americans had ever received just wages for their work, had been allowed to borrow money from banks, open businesses and own homes, then over generations their wealth may have equaled that in the white community.
Instead they were discriminated against, redlined, excluded from education and subjected to violence. Government programs in the postwar era that helped whites gain education and housing excluded blacks. Only within the last 50 years have things slightly improved, but to think that a people can overcome centuries of oppression in one generation is naive.
The next generation continues to suffer because schools have closed. People of colour are less likely to have broadband available in their homes for distance learning. Nor do they have a quiet room where they can study. Nor do their parents have the time or ability to make up for what their children are losing by not going to school.
The virus has also undercut the greatest resource available to the poor and communities of colour: grandparents. Children and parents are forced to keep distance from their most important supporters. Those who provided advice, emotional support and childcare are unavailable.
True, many of those who lost jobs have been helped by unemployment insurance. Some are receiving more in unemployment insurance than they did while on the job, but this simply highlights how terrible were their wages to begin with. And those who have continued working have rarely received hazard pay to reflect that they are putting their lives at risk every day they go to work.
“The COVID-19 virus has put a spotlight on the inequality and racism that are endemic to our nation. The health of the nation must be measured by the health of those who are least advantaged. Unless all are healthy, unless all are protected, unless all have access to jobs with decent pay, then we are a sick nation in need of strong medicine.”
The COVID-19 virus has put a spotlight on the inequality and racism that are endemic to our nation. The health of the nation must be measured by the health of those who are least advantaged. Unless all are healthy, unless all are protected, unless all have access to jobs with decent pay, then we are a sick nation in need of strong medicine.
The pandemic has revealed the need to raise the minimum wage to US15 an hour. It has shown that our education system is still separate and unequal and will continue to be that way until the amount of money spent on educating children of colour equals that spent on white children. It has shown the need for universal health care that protects everyone, not just those with good jobs.
America is experiencing a health crisis, but the pandemic has also spotlighted the moral crisis that afflicts our country. Until we care for all God’s children, we will continue to be a nation that is sick in its soul.
