Many medical providers STILL believe that there are biological differences bw black and white Americans, that black people do not feel as much pain, and so black Americans are treated differently throughout our medical system, as @lindavillarosa documented https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/racial-differences-doctors.html

So, now, on top of living in neighborhoods that experience more violence, worse food options, lower paying jobs, and poor access to healthcare, black Americans are not treated equitably within the healthcare system itself.

"A study of the 171 largest U.S. cities found tht whites living in the worst conditions in urban areas – in terms of poverty rates and single-parent households – are nonetheless residing in circumstances much better than those of the average black person." https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/policy-dose/articles/2016-04-14/theres-a-huge-health-equity-gap-between-whites-and-minorities

Being black in America, a country built and maintained on a system of racial caste, kills. This virus is NOT the great equalizer, it is simply exploiting the grave inequalities that have always existed and hastening an early death that was coming for so many black folks anyway.

If it is unacceptable now, it has to be unacceptable when we conquer this virus. And I hope we as journalists, we as society, will stop putting forth notions that a force -- good or bad -- can be equal in a vastly unequal society.

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