In the fall I’ll likely be sitting in a lecture. The topic will be COVID-19.



It will be a learning exercise for us to learn about the pathophysiology of the illness.



At the end of the discussion, there will be one slide about health disparities. 1/3

It will show a bar graph with mortality rates—the highest bars will be those for people of color. The professor will then sigh in disappointment and say, “We are doing better but we still have so far to go.”

The room will feel heavy--oversaturated with guilt and frustration. 2/3

In response, I'll peer over the room and meet the eyes of another Black classmate and together we will feel great anger because we'll both know our government leaders had the opportunity to stop this from happening, but they chose not to act. 3/3

#ReleasetheData @CDCgov.