While some of y'all still debating how progressive Kamala needs to be, this paper dropped: https://osf.io/9csa6/ 

"For white mortality in 2020 to reach levels that Blacks experience outside of pandemics, current Covid19 mortality levels would need to increase nearly 6 [fold]."

Racial inequality in the US is profound and it is perhaps best evidenced by the mortality gaps that persist between Black and white Americans.

This paper compared the enormous spike in white mortality during COVID to baseline Black mortality rates. The findings are alarming.

Here are a couple that are particularly troubling.

1. Even in the midst of a pandemic that has driven white death rates up in the US, "white life expectancy in 2020 will [still] remain higher than Black life expectancy has EVER BEEN."

2. In 2020, for white life expectancy to equal Black life expectancy in the US, 700,000 excess white deaths would have to occur.

That is like multiplying our current total death count from COVID (all racial and ethnic groups) by 4.3. In other words, the racial gap is enormous.

3. Given this pervasive gap, the author hypothesizes that "Even amid Covid19, US white mortality is likely to be *less* than what US Blacks have experienced EVERY YEAR."

To picture that, look at the baseline Black mortality curve below from: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/11/opinion/us-coronavirus-black-mortality.html

I say this not to trivialize concerns about Kamala's record but to put them in context.

Shout out to the author @ewrigleyfield for capturing the devastating scale of inequality Black folks are up against in this country.