COVID-19 AND THE BLACK COMMUNITY
Why was there a Disproportionate Number of Blacks who Died from the Covid-19 Pandemic?
By Robin Green | July 6, 2023
The Pandemic/Covid-19 had a devastating effect on the African American community as a result of latent comorbidities and a lack of healthcare. African American’s have suffered for years from a non-existing to a scarce healthcare program. Thereby, leaving many African Americans uninsured while having multiple life threatening complications like heart and kidney disease; depression, and liver failure to name a few.
These multiple health issues compounded African Americans health issues associated with Covid-19. There is a saying, “When America catches a cold, African Americans/Black people get the flu.” However, when it came to Covid-19, I say when America contracts covid-19, African Americans/Black people die. According to Brookings.edu, Blacks in about every state having available racial data on Covid-19, indicated that Blacks had a higher death rate than any other group.
For example, according to Brookings, “In Michigan, African Americans made up 15% of the state’s population and represented 35% of the people diagnosed with Covid-19.” Which meant Blacks in Michigan was 133% more likely to contract the novel coronavirus relative to their percentage in the state. “The death rate was also about 4%, making blacks over-represented for deaths related to Covid-19, accounting for 40% of all deaths statewide. For comparison purposes, Whites the overwhelming population in Michigan represented 25% of people diagnosed with Covid-19, and had a death rate of 26%.” Finding like this one in Michigan is similar to almost every state in the union and why? I see it as a three prong system, One being the government, two, the medical professionals, and three, the people themselves.
So let begin with number one, The United States Government and its inadequate healthcare system. The disparities in the healthcare system is not only unfair but structurally racist. Also, the manner in which blacks are treated criminally in this country goes all the way up to the three legislative branches of the U.S. government. It’s their policies which places undue pressure on Blacks that’s in stark contrast to the way Whites are treated in this country.
For instance, the manner in which Blacks are constantly profiled by law enforcement for no other reason than their skin color. It causes an extraordinary amount of pressure for the victim and their respective family members. Which leads to many health issues such as depression, diabetes, obesity, and elevated blood pressure. Coupled with said is the fact that the government seems to not be desirous to install an effective healthcare system for those less fortunate in our society, which again is overwhelmingly African American/Black.
The level of research, medical, and public health injustices that have been and continue to be experienced by African Americans/Blacks in this country fuel’s the institutional distrust among this group toward the healthcare and scientific professions. It is a problem, and the lack of attention toward the African American community which is not new. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services documented racial and ethnic health disparities over 30 years ago.
The distrust is real and goes back to Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment of 1937, where a vast number of African Americans were used as guinea pigs (Laboratory research animals) for “40 years” to analyze the progression of the disease (syphilis) in black men without their permission. A number of these African American male were told they were receiving treatment for bad blood – rather than pointing to syphilis. Many of the participants in this “corrupt” study received no treatment at all in order to see the actual affects of the disease in humans absent treatment.
Upon death from the disease, their Black bodies’ were dissected to find a cure for whites. Moreover, when the cure [penicillin] was ultimately discovered, it was not given to those still living and in desperate need of a cure. Again, I presumed they wanted to see the short-and long-term stages of the disease and its overall effects of humans. It was biological and institutional racism at its best.
THE FLINT WATER CRISIS, TWO RACIST DOCTORS, AND THE EFFECTS ON THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY
Following the Tuskegee Experiment, there is the ongoing Flint Water Crisis, which is a major environmental injustice exacerbated by the Covid-19 Pandemic. In 2014, officials in Flint Michigan switched the local water supply to save money, which contaminated the city’s water supply and poisoned its’ major African American population. It was a failure of government on all levels: local, state, and federal officials that failed African American families in Flint Michigan.
This on-going failure not only effects the phycological break-down of African American’s trust in the system, but intensified institutional distrust among African Americans throughout the U.S. for its governmental policies pertaining to science, healthcare, and a host of other programs where African Americans are concerned. And even more recent, Compounding African American’s distrust with its government, the healthcare, and scientific communities is when two French doctors who suggested a vaccine for the coronavirus be tested in Africa. (BBC News: bbc.com/news/world-africa-52192184)
The World Health Organization (WHO) did in fact condemn the doctors remarks as racist. However, the notion of using Blacks as guinea pigs was outrageous and disgusting but again, unfortunately it’s not new when it comes to African Americans where the federal government overlooked, and discounted people of color. The lack in trust, elevated comorbidities as a result of a poor healthcare system, and institutional racism are major factors leading to the high death rate among African Americans/Blacks from Covid-19.
Secondly, within the medical and scientific communities, there is a lack of African American doctors available within the Black community. It has been reported by the Association of American Medical Colleges, only 5.7% of all U.S. physicians are Black or African American. This statistic does not reflect the community in which they serve. A community made up of a total of 12% of the total U.S. population.
For years, it has been a challenge for African Americas/Blacks to gain entry into Americas medical institutions due to institutional and systemic racism. As we are now starting to see more and more health related diseases spread across the country and the world, the need for more medical professionals of color is even more germane. Blacks feel their experience with a White medical professional are not a joint interaction between the doctor and patient, but that of the White doctors talking at them as opposed to an exchange of dialog from open-loop communications (between the patient and the physician).
African Americans feel these doctors are not listening to them as well as showing a lack of care for their illness. It’s system to this day that has created a distrust in the medical and scientific communities. It’s a distrust that has prevented many African Americans/Blacks from taking the vaccine for covid-19 for fear for being targeted and used as guinea pigs. In the absence of trust through the examples given, it illustrates firmly that the health professionals who swore by taking the “Hippocratic Oath” to protect and treat [all] of its patients equally has not occurred. It’s an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians which established trust between them and their patients equally.
The Hippocratic Oath’s origin was grounded in the Greek medical text. It required new physicians to swear by several healing gods to uphold ethical standards in the treatment of patients — all patients [Black, white brown, yellow, etc. Unfortunately, a number of these medical professionals saw fit to breach their oath in the past and during the recent pandemic for economical gain, and/or their racist views and penchants. The Tuskegee Study, The Michigan Water Crisis, etc…, was a wake-up call for the African American community of how they are valued, and the causation of the massive mistrust of the government and the healthcare system.
Third and lastly: the Black community themselves. In the light of all the horrible things that has occurred within the African American/Black community, it does not release Blacks from their obligation to research and secure the proper information with respect to the pandemic, vaccines, and health related nutritional guidance. The process for gathering, and sharing healthy food choices for a healthy growth strategy, and living a longer-life.
As one can see, you cannot depend on others to do for you what you can and should readily doing for yourself. African Americans/Blacks must make healthier choices when it comes to their eating habits, exercise, reducing stress, and other damaging medical problems and comorbidities (two or more diseases or medical conditions in a single patient).
One of the ways to reduce the deaths in the African American/Black community is by creating a healthy and well-balanced meal regiment, exercise, and stick to it daily. Each day you should consume vegetables, whole grains, healthy protein, healthy oils (in moderation), and lots of water and mixed fruits to maintain and keep yourself healthy and alive.
DISCLAIMER: Before starting any special diet, you should check with your healthcare provider, as the material we are presenting are suggestions only. We are not medical providers, and this information is only to be used as an illustration for educational purposes, and not intended to offer personal medical advice. Again, you should seek the advise of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding your medical condition before subscribing to the information contained in this article. Please do not disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it as a result of something you read on this website. We do not recommend or endorse any product promoted on this site.
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