While the coronavirus pandemic is frequently described as unprecedented, its disproportionate toll on communities of color has come as no surprise to scholars who have lived and studied health inequities in the United States.
“For those of us living in black and brown bodies … it’s not unprecedented, it’s business as usual, unfortunately,” said Rachel Hardeman, associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. “Like other epidemics, structural or systemic racism is causing widespread suffering, not only for Black people and other communities of color, but I would argue for our society as a whole.”
