We know that the U.S. failed to prepare for this pandemic. In 2018, Donald Trump eliminated the pandemic unit that was designed to set up guards for what we’re fighting against today. Now, with belated calls for social distancing, his administration puts the onus for fighting the virus on the people. And in part due to the lack of preparation by the government, doctors, scientists and health organizations have eagerly fallen in line with that recommendation.
The COVID-19 stimulus package providing $2 trillion of relief only allocates less than 30% directly to the people, and almost as much to big corporations. The $1,200 direct payment that many won’t receive and others have no idea when they will is not a living wage. It’s only $40 shy of one month’s worth of the federal minimum wage for a 40-hour work week. The legislation also abandons immigrants, many who have fled poverty and violence to provide a better life for themselves and their families. They may now be without work and any governmental support. With social distancing, the government is holding the responsibility for fixing this over individuals, but we are not providing a particular group of individuals with the tools to manage it.
This emphasis on individual responsibility is the government choosing to manage its broken system over crafting and implementing a vision for a better one, and it wreaks even more havok on marginalized communities on top of the virus.
Not everyone can afford to socially distance themselves; particularly low-income individuals and families. While wealthier individuals, with greater job security i.e. a salaried position, sick time and vacation time, can work from home, low-income individuals who are without job security have to go to work each day, utilizing public transportation to do so, making them easy prey to COVID-19.
As public schools closed down, new challenges disproportionately harm Black and low-income students. Some students and their parents don’t have access to their own transportation. There are some parents who may be essential employees and can’t be at home with their children, or worse, they are working simply because they cannot afford not to. According to a new study, 1 in 5 Black people are unable to work from home despite the pandemic.
Meanwhile, carceral measures to ensure social distancing are primarily aimed at the Black and poor people. Municipalities like Ferguson, MO, New York City, and others have long profited off of the misery they impose by way of racist capitalism within public policy. Such measures, now applied in the name of public health, will continue to do the same thing.
Social distancing is a privilege that the well-to-do have already been practicing for centuries to keep their resources away from marginalized people.
Our communities are engineered by de facto segregation in housing. Such racism has facilitated a furthering of economic inequality that prevents Black families from gaining access to the very resources necessary to socially distance themselves. There are many families who live in apartments that aren’t conducive to quarantining a household member who is sick. Some may be uninsured and have higher rates of diseases. Low-income families may live in cramped living conditions where the limited space is a shared space. In New York City, the epicenter of the pandemic nationally, Black people are among the only people still riding the subway.
Meanwhile, the manufactured enclaves of suburban or gentrified paradise that white people claim affirm and provide a sense of security from contracting COVID-19. Such privilege accounts for why some white folks still defy calls to socially distance themselves regardless of the penalties. Unfortunately, others aren’t economically immune to fines for failing to social distance themselves.
There is evidence that social distancing works to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis. China and Italy have implemented their own social distancing policies which seems to have limited the spread of the virus.
But when doctors and policy-makers advise, if not outright command, folks to socially distance themselves, and they don’t consider the restricted capabilities of those with limited resources, we must ask whom it’s helping, and redistribute our resources and care to those it isn’t.
Social distancing may reduce the spread of a virus, but it closes shared spaces that provide child care, social support and employment. While COVID-19 is hitting cities hardest now, the imposition of fines, in Detroit and New York City for example, disproportionately harm Black and Brown people. At the same time in New York City, Black and Brown neighborhoods have disproportionately higher rates of COVID-19.
Although people in all income groups are moving less than they did before the crisis, wealthier people are staying home the most. In nearly every state, the wealthy began staying at home days before the poor, giving them a head start as the virus spread.
Lower-income and Black people are more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, as well as other health impairments due to a variety of factors including access to resources and racist ideas. Although Madonna called COVID-19 the great equalizer among all peoples, it is not. Data shows that Black people have contracted and died from the Coronavirus at an alarming rate.
In North Carolina and Illinois where data is published on those infected according to race, and in cities like Detroit and New Orleans, disproportionate numbers of Black people are infected. This is why some members of Congress have demanded that the federal government release the data breakdown of people infected with COVID-19 by race.
By excusing the government responding to this pandemic only after it’s arrival with emphasizing social distancing, there is little to no room for compassion for marginalized individuals. Rather than engage in social solidarity, and consider those with a lack of private transportation or those without salaried employment, we attack them with a heavy hand.
The truth is that we all participate in a society that demands people solve the problem of a spreading pandemic. The state has offered a solution in the form of social distancing, which all people do not have the ability to do. A better alternative is a society where safety nets enable all Americans the ability to practice social distancing during the next pandemic. The good news is that can happen if we all practice racist distancing first.
Suggested Readings:
- Open Season by Ben Crump
- How to be An Antiracist by Ibram Kendi
- Stay Woke by Tehama Lopez Bunyasi & Candis Watts Smith
Rann Miller is a Ph.D. Candidate at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. His writings on race, education and politics were featured in the Hechinger Report, Education Week and Black Youth Project.
