The past few days and weeks have laid bare the toxic racism and white supremacy that are woven into the fabric of America, every one of our systems, and every single town and city. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor and the harassment of Christian Cooper are not single, unique instances, but rather examples of the long-standing, pervasive, ongoing, systemic racism that infects our culture, government, and systems of power.
In America today, if you are a Black person, you encounter the potentially deadly effects of racism at every stage of your life. From schools that perpetuate the school to prison pipeline, to the community, where harassment and over-policing directed at Black people is the norm, to biases in the health care systems that contribute to health inequities, institutionalization in poorly performing nursing homes, and even early death. This is why we are seeing shockingly high rates of deaths from COVID-19 among Black people. We are witnessing communities of color losing people of all ages at an alarming rate. Read More