We Can ’ t Breathe

This study reinforces calls to treat police violence as a public health issue . Racially unequal exposure to the risk of state violence has profound consequences for public health, democracy, and racial stratification.” Credit: Edwards, Lee, Esposito/PNAS The problem goes beyond police violence.  We incarcerate far more people than any other country — per capita or in absolute numbers — and those prisoners are much more likely to be minorities (especially men).  Black men have a 1 in 3 lifetime chance of being imprisoned, Latino men 1 in 6, versus white men’s 1 in 17.  Most of those imprisoned are there for drug offenses, and here the inequalities matter: whites are, in fact, more likely to use drugs, and about as likely to sell them, but are much less likely to be arrested/imprisoned for drug offenses.   Trevor Noah clarified the underlying problem: when Amy Cooper, the Central Park woman who called the police when a bird-watcher politely asked her to put her dog on a lease, she simply expected that, as a white woman, she’d be believed, and the African-American man wouldn’t be.  We’re all facing COVID-19, Mr. Noah reminds us, but African-Americans are facing COVID-19 and racism.  President Trump wants to just lock up the protesters, while seemingly not minding that COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on minorities helps his electio...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health disparities Politics COVID-19 george floyd Kim Bellard Source Type: blogs