Interview
How covid-19 exposes systemic racism in America
- Pandemic outcomes are expected to persistently highlight racial disparities in mortality, with Black populations projected to face nearly double the risk of death compared to white populations.
- Disparities in healthcare access, specifically regarding quality primary care, pharmacy availability, and insurance coverage, are anticipated to generate significant public health impacts extending beyond individual medication requirements.
- The pandemic is predicted to illuminate racial disparities for Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities as well as previously unaware segments of the population, though these gaps are expected to remain difficult to close due to structural drivers rather than individual bad faith.
- Resolving racial disparities is forecast to be more complex than addressing issues caused by identifiable groups acting in bad faith, as the root causes involve structural factors and practices engaged in by well-intentioned people.
- Addressing these disparities requires individuals to engage in difficult self-reflection regarding the perpetuation of racial bias without intention, a process likely to trigger defensiveness despite being necessary for progress.
- Facial recognition systems are expected to continue performing poorly on subjects with darker skin due to development by white men and testing primarily on lighter-skinned subjects, leading to ongoing mistaken arrests of innocent African Americans.
- Closing health disparities is projected to remain challenging because addressing systemic failures, such as medical device calibration issues, requires moving beyond the paradigm of identifying obvious villains.