Across the country, the Coronavirus is attacking with a vengeance, causing sickness and death wherever it is allowed to germinate. Little is said about it, but African-Americans are the most susceptible to the virus.
Those who lead the African-American community, whether elected or otherwise, have a responsibility to take whatever actions necessary to insure that the African-American community takes the virus seriously.
Race relations are strained in the nation, so it becomes a challenge to report that the virus is impacting African-Americans more than any other race without risk of wearing a “racist” label.
However, the statistics tell the story. In Mississippi, 37 percent of the population is African-American, but 63 percent of the COVID victims are African-American. In Washington D.C., African-Americans comprise 46% of the population but are 81 percent of the COVID victims. In Georgia, we are
32 percent of the population, but 55 percent of the virus victims.
The same is true for Louisiana, where African-Americans are 32 percent of the population, but 51 percent of the COVID victims.
If those percentages remain true, it would mean that over a thousand of the state’s 2042 deaths are African-American in Louisiana.
It would also mean that nearly 400 of Ouachita parish’s 793 known COVID cases are African-American as well as at least 12 of the 23 reported COVID related deaths in the parish
The statistics are not racist; they are reflecting the raw facts. If anything, they are watered down because deaths are not actually attributed to the disease until all indicators point in that direction. Regardless of the official count, in our community, we are seeing more funerals than we have ever seen in peacetime.
The Hilton Louis family is a striking example of how the virus is affecting our community, but very little is being said about it publicly. In less than a month, five members of the Louis family tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, and three have died. Two days after the death of the third family member, the state number of virus death did not change.
Those who lead the African-American community must emphasize to our people in every way we know, how our people are expressly vulnerable to this disease? Why? The reason is simple; we have a disproportionate number of citizens with underlying illnesses, especially diabetes and high blood pressure.
Our health problem is the subject of another discussion, but it is sufficient for us to say that our traditional diets that contribute to obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes have left us vulnerable to this disease.
Even though the disease is taking its toll among our people, there are too many in our community that still “Party like it’s 1999” to borrow a lyric from Prince.
To make the point clear, the racial breakdown of cases must be made known and emphasized. The statistics and numbers will speak for themselves. Our leaders must speak to our people directly to make sure we get the point.
This is a point that The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, an organization that targets the inequities confronting African Americans and other racial and ethnic minorities, is trying to make on a national level. It teamed up with hundreds of medical professionals and is demanding that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the CDC release daily racial and ethnic data on COVID-19 tests and outcomes. It’s the only way our people will get the point.
We cannot ignore officially, what nearly everyone knows and talks about privately in African-American community circles, “Something is wrong, and it seems to be affecting us more than everybody else.”
Many in our community are still buying what they heard on social media that the Coronavirus is a white folks disease that will not impact us because we have plenty of melanin in our skin. That rumor has been debunked repeatedly, but it continues. They see the increase in the number of sicknesses, deaths, and funerals, but they still believe the myth.
Many who know better are living in fear every day. They are scared, waiting to hear the next news of who has died.
Every leader in our community has the responsibility to make sure that our people get the point that we are more vulnerable than others.
Only we can speak to the growing number of house and block parties that are popping up in nearly every neighborhood.
Only we can point out the potential risks of large groups assembling for birthday parties and social gatherings without any thought of the health risks involved.
If we don’t speak up, all of us should feel responsible whenever the next death bell tolls, especially if we did not do our part to get the message out to our people.
