These are not the best of times. It is 2021 and the world is living, surviving,
and dying through a pandemic. Most of us have been touched directly or
indirectly by the COVID-19
virus. Many people have suffered a punishing
blow. In the United States, millions of people have been diagnosed
with the coronavirus and hundreds of thousands of people have died of
complications from the virus. COVID-19
has wreaked a particular havoc
against African American and Latino communities. Members of these
groups are disproportionately front-line
workers—as
food service workers,
meatpacking plant employees, health-care
aides, and service industry
workers. In some cities and states, Black Americans have been more than
twice as likely to contract and die from the virus. The racial disparity
highlights entrenched racial fault lines that meet at the intersections of
race, socioeconomic status, gender, neighborhood, and health care. The
racial toll has been particularly stark for people awaiting bail, awaiting
trial, and serving time.