This is dressed up bootstrapped-ism that maintains inequality by suggesting people can overcome systemic and structural racism if they simply tried harder. Giving a nod to those inequalities and then dismissing them by pointing to personal responsibility is part of the playbook.
Here’s the thing— he spent five seconds on structural inequality, didn’t write an open letter to white Americans and government officials about when are they going to address the immoral conditions that kill black people, so the notion that it’s both/and isn’t born out here.
I’m waiting on that open letter about how American families should take personal responsibility and not put their loved ones in nursing homes because if they didn’t, all these older people wouldn’t be dying in them. But we would never see that argument. Because it’s ridiculous.
Medical science is clear. Racism kills. The stress black people live in, the unhealthy conditions, lead to weight gain, hypertension, heart problems, asthma, cancer, you name it. High levels of stress also inhibits “good” decision making.
Last, we are an overweight, unhealthy nation. Black people are only 7 percentage points more obese than other Americans. We don’t smoke, drink or do drugs at higher rates? So how does lifestyle explain these stark Covid-19 disparities? Just no.
