Indeed the legacy of hostility toward the people who do the physical work that keeps America afloat is long and dates back to when rich people presumed they owned not just the labor but also the laborers and waged war against America to try to own the laborers' grandchildren too.
That attitude barely adjusted through the Gilded Age when largely immigrant workers and even child laborers didn't even have a minimum wage and work rules but they had to work crazy hours to steer clear of debtors prisons while the super-rich gobbled up the fruits of their labor. 
And even when unions finally forced their way into existence, laying the foundations for the rise of a massive and growing white middle class, the grandchildren who were saved by a bloody war from slavery were largely cut out. And so that was a whole other battle.
It's a rough history, this history of work and it's not over. The U.S. wound up becoming a very prosperous country and prosperity has become more shared. But there is still real poverty and want here, especially among the working class, which this pandemic is further exposing.
The question is what do we do about it; to prevent low wage workers (who come in all races but disproportionately are black, brown and indigenous) from being exploited and forced to risk death for our comfort; and how they can gain a political voice.
...because that group -- the economically struggling working class -- is only going to get bigger under these circumstances.
