BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Many African Americans watching protests calling for easing restrictions meant to slow the spread of the new coronavirus see them as one more example of how their health and their rights just don’t seem to matter.
To many, it seems that the people protesting — who have been predominantly white — are agitating for reopening because they won’t be the ones to suffer the consequences of it. Instead, those will fall disproportionately on the shoulders of black people and other marginalized groups.
The pandemic has highlighted gaping inequalities in the United States. Black people are dying in disproportionate numbers from COVID-19 in the U.S.