‘A Pandemic Within A Pandemic’: Coronavirus Lays Bare Long-Standing Racial Disparities

Politico: Black Communities At Heart Of Floyd Protests Face 'Pandemic Within A Pandemic'
The black community in Minneapolis was already reeling before a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, on May 25. The number of coronavirus cases in the state of Minnesota spiked dramatically in May. And although they make up less than a fifth of the city's population, black residents have accounted for a third of all Covid-19 infections there — neighborhoods where most of the households make $35,000 or less have been particularly hard hit. Meanwhile, roughly one in three black Minnesotans had filed for unemployment insurance as of May 18. (McCaskill and Doherty, 6/3)

The Washington Post: The Black-White Economic Gap Remains As Wide As In 1968
As Black Lives Matter protests grow across the nation over policing, the deep economic inequalities that African Americans face are coming to the forefront. In many ways, the gap between the finances of blacks and whites is still as wide in 2020 as it was in 1968, when a run of landmark civil rights legislation culminated in the Fair Housing Act in response to centuries of unequal treatment of African Americans in nearly every part of society and business. (Long and Van Dam, 6/4)

Politico: Mounting Unemployment Crisis Fuels Racial Wealth Gap
The economic meltdown that has devastated the country amid the coronavirus pandemic has proven uniquely damaging for black Americans, threatening to exacerbate an already staggering racial wealth gap and fueling nationwide protests focused on racial justice. Black workers are more likely to be out of a job, to have lost income or to have left the labor market altogether, economic data and surveys show — and less than half of black adults are now employed. (Cassella, 6/4)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Ignores Calls For Police Reforms
When George Floyd died last week after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him down with a knee on his neck, President Trump reacted much as he had in the past when a black person’s fatal encounter with law enforcement was caught on video. He declared himself disturbed by the “terrible thing” that he saw — then offered nothing in terms of policy to address enduring concerns about policing and racism. “Right now I think the nation needs law and order,” Trump told the conservative media outlet Newsmax. “You have a bad group of people out there.” (Megerian and Bierman, 6/4)

The Washington Post: Police Are Consistently Whiter Than The Communities They Work In, Particularly In Urban Areas
As police engage with protesters in cities across the United States, many major police forces are still much whiter than the communities where they work. Decades of reform have made police less white, but it has not been enough to keep pace with the changing demographics of the country. This widening racial gap has left very few police forces that resemble the people they serve, which experts say can hinder community relations and affect crime rates. (Keating and Uhrmacher, 6/4)

The Associated Press: Experts: Floyd’s Health Issues Don’t Affect Homicide Ruling
George Floyd had drugs in his system and severe heart disease when a Minneapolis police officer put a knee to his neck, but independent experts said the medical problems revealed in the full autopsy report don’t change the conclusion that the handcuffed man’s death was a homicide. “He has some underlying conditions” that made it more likely he would not fare well under stress, said Dr. Gregory Davis, medical examiner for Jefferson County, Alabama, and a pathology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. But the circumstances of Floyd’s May 25 death are not ignored in Wednesday’s report, which said “restraint and neck compression are part of why he died,” Davis said. (Marchione, 6/5)

The Associated Press: Districts Jettison School Police Officers Amid Protests
An increasing number of cities are rethinking the presence of school resource officers as they respond to the concerns of thousands of demonstrators — many of them young — who have filled the streets night after night to protest the death of George Floyd. Portland Public Schools, Oregon’s largest school district, on Thursday cut its ties with the Portland Police Bureau, joining other urban districts from Minneapolis to Denver that are mulling the fate of such programs. Protesters in some cities, including Portland, have demanded the removal of the officers from schools. (Flaccus, 6/5)

The Hill: Family Attorney: 'Pandemic Of Racism And Discrimination' Killed George Floyd 
The attorney for George Floyd’s family said Thursday the "pandemic of racism and discrimination" killed the Minneapolis man, who died in police custody last week. “I just want to put it on the record...that it was not the coronavirus pandemic that killed George Floyd,” attorney Benjamin Crump said Thursday during a memorial for Floyd in Minnesota. “[It was the] other pandemic that we’re far too familiar with in America, that pandemic of racism and discrimination that killed George Floyd,” he added. (Klar, 6/4)

NPR: Listen: American Police
Black Americans being victimized and killed by the police is an epidemic. A truth many Americans are acknowledging since the murder of George Floyd, as protests have occurred in all fifty states calling for justice on his behalf. But this tension between African American communities and the police has existed for centuries. This week, the origins of American policing and how those origins put violent control of Black Americans at the heart of the system. (6/4)

The Associated Press: Floyd Death Pushes Military To Face 'Own Demons' On Race
The death of George Floyd in police hands has pushed the U.S. military to search its soul and to admit that, like the rest of America, it has fallen short on racial fairness. Although the military historically has prided itself on diversity, leaders acknowledge that black troops often are disproportionately subject to military legal punishment and are impeded in promotions. “I struggle with the Air Force’s own demons that include the racial disparities in military justice and discipline among our youngest black male airmen,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth O. Wright, an African American and the service’s top enlisted airman, wrote in a social media post this week. (Burns and Baldor, 6/5)

NPR: For Black Emergency Doctors In Washington, The Pandemic Is Personal
Dr. Janice Blanchard worries about her commute this week, which takes her past the White House. Police and federal law enforcement are heavy on the roads she drives to the George Washington University Hospital, where she works as an emergency medicine physician. "I am nervous I might be stopped," said Blanchard, who is black. "I realize I am low risk, but it is stressful." Blanchard is among some 1,500 African American doctors in Washington on the front lines of treating the coronavirus. (Cheslow, 6/4)

NPR: Being Black In America: 'We Have A Place In This World Too'
As protests continue around the country against systemic racism and police brutality, black Americans describe fear, anger and a weariness about tragic killings that are becoming all too familiar. "I feel helpless. Utterly helpless," said Jason Ellington of Union, N.J. "Black people for generations have been reminding the world that we as a people matter — through protests, sit-ins, boycotts and the like. We tried to be peaceful in our attempts. But as white supremacy reminds us, their importance — their relevance — comes with a healthy dose of violence and utter disrespect for people of color like me." (Peters, 6/5)

Stat: Longtime Exec Tony Coles On Biotech, Racism, And Opportunities For Change
The killing of George Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer has brutally underlined the systemic racism that informs policing, housing, education, and health care in the U.S. Biotech, like every other facet of society, is not immune to the effects of racism and inequality. We talked to Tony Coles, a longtime biotech executive, about why Floyd’s killing sparked global action, how to parse public statements from major drug companies, and what business leaders can do to combat racism. (Feuerstein, Garde and Robbins, 6/5)