Don Lemon and Van Jones hosted an hour-long special on CNN called “The Color of Covid” Saturday night. This program brought much needed awareness to the damaging effects of the coronavirus on communities of color.

According to Lemon, the rates at which African Americans are dying due to the virus is “tragic.”

African Americans are currently “dying at two and a half times the rate of Asian Americans, three times higher than Latinos, and 3.6 times higher than whites.” And, Latinos and African Americans are dying at higher rates than their own populations.

So many socio-economic factors go into these shocking statistics. There are 15 million uninsured minorities in America, according to the special, which is half of the total population of uninsured people. And, this isn’t accounting for undocumented immigrants, who are more likely to not go to a doctor despite symptoms of the virus out of fear of deportation. That is a sad, disappointing reality of our country that has been created by this president and his tirade on immigration.  

Immigrants and Latino communities have been hit especially hard because of their disproportionate representation among lower level essential workers. Dr. Genoveva Ollervides O’Neill says that these workers don’t have the option to stay home if they are feeling ill and might not have health insurance to get medical treatment. Their lack of resources is not only detrimental to their health, but also plays a role in the unintentional spread of the virus. As a result, the coronavirus’s rampage on communities of color affects everyone, not just minorities. 

Another major problem is the spread of the virus to prisons. According to the Pew Research Center, the imprisonment rate for Black people is nearly double that of Hispanics and six times that of whites.  So that means a large number of minorities are getting exposed to the virus in a closed off environment — they cannot escape it.

500 inmates in federal prisons have tested positive nationwide and in one prison in Ohio, the Marion Correctional Facility, 1300 prisoners tested positive. Prisons already lack sufficient health resources for their inmates, so it is frightening to know that an incredibly contagious virus is wreaking havoc on people who society continually forgets about.

Some jails, such as Cook County Jail in Chicago, have been releasing inmates if they had nonviolent offenses or are waiting for their trial. Other jails around the country have been attempting to stop the spread to their inmates and staff as well. Due to this nationwide problem, the inspector general of the U.S. Justice Department is now reviewing federal prisons. It is unfortunate that it took a pandemic for the government to finally look at the conditions of federal prisons in this country.

Sean Combs had a pre-recorded video clip during the special, and I think he put it best by saying “African-Americans helped to build this country and make this country great. We don’t deserve to be in this position. We don’t deserve to always be thought of last.”

 African Americans don’t deserve to be forgotten in a prison during a global health crisis, or any time for that matter. They also don’t deserve to be left in impoverished neighborhoods without proper resources. 

Years of institutionalized and systematic racism have led to black and brown communities facing inequality. The inequality that the minority communities have faced in America is rearing its ugly head in the face of this pandemic. African American and Latino people in this country are dying at alarming rates, but we are ignoring it.

A $1,200 stimulus check is not going to repair the damage that is being made in primarily Black and brown communities. They need masks, doctors and health care. They need help.

If our nation had more than a fabricated idea of equality, then maybe our minority communities would have a better chance at fighting this pandemic. Instead, they are forced to play a catch up game in a time when you need to be ahead.