How Structural Racism Shapes COVID-19 Outcomes for Latinx and Indigenous People

If you look up racism in the dictionary it is defined as a “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized (oxford dictionary).” One might ask, what’s wrong with this definition? ….Well, to be perfectly honest, nothing is “wrong.”However, this definition only scratches the surface of an issue that is naturally incredibly complex. It’s deeper than disliking someone based on the color of their skin; It goes beyond one on one interactions. Racism literally controls various facets of life for people of color. Racism is structural. 

In the presentation, “How Structural Racism Works,” Professor Tricia Rose explains the ways in which racism is present in the structure of our society, focusing closely on public policies. Essentially, the current disparities that exist between people of color and their white counterparts are a direct result of racist public policies in housing, media, health, education, and the justice system. Rose also emphasizes how structural racism is sometimes “made invisible,” but I think the current global pandemic shows exactly how structural racism harms minority communities. So let's talk about COVID-19, and how people of color have been disproportionately affected by the virus due to structural racism.

When the U.S. shut down in late March, millions of people were left without work. Though times were undoubtedly difficult, many were fortunate enough to collect unemployment until their jobs opened back up. But what about undocumented immigrants who were not able to collect unemployment or receive stimulus checks? They had no choice but to continue to work during the worst pandemic of our lifetime, which made them more susceptible to the virus. Undocumented immigrants also fear getting tested for COVID because of immigration policies, so many of them do not. So even if they are not feeling well, they still have to work in order to survive, “facilitating the spread to their co-workers (Jordan, Oppel).”

This greatly impacts the COVID-19 outcomes for the Latinx community, as they make up a majority of the U.S. immigrant population. Due to hiring discrimination and unequal educational opportunities, Latinos are often trapped working blue-collar jobs that “require interaction with the general public (Jordan, Oppel),” and put them at higher risk of catching the virus. An example of a job that requires high amounts of interaction is agricultural labor. Many Latinos work in the farming industry, tolling “side by side in fields and orchards during the day, and bunk in crowded spaces at night (Jordan, Oppel).” 

Structural Racism shapes COVID-19 outcomes for Indigenous Americans as well. In the article, “Covid-19 has been brutal in Indian country — just like past epidemics were,” Gregory D. Smithers goes into depth about how COVID has affected native communities. He reveals that the Navajo Nation has a “higher per capita infection rate than both New York and New Jersey (Smithers),” and that Natives that contract the virus are likely to succumb to it. To understand why indigenous people are more susceptible to coronavirus as well as other diseases, one must understand how colonialism impacted their health. Basically, European colonialism “changed local ecosystems at unprecedented speeds, accelerating the effects of climate change and disrupting the ability of indigenous healers to treat the sick (Smithers).” As a result, Natives are still extremely vulnerable to diseases today.

 

 Another thing to keep in mind is that Indigenous Americans have the highest poverty rate out of any other ethnic group in the United States. Reservations are owned by the federal government, and we all know that home/land ownership provides wealth-building opportunities. They are forced into a cycle of poverty and often live in inhumane conditions, which include shortages of freshwater. Washing your hands is a crucial way to keep germs from spreading. If some reservations/Natives tribes don't have access to freshwater, they can't wash their hands. Structural racism makes it harder for marginalized groups to achieve health equity due to a variety of circumstances.