Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/26/ohio-lawmaker-who-suggested-colored-population-getting-covid-will-lead-official-health-panel.html
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and yet this guy’s photo does not get the beschizza treatment? but such a worthy candidate!
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Dude has a point. Just look at those hands!
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The “colored population”? And what “other groups”? WTF!
I bet he claims that he isn’t a racist.
Based on what I’ve seen, it’s mostly a political statement by MAGAts to refuse to wear a mask. We all know the racial breakdown of that crowd.
See above; although this can include a mix of people gone stir-crazy from isolation.
If they are packed together and maskless, you can bet they are MAGAts.
According to Wikipedia, this guy is an MD. Matt Huffman is his cousin.
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No. We know who are not wearing masks and that’s white Trump supporters.
We also already KNOW the reasons why minority communities have been hard hit by the pandemic. It’s not a fucking mystery that needs solving and he’s most certainly not interested in investigating the real causes.
Employing baseless racism to deal with the Covid pandemic will be as useful as employing homophobia was in dealing with the AIDS crisis.
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I would surmise that it has more to do with their on average social-economic status where they are less likely to have jobs where they can work from home, and thus more exposure overall.
I don’t think there is any evidence of a difference in general hygiene. There is evidence of cultural differences dictating mask use, but in that case it is the right wing MAGA hats who are refusing to wear them.
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Entrenched, systemic racism comes into play, too. The death rate is higher than in similar situated white communities, as far as I know (at least it was early on). It’s not just about economics. It never is in America.
Of course not. The guy probably also believes Black people have thicker skin, and feel less pain, run faster and have lower IQs, all of which are racist lies.
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No points for guessing which party these guys are with.
Nazi?
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That’s not what this guy is doing. He’s racist.
If it had been “people” or communities with spread, instead of, an outdated and racist term, then maybe… But we know the reasons why the Black community (and minority communities) are harder hit and it’s largely because of systemic racism and the fact that communities of color tend to work in service fields in larger numbers (a fact which also due to systemic racism).
Actual scientists and others who study these issues have been saying this all along. This guy is NOT listening to scientists and other kinds of experts. He’s trotting out red meat for his base.
It’s not because Black people don’t have good hygiene. That’s racism as old as America itself.
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I can’t even play along with the devil’s advocate thing, no it isn’t a place of concern. Ohio is just that bad. As of a few weeks ago the Cleveland health department, one of the largest in the state didn’t have a Spanish fluent contact tracer. https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2020/12/07/nine-months-into-pandemic-cleveland-still-doesnt-have-a-single-spanish-speaking-contact-tracer The black/white infant mortality gap has actually been getting worse. Infant Deaths In Ohio Drop for Third Straight Year This isn’t a case of trying to understand disparities through careful inquiry, it is just a bigot cloaking their language in a ‘just asking question’ framework.
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Mod note: Race has a role to play in medicine: We do know that some races are genetically more susceptible to certain diseases than others. This is not that. This is trying to lump “people of colour” into one behavioural bucket, and calling that out as a “cause”.
It is a wholly racist view. As usual, @anon61221983 above has laid out the facts, but any comments suggesting these were “important questions to ask” suggesting that he was asking about “race as a factor” is ignoring what was actually said here. This bigot was asking if “racial behaviour” played a role, and there is no way to twist that to not be an attempt to suggest “coloured people” exhibit poor behaviour. Full stop.
If you want to discuss what questions we SHOULD be asking, start a new topic (but first, go read the very thorough research folks have already done on this front!). Posts suggesting that this asshat’s behaviour was in any way “appropriate” in light of the clear racism will be eaten with extreme prejudice (and really, I shouldn’t have to make that clear, yet here we are.)
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I agree that is a factor when it comes to treatment and care.
But as far as catching it, what were you thinking is the role racism plays into that?
Of course the economics IS largely due to a long history of systemic racism. So in that respect, it is a factor as to the cause.
Asking if Black people, as a group, are less clean? That’s what he’s doing. And yes, singling out an entire group to ask if they are dirtier than white people is in fact racist. He’s not asking about hand washing in general, he’s asking about Black people. And he said colored, too. The last person who regularly used that around me was my racist ass grandmother.
So, yes. That’s racist. As @orenwolf said.
Also, yes, what @DukeTrout said below. Minority communities are disproportionately represented in professions that can’t work from home, from service work jobs to working in long term care facilities.
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Disproportionate representation in service industry roles and unable to miss the paychecks. With a side of being treated poorly by bigoted customers.
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Fucking A; this isn’t freakin’ rocket science.
The person in question framed it as if Black people are a singular monolith and not millions of unique individuals… that’s what the fuck bigotry based upon racial prejudice is.
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Right? Time to stop giving people who say shit like this a pass, because we’re where we are right now by not calling out the more coded racism for years being promoted by the GOP. And now, we’re apparently even questioning whether the obvious shit is racism!
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In addition to the labor conditions noted by others there are the housing and transportation issues. Due to our history of housing discrimination communities of color are more likely to live in less stable and more crowded housing conditions and are more likely to rely on public transit. Additionally there are issues of environmental contamination that research will almost certainly tell us in a decade was a contributing factor (the research is there on the contamination and its relationship to other diseases, but will take a while to firm up for covid).
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I’m sorry, that isn’t what I was asking. I am not referring to the question about hygiene. As I said, there is no difference in hygiene.
I surmised socio-economic status disproportionately effected minorities, and would lead to a higher infection due to them working jobs out in the world, vs at home, increasing their exposure risk.
You replied, “Entrenched, systemic racism comes into play, too. The death rate is higher than in similar situated white communities, as far as I know (at least it was early on). It’s not just about economics. It never is in America.”
To which I agreed racism plays a role in treatment and care.
But what I didn’t understand what how you felt racism affected how one would get infected with Covid. It wasn’t “just about economics.”
While I can see how racism effects the economics of where minorities live and work (I assumed that was a given), I wasn’t sure if you were talking about some other way racism would directly effect infection rates.
Right, which I surmised as one of the causes for higher infection rates.
Death rates are higher, too, due to a systematically racist health care system, as this bigoted doctor exhibits.
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Obligatory:
( I miss TL.)
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