Penn Pandemic Diary Penn Pandemic Diary, Entry #36: Revelations of Privilege

June 9, 2020
By Justin Pendleton | Penn Pandemic Diary

Justin Pendleton,  a J.D. candidate at the Law School and an M.S. Ed in Ed. Policy candidate at the Graduate School of Education, is a Perry World House Graduate Associate.

As is true for most people in the world, the emergence of COVID-19 has brought out emotions in waves. In January, I viewed the virus as nothing more than an unfortunate but minor inconvenience that would require precautions similar to those for the flu. Soon, in February once the lethal severity and virality of the disease had been better established, my stance turned to concern, not for myself but for the most vulnerable—the elderly, immune-compromised, and those with comorbidities. March evoked feelings of annoyance and uncertainty, as Penn recalled our legal pro-bono trip from Brazil two days earlier than expected and then proceeded to switch the rest of our semester to virtual instruction.

In the two months since, I’ve tried to establish a new normal while engaging in a great deal of internal and external reflection about the drivers and lived-impact of this disease. Such reflection has returned me to the sobering reality that the severity of COVID-19 in the United States is primarily determined by privilege.

Since March, nearly every leader in government, business, and society has preached social distancing. Touted as one of the most effective measures of “flattening the curve,” social distancing has been heralded as a first line-defense in preventing the spread of COVID-19. Yet, upon reflection, this simple directive is riddled with assumptions – the first being that all citizens are physically able to social distance.

Following centuries of racialized social stratification (e.g. Jim Crow laws) and decades of intentionally discriminatory public policies (e.g. redlining) minorities are disproportionately more likely to live in the most densely populated areas of our nation). Moreover, people of color are also more likely to live in multigenerational housing on account of both cultural preference as well as economic necessity. Accordingly, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams explained during his national press briefing on April 10th, people of color are not more predisposed to infection “biologically or genetically” but rather are “socially predisposed” to it.

This social predisposition is further exemplified when it is understood that black Americans are simultaneously overrepresented in low-wage jobs that are deemed the most expendable during economic downturns such as the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in essential frontline occupations where the risk for COVID-19 contraction is the highest. Easily expendable workers and by extension their families are often unable to save up for ‘rainy day funds’ that will cover them in times of an emergency, let alone when they are faced with a prolonged crisis.

Furthermore, minority communities’ economic and social predisposition to being impacted by COVID-19 is compounded by the enduring legacy and practice of unequal treatment by law enforcement in complying with local and stated orders. All throughout the country, news outlets have reported on the racialized impact of the implementation of social distance policing. In New York City, this imbalance materialized in the form of over 80% of people arrested for violating the social distancing order being black, while more than 100 sunbathers in the West Village were handed not citations but free face masks. Similar accounts have been documented in other states and communities.

Unsurprisingly, Black and Latinx communities have been disproportionately ravaged by COVID-19. Adding insult to illness, members of these communities have had to watch as other citizens not only disobey the guidelines, but do so over trifles like going to the salon or the gardening section of a home improvement store. I have watched in pain in my home state of Michigan, as the deaths of black and Latin Michiganders are deemed acceptable so long as others’ personal conveniences and “constitutional freedoms” are restored. As a law student, I’m shocked by such a cavalier interpretation of freedom; but as a member of the communities hit the hardest by COVID-19, I’m hardly surprised.

However, though this pandemic has brought about unfathomable suffering, it has also presented the American people with a novel opportunity to forsake partisan politics and the era of hyper-divisiveness for one of unity and solidarity. To the financially secure, donate what you can to your local food pantries, first responders, and healthcare workers. To the healthy and immunocompetent, respect social distancing and stay-at-home orders to protect the more vulnerable. Ben Franklin, one of the country’s and Penn’s founders, said, “out of adversity comes opportunity.” I just hope that we are brave enough to seize our chance to create a new normal, one where we care for and put the well-being of our countrymxn above ourselves.

The views expressed in the Penn Pandemic Diary are solely the author’s and not those of Penn or Perry World House.