At Mother Jones, stories about Covid’s disparate impacts have been at the core of our pandemic coverage. Back in April 2020, my colleagues Edwin Rios and Sinduja Rangarajan, for example, were among the first journalists to show that Covid was killing Black Americans at a disproportionately high rate. We’ve also described racial disparities in Omicron-related hospitalizations, distribution of monoclonal antibodies, and a rare, Covid-linked inflammatory disease in children, among many other cases. In short, the data shows that Covid has taken an especially hard toll on people of color in the United States (and you should blame racism, not the virus, for that).
While reporting these statistics is essential, a new study suggests it may come with an unintended consequence: a backfiring effect among white audiences. The research, which was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine late last month, suggests that if white Americans read about racial disparities, it may reduce support for health policies like masking.
For people of color in the US, the results may feel familiar. As the lead researcher on the study, Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo, who is white, puts […]
When are people going to learn that we are all in the same human race regardless of our color or nationality.