“Decades of Medical Racism” Led to Unequal COVID Impact on Black & Latinx People

Historians Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha Blain dedicate their new book, Four Hundred Souls, to the “Black lives lost to COVID-19.” They put the content of their book in the context of the disparate impact of the pandemic on the African American community in the United States.

“This has been in the making for decades. Even though this is a new virus, … it connects to a larger history of racial inequality, and we wanted to make sure that was clear,” says Blain. Kendi is a cancer survivor and notes Black and Latinx are more at risk from preexisting conditions because of a history of racist policies, but “Americans don’t know that history.”

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