By Justin Phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, April 9, 2020
Three weeks is a lifetime during a global pandemic, and a lifetime ago I would joke with my two older brothers and a few close friends about unfounded rumors that we, as black people, were somehow immune to the coronavirus.
Early reports from government agencies about new cases across the globe didn’t elaborate on the race of sick patients at the time, so in that vacuum of information, we applied humor. We aren’t laughing much these days, because now we know the startling truth: Black people are contracting and dying from this virus at alarming rates.
I’m seeing the data reflected in real time on social media. More and more of my black friends are posting on Facebook about how their uncle or cousin or grandmother has tested positive for the virus and has been hospitalized.
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