As of Tuesday morning, 23,664 Americans have died from COVID-19. While people of all races get and die of COVID-19, the mortality rate among black people is alarmingly high. In Alabama, black people are only 27 percent of the population but 54 percent of the COVID-19 deaths. This is not just a statistical anomaly for Alabama. In Louisiana, where 884 people have died, 70 percent of the deaths are black. In Michigan, where black people are only 14 percent of the population, they are 52 percent of the COVID-19 deaths. In Maryland they are 30 percent of the population; but 53 percent of the COVID-19 deaths. In Illinois black people are only 14 percent of the population but are 46 percent of the COVID-19 deaths. This is repeated in many states.
Onoyemi Williams is a Peacemaker Community Organizer for Faith in Action Alabama. Williams is blaming the systems that have created the disproportionate impact of the COVID-10 pandemic, not just in Alabama, but nationwide. Williams blames decades of underfunding programs that build healthy communities for having left cities like Detroit and Chicago with death tolls in the black community at disproportionately higher rates.
