Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
In any major event, there is typically a small but very vocal leftist cabal that attempts to tie in identity politics when there is no connection. These people usually come out on national holidays like Independence Day and Thanksgiving, but with the coronavirus affecting everyone in the country, they are currently out in full force.
The only thing consistent about these people is their inconsistency. Originally, their cause célèbre was damage controlling for China and attacking President Trump for calling the virus the “China Virus.” But once that fell out of political favor they found a new topic to be outraged about: the fact that more racial minorities have tested positive for COVID-19 than whites.
This is a very lazy conclusion and doesn’t take into account more important factors. For instance, while many are puzzled that while Latinos have higher rates of infection, whites have been more likely to die from the virus. The median age for whites in the United States is 44, while for racial minorities it’s 31. Older people have a much greater risk of death from COVID-19, while younger people—Latinos in particular—are more likely to be working in low wage jobs that involve human contact, thus contracting the virus.
This alone erodes the racist myths of the left that it’s because Latinos are oppressed or as The San Diego Union-Tribune puts it, they have “historical disadvantages, such as lack of access to health care and affordable housing.” There’s no basis for this thinking today and adding it to the cultural dialogue will do nothing other than divide people.
The simple truth is that the guidelines for preventing spread of the virus work quite well. If you practice social distancing and all of the other steps, you probably won’t get the virus.
During this difficult time, it’s important for people to follow the guidelines to prevent the spread, especially in Latino communities which are more susceptible for the aforementioned reasons. This is a crisis that everyone in America is dealing with and trying to pit people against each other only adds to the struggle.
