“One reason why coronavirus hits black people the hardest” — Vox, 2020, 9:02 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAFD-0aMkwE

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates people of color are exposed to 1.5x more air pollution than white people. The reasons are complex but correlate strongly to residential segregation via housing discrimination and the legacy of slavery. Simply stated, many minority communities are confined to areas with significant air and water pollution. This video explains how the sharecropping system eventually gave way to toxic petrochemical corporations in Louisiana. The land once worked by black sharecroppers was sold to chemical companies by the white landowners. Decades later these areas would be deemed as “sacrifice zones” because the pollution was so bad. In other words, we see how historical oppressions result in poorer health for still-oppressed groups in our society. And when a deadly contagious virus enters the picture, the result can be catastrophic for these vulnerable communities. The same conditions associated with air pollution— heart and lung problems— make coronavirus much more dangerous for these individuals.

From the video’s description: Across the US, black people are dying from Covid-19 at disproportionately high rates. While there are many different factors at play behind the stark racial disparities — there’s one possible reason that’s been lurking in the air for decades: pollution. The long history of segregation and housing discrimination has long put black people at greater risk of living near chemical plants, factories and highways, exposing them to higher levels of air pollutants. These pollutants have had a chronically negative impact on health, leading to conditions like hypertension and asthma. Now, those same diseases are associated with severe cases of Covid-19, and showing that where you live can determine whether you survive from Covid-19.