By Meshell Sturgis
Winter/Spring 2020
National, racial, and class privileges are illuminated in this new age of social distancing and economic downturn. Early this year, the slogan “viruses don’t discriminate, and neither should we” circulated through much of the University of Washington’s messaging. The campus, which has a 22.5% Asian and 15.5% international undergraduate population, deployed such rhetoric as a supposed shield against the uptick of xenophobia and hate crimes since the coronavirus spread. Seattle’s International District is an already growingly hostile place that has been particularly hard hit with White supremacist vitriol. Despite the scientifically race-neutral spread of COVID-19, it has become increasingly clear that humans and their systems do discriminate. Effects such as racial battle fatigue and weathering, unequal healthcare and access to resources, as well as higher rates of incarceration, homelessness, and pre-existing conditions have led to disproportionate infection rates amongst people of color during this public health crisis, especially the Black community…
