Black America Has Reason to Question Authorities

by UB Center for Urban Studies · 01/28/2021

On the grounds of the Chelten Hills Cemetery, in West Oak Lane, Philadelphia, not far from where I live, brightly colored helium balloons stretch toward the sky, and fresh mounds of light-brown dirt mingle with brilliant potted flowers. These days, the cemetery hums with families, who stagger to and from the plots, holding their relatives. Their presence is a sombre reminder of how and where the pandemic has swept most furiously through this city. East and West Oak Lane are ninety-five-per-cent Black and brown, and account for hundreds of hospitalizations and dozens of deaths caused by the spread of COVID-19. Across Philadelphia, two thousand four hundred and fifty people have died from COVID-19; in a city where African-Americans are forty-four per cent of the population, forty-seven per cent of the dead are Black.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor January 10, 2021

Read the full article here The New Yorker