On May 6, 2020, Flagpole published a racist, anti-black letter written by Athens-Clarke County District 1 Commissioner Patrick Davenport with the following headline: “To My Fellow Black Folks: Stay at Home.” Simply publishing this letter is an act of anti-black racism, and writing this letter is worse. Davenport should immediately resign from the county commission and invest significant time studying anti-racist literature and, after considerable study, dedicate his energy towards dismantling racist systems of oppression. This person does not speak for black people and, obviously, cannot speak to black people. This anti-black rant should not have been published. Any black person writing this would be troubling enough, but a black elected official writing this is wholly unacceptable.
Davenport’s letter is offensive, anti-black and egregiously wrong on all points. Davenport presents this letter as a call to the black community to begin taking the coronavirus seriously because, the implication is, the reason black people are dying in such shocking numbers is because of bad decisions and ignorance on the part of those same dying and dead black people. Davenport is uninformed and dangerous. Black people are not making choices to die. Black people did not create this disaster, nor have we designed our own precarity. Racist, anti-black policies are the culprits.
Environmental racism, unaffordable and unsafe housing, scant and unstable job opportunities, persistent poverty framed by the accrued disadvantages assigned to black life by slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, inadequate health care solutions and the government’s failure to provide support and infrastructure to our communities have brought us to this moment and not, as Davenport asserts, “family reunions” and “barber shops.” Underlying social conditions, created by bad, racist, anti-black policies, have placed black people and their neighborhoods at risk.
The individual choices that have made black life the precarious trek that it is were made by commissioners, mayors, state representatives, governors, congresspeople, and presidents—not the black precariat. Policymakers created the racist, anti-black environments that have produced the wealth inequality, the incarceration disparities, and the inadequate health care systems that are eating us whole.
Davenport asserts that black people are choosing to “murder” and “kill” each other because they want to “hang out.” These racist, anti-black tropes are dangerous and must be rejected. Davenport should resign and open his seat so that an anti-racist advocate may take his place.
Davenport’s assertion that “COVID-19 doesn’t care if you are rich or poor, black or white…” is the product of ignorance. This statement, in context, is meant to imply that COVID-19, as a virus, does not discriminate and will, or could, equally affect all communities regardless of race or class. This is a lie. Davenport’s lack of empathy aside, COVID-19, an actual virus, may not be racist, but America’s policies and policymakers sure are. Davenport seems to believe that staying at home is a choice that black people, or their ignorant friends, simply refuse to make; this is a lie. Staying home is a privilege. White Americans are twice as likely as black Americans to have the option to work remotely. But let us look a bit deeper. Nearly 80% of all private sector employment in America is in the service sector. That is 129 million jobs and, of that, about 69% of those workers, who are disproportionately black, are low-wage workers. In fact, 58% do not have paid sick leave, and 61% have inadequate health insurance. In fact, black counties with higher unemployment actually had fewer coronavirus cases because black people are more likely to have jobs that increase exposure to COVID-19, including jobs deemed “essential.” For most black workers staying at home is not an option. We have kids; we need housing; and our tummies roar, too.
Davenport also seems to reference comorbidities, and, although underlying health conditions are serious risk factors, Davenport’s letter utilizes this serious issue as just another racist, anti-black trope. Underlying health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, do not shoulder the primary blame. Modernhealthcare.com reports that doctors were less likely to refer black patients for coronavirus testing when they visited clinics with COVID-19 symptoms, likely because of the tropes and myths that have contextualized Davenport’s understanding of black life.
So, let us review. Racism has made black people less likely to be insured (because of income and wealth inequality), more likely to have preexisting health conditions (because of environmental racism and food insecurity) and face racial bias that prevents black people from getting proper treatment (because of regular ol’ white southern racism). Davenport’s flippant tone and full-throated promotion of these essentially racist, anti-black myths and tropes are dangerous. Moreover, this is the type of rhetoric that causes black people to disengage from a robust political life. Davenport’s rhetoric helps sustain the conditions that claim black lives. Davenport must go, and Flagpole should retract his letter and apologize for mistakenly publishing a racist, anti-black rant.
Travis A. Williams
Athens
Editor’s Note: Davenport responded that he stands by his comments.
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