Blacks and Latinx make up only 30% of the population but account for 70% of the deaths due to Covid-19. Covid- 19 made these old fault lines visible. This is the ‘mathematics of inequality.’ These folks make up a larger share of essential workers in a racialized society where many lack access to health care, healthy food sources, insurance, and good housing. Life expectancy in some of these communities is 17 years shorter than the majority white population. This documentary puts a human face on this social justice issue, part of a much larger hidden story.
This story will no doubt be told in Canada as well where there are Indigenous communities that have gone for decades without clean drinking water, access to health care or other basic human needs we take for granted. We have our own lessons to learn here.