Racial Equity, COVID-19, and Public Policy: The Triple Pandemic focuses on the health, economic, and justice impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on racial equity. The book does not simply document the problems made worse by the pandemic, but it provides historical context for issues that rose to the surface in new ways, the existing inequities revealed during COVID-19, as well as policy responses to those issues. The volume is distinguished in its focus on the implications for racial equity through an examination of both existing public policy and new ideas for change. The chapters in this volume demonstrate the ways in which this period of American history and politics is unique, most notably in the convergence of major threats to public health, economic livelihood, and access to justice. This “triple pandemic” will be felt in the coming years and will continue to unfold, depending upon the adequacy of the contemporary response. This edited volume is designed to provide the reader with a thorough understanding of issues including policing, housing, business, disaster response, education, immigration, vaccine distribution, reentry of justice-involved individuals, and the responses to public protests—all with a unifying focus on racial inequities and social justice concerns that elevated these issues to broader public attention and political response. This coalescing emphasis on public policy as both a cause and effect to address these issues makes the book a unique contribution to the public policy literature. This book responds to audiences seeking a better understanding of the events that occurred, the conditions that set the stage for their eruption into wider public view, and what might be done to prevent social and racial inequities in the future.

In this compelling book the author contends that social equity--specifically racial equity--is a nervous area of government. Over the course of history, this nervousness has stifled many individuals and organizations, thus leading to an inability to seriously advance the reduction of racial inequities in government. The author asserts that until this nervousness is effectively managed, public administration social equity efforts designed to reduce racial inequities cannot realize their full potential.

As COVID-19 made inroads in the United States in spring 2020, a common refrain rose above the din: “We’re all in this together.” However, the full picture was far more complicated—and far less equitable. Black and Latinx populations suffered illnesses, outbreaks, and deaths at much higher rates than the general populace. Those working in low-paid jobs and those living in confined housing or communities already disproportionately beset by health problems were particularly vulnerable. The contributors to The Pandemic Divide explain how these and other racial disparities came to the forefront in 2020. They explore COVID-19’s impact on multiple arenas of daily life—including wealth, health, housing, employment, and education—while highlighting what steps could have been taken to mitigate the full force of the pandemic. Most crucially, the contributors offer concrete public policy solutions that would allow the nation to respond effectively to future crises and improve the long-term well-being of all Americans. Contributors. Fenaba Addo, Steve Amendum, Leslie Babinski, Sandra Barnes, Mary T. Bassett, Keisha Bentley-Edwards, Kisha Daniels, William A. Darity Jr., Melania DiPietro, Jane Dokko, Fiona Greig, Adam Hollowell, Lucas Hubbard, Damon Jones, Steve Knotek, Arvind Krishnamurthy, Henry Clay McKoy Jr., N. Joyce Payne, Erica Phillips, Eugene Richardson, Paul Robbins, Jung Sakong, Marta Sánchez, Melissa Scott, Kristen Stephens, Joe Trotter, Chris Wheat, Gwendolyn L. Wright

The Dark Side of Reform: Exploring the Impact of Public Policy on Racial Equity contains nine chapters on the development of social policies with the potential to advance racial equity. In addition to studying these policies and their implications, the chapters in this volume demonstrate how lessons from the past can be used to inform the direction of current discussions. At the heart of these conversations are concerns about whether Black people, in particular, will receive the full benefit of transformative laws that may emerge in the coming years. The volume also offers recommendations on implementing policies that address the unique concerns of structurally disadvantaged communities with particular emphasis on Black and Latinx people.

This book highlights and suggests remedies for the racial and ethnic health disparities confronting people of color amid COVID-19 in the United States. Racial and ethnic health disparities stem from social conditions, not from racial features, that are deeply grounded in systemic racism, operating through the White racial frame. Race and ethnicity are significant factors in any review of health inequity and health inequality. Hence, any realistic end to racial health disparities lies beyond the scope of the health system and health care. The book explores structuration theory, which examines the duality between agency and structure as a possibly potent pathway toward dismantling systemic racism, the White racial frame, and racialized social systems. In particular, the author examines COVID-19 with a focus on the segregated health system of the US. The US health system operates on the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’, whereby the dominant group has access to quality health care and people of color have access to a lesser quality or zero health care. ‘Separation’ implies and enforces inferiority in health care. Through the evidence presented, the author demonstrates that racial and ethnic health disparities are even worse than COVID-19. As in the past, this contagion, like other viruses, will dissipate at some point, but the disparities will persist if the US legislative and economic engines do nothing. The author also raises consciousness to demand a national commission of inquiry on the disproportionate devastation wreaked on people of color in the US amid COVID-19. COVID-19 may be the signature event and an opportunity to trigger action to end racial and ethnic health disparities. Topics covered within the chapters include: Introduction: Segregation of Health Care Systemic Racism and the White Racial Frame Dismantling Systemic Racism and Structuration Theory COVID-19 and Health System Segregation in the US is a timely resource that should engage the academic community, economic and legislative policy makers, health system leaders, clinicians, and public policy administrators in departments of health. It also is a text that can be utilized in graduate programs in Medical Education, Global Public Health, Public Policy, Epidemiology, Race and Ethnic Relations, and Social Work.

Dual Pandemics: Creating Racially Just Responses to a Changing Environment through Research, Practice and Education commits to promoting and disseminating knowledge that calls for the dismantling of systemic racism and creating racially just responses to the dual pandemics. COVID-19 and anti-racist uprisings as a result of the murders of Mr. George Floyd and many other African Americans and other people of color due to police violence has unprecedented impact on our society. While these two pandemics appear to be different in nature, both pandemics attest to the fact that systemic racism continues to be a grand challenge and that COVID-19 differentially affects communities and people of color as well as socially disadvantaged groups. This book offers intellectually sound examination, conceptualization, and rigor in providing viable, socially just, responsive paths forward. The volume include chapters that focus on anti-racist pedagogy in social work education, conceptual discussion contributing to refining a shared understanding of constructs relevant to anti-racist social work, and micro, mezzo, and macro social work practice that aims to prevent or eliminate the negative impact of racism as well as promote racial justice, equity, and inclusion among individuals, families, groups, organizations, or communities. This book will be of great value to students and scholars of Social Work, Public Policy, Race and Ethnic Studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work.

This volume offers a critical, cross-disciplinary, and international overview of emerging scholarship addressing the dynamic relationship between race and markets. Chapters are engaging and accessible, with timely and thought-provoking insights that different audiences can engage with and learn from. Each chapter provides a unique journey into a specific marketplace setting and its sociopolitical particularities including, among others, corner stores in the United States, whitening cream in Nigeria and India, video blogs in Great Britain, and hospitals in France. By providing a cohesive collection of cutting-edge work, Race in the Marketplace contributes to the creation of a robust stream of research that directly informs critical scholarship, business practices, activism, and public policy in promoting racial equity.