What You Should Know About RACISM-20 in the U.S.: A Fact Sheet in the Time of COVID-19
Published In
Critical Public Health
Document Type
Citation
Publication Date
6-2022
Subjects
COVID-19 (Disease), Racism, Public health
Abstract
Drawing from social epidemiology literature on structural racism, and rooted in critical race theory and critical theory related to narrative power, this paper uses satire and humor as commentary on mainstream U.S. public health discourse related to the role of “race” (properly understood, racism) in shaping inequities observed via COVID-19. Taking the form of a “RACISM-20” fact sheet, this paper transposes structural racism and COVID-19. In doing so, it accentuates how individualist, ahistoric, and pathologizing “downstream” frames of health risks/solutions curtail productive dialogue and action to advance racial and health equity. In the spirit of “racial emancipatory humor”, this work represents a potential pedagogical tool to discuss and critique dominant frames of racial(ized) risks, “vulnerability”, and responsibility – both in the context of COVID-19 and within broader discourse of racial health inequities, including as related to racialized police violence. In this capacity, this “fact sheet” serves as an example health promotion product of critical resistance and counternarrative.
Rights
Copyright © 2022 Informa UK Limited
Locate the Document
DOI
10.1080/09581596.2022.2078180
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/37781
Citation Details
Ryan J. Petteway (2022) What you should know about RACISM-20 in the U.S.: a fact sheet in the time of COVID-19, Critical Public Health, DOI: 10.1080/09581596.2022.2078180
Description
The previous version of this work, You Should Know About RACISM-20: A Fact Sheet in the Time of COVID-19, is available in PDXScholar.