On October 4th, a professor and author named Dr. Steven Thrasher visited our class on his new book tour, The Viral Underclass. His work focuses on different health crises, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, to explain how viral underclasses are constructed, Thrasher presents that 12 vectors contribute to this creation: racism, individualized shame, capitalism, the law, austerity, borders, the liberal carceral state, unequal prophylaxis, ableism, speciesism, the myth of white immunity, and collective punishment. Personally, I was quite intrigued about how racism and capitalism (specifically with mass incarceration) play out depending on the health crisis and how they are interlinked. Therefore, I’ve realized that comparing these two vectors will help us understand how history basically repeats itself.

HIV/AIDS

With the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the communities that are the most disproportionately affected are Blacks and Lantix/Hispanics. In these communities, adequate treatment, prevention, and education are not reaching these groups, even though they are the most impacted. Racial discrimination, stigmas, and class status, all influenced by history, are a few factors that have allowed this disproportion to occur. The table below compares the percentage of people within racial groups that have HIV compared to the total population percentage within the US. 

Black/African Americans and Hispanic Latinx people are the two racial categories whose total population percentage with HIV exceeds their total population percentage within the US; this emphasizes how these groups disproportionately experience inequity and inequality due to race during this epidemic. 

Another factor that promotes inequity with HIV/AIDS is the capitalistic system that established mass incarceration. Mass incarceration is essentially modern slavery; when the Crack Epidemic occurred in the 80s, most low-income, poor Black communities fell victim to the epidemic and struggled with drug addictions. When the US implemented the “War on Drugs,” the US government heavily targeted Black communities and created laws that targeted these communities and created inequities. One great example of this is the crack vs. powder cocaine disparity which has a 100:1 quantity ratio. Since prisons are private entities, they have practically become businesses that need more prison beds filled to receive more money. Prisons are free labor without any rights, and essentially, the way the system is set up makes them ‘socially dead’ (i.e., unable to partake in society, such as voting, getting jobs, etc.). The author Ruth Wilson Gilmore pinned the term “Golden Gulag” in her book Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California to describe the current mass incarceration epidemic within California and further explain how mass incarceration is modern slavery. 

According to HIV.gov, they state that “The rate of HIV among prisoners is 5 to 7 times that of the general population. HIV rates are highest among black prisoners. The correctional setting is often the first place incarcerated men and women are diagnosed with HIV and provided treatment.” They also explain that although these incarcerated Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities are at high risk for contracting HIV, most prison facilities haven’t implemented prevention, testing, and treatment options for inmates (HIV.gov). When inmates contract HIV, they might be isolated and prohibited from participating in prison-sponsored activities. Sometimes, their HIV status is not also private and is disclosed to others, promoting discrimination and stigmas to those affected. 

With the COVID-19 pandemic, similar experiences and practices within the HIV/AIDS epidemic are seen occurring with this pandemic. In terms of prisoners and those trapped within mass incarceration, they were ignored. Prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic accounted for extensive infection rates and outbreaks within the country compared to those not incarcerated; yet, those incarcerated had the fewest vaccination rates. In a journal posted by The Lancet, they explain that “According to the COVID Prison Project, state prisons have over three times the rate of COVID-19 infections than the general population, and most of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in a single site in the USA have been in prisons and jails.’ As discussed with the HIV/Aids epidemic, many of those that are incarcerated are Black/African Americans. Outside of prisons, though, the Black community was still disproportionately affected by COVID-19 more than any other group.

COVID-19

In Black communities, mortality and complication rates within the COVID-19 pandemic have skyrocketed—lack of access to vaccination sites, misinformation and lack of education, and lack of resources/health care are all various components that are influenced by racial division and racism (historically and currently). Data collected from Maritza Vasquez Reyes in their research, “The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans,” explains that “Approximately 97.9 out of every 100,000 African Americans have died from COVID-19, a mortality rate that is a third higher than that for Latinos (64.7 per 100,000), and more than double than that for whites (46.6 per 100,000) and Asians (40.4 per 100,000). Just like HIV/AIDS, the group that needs support and aid the most is the group that receives the least. More data provided by the CDC in Figure 2 help illustrate how disproportionately COVID-19 impacts Black/African-Americans.  

Opinion

I personally believe that Dr. Thrasher’s 12 vectors are all interconnected, with some even co-dependent. Whether it’s COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, or any other health crisis, without fail, inequities are brought to light and remind us that there is so much more work needed to be done than simply just finding a solution to the health problem. Inequities are a pandemic themselves. Focusing on the United States alone, our history of slavery, discrimination, xenophobia, sexism, and homophobia still plays out today and affects the lives of millions. Whether it’s through a pandemic or hate crimes, these inequities will never be resolved without proper recognition and active improvement on a local, state, and federal level. We need proper funding for these affected communities, educational resources, and basic access to health care. The current legal system, the law of the land, affects everyone single person but yet promotes so much inequality and inequity. We all should understand that to receive equality and justice for all, equity is necessary and makes such a difference.