| Racism is a systemic issue, interwoven into the very fabric of the society we all live in. As conversations about anti-Black racism take centre stage across Canada and the world, I have been especially encouraged by how often that truth has been reiterated. Anti-Black racism doesn’t merely consist of individual traumatic incidents, like being called a slur or being followed by clerks inside a store. It’s built into the foundation of institutions, including Canadian healthcare systems. That’s why COVID-19 isn’t the only public health problem to be concerned with. Racism—the cause of so much illness, anxiety and death—is the pandemic that Black people live under all of our lives. |
