In a recent report released by the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), it was claimed that white individuals showed a lack of concern for the plight of people of color during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report, funded by taxpayers and partially supported by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, failed to provide any sources to substantiate this controversial assertion.
As reported by The Post Millennial, the DOH published the report titled "A Chorus of COVID Voices from the Frontlines," which was purported to facilitate reflection on the lessons learned during the pandemic. The report stated, Sometimes white people disengaged on safety when they learned people of color needed help. However, it offered no evidence or references to back up this claim, or any others made within the document.
In a seemingly contradictory statement, the report, after making the divisive claim, advised, Don't foster divisions in our community. It collectively costs us human lives. The cover of the report featured images of protestors, who, despite stay-at-home orders and bans on large gatherings, rallied in large groups during the pandemic, potentially exacerbating the spread of the virus.
The report called on the DOH to seize the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to invest in youth of color and incarcerated youth by celebrating their gifts in a manner that doesnt stigmatize or typify them when society fails them. It also suggested the DOH get creative in promoting health crisis materials, advocating for collaboration with BIPOC artists, trans/queer artists of color, women of color of all gender expressions, incarcerated youth and adult artists, and even suggested the use of flash mobs to better serve marginalized communities and achieve health equity.
The report argued that "Poor health is often how communities that dominant society marginalizes know and feel what exclusion really is," and claimed that "COVID showed several intersecting crises in public health from the home front to the workforce and practically everywhere else you could imagine.
The organizations behind the report, which lean towards the left, advocated for direct control of medical funds to better serve marginalized communities, and urged Washington to keep lowering the barriers to accessing funds. They also called for these communities to have decision-making power and influence.
The report further demanded that the DOH design trainings by and for communities that experience inequities such as mass incarceration, housing and food insecurity, substance use, mental illness, racism, ableism, ageism, xenophobia, sexism, transphobia and other forms of exclusion. It insisted that the DOH center illegal immigrants and prison inmates, and demanded that DOH-produced material include images of people with dark to fair skin tones, all body types, ages, gender expressions, hair textures, facial features, [and] economic backgrounds, with a focus on representing Black, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latinx, (and) BIPOC faces.
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