John Adams famously observed that “facts are troublesome things.” And the facts described by Michael Romain in his recent piece on “COVID-19 and the ‘race tax'” are indeed troublesome. There is indeed cause for concern in the “disproportionality” between blacks and whites of the relative number of cases of COVID-19. But Mr. Romain’s conclusion is also deeply troublesome: “how this risk was manufactured by whites in the first place.” In so doing he conflates an Act of God with acts of men, and creates yet another toxic instance of white prejudice and black victimization. I respectfully disagree.
James Jenkins
Oak Park
