Race, police, and the pandemic: considering the role of race in public health policing

Abstract

As cities and states implement social distancing guidelines to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, one concern is that the social construction of race, and the privileges inherent to those constructions, influence how and when to enforce social distancing. In this theoretical paper, we discuss why Black people may be at a greater risk for police intervention when not abiding by public health guidelines. We also describe the importance of considering how Whiteness, in addition to anti-Blackness, may influence how and when public health guidelines are enforced. Finally, we consider how disparate public health policing related to COVID-19 is situated in a broader historical and global context.

Exploring police legitimacy and other factors in predicting cooperation with police in the Atlanta Korean American community

“…The concerns surrounding the relationship between racial and ethnic minority groups and the criminal justice system, particularly law enforcement agencies, have gained significant attention as well (Dunbar and Jones, 2021;Cockley et al, 2022). Scholars have revealed that victims from racial minority backgrounds, such as Black victims, often refrain from reporting crimes due to their belief that the police are unfair or ineffective in their interactions with minority groups (Desmond et al, 2016;Powers et al, 2020).…”

“…The concerns surrounding the relationship between racial and ethnic minority groups and the criminal justice system, particularly law enforcement agencies, have gained significant attention as well (Dunbar and Jones, 2021; Cockley et al. , 2022).…”

Do social determinants of health explain racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection?

“…While Fundamental Cause Theory would suggest that people with more resources would be more likely to social distance, social distancing may be greater among Black and Hispanic communities in part due to racially-targeted social distancing enforcement in the early stages of the pandemic. Early arrest data indicate that, in mid-March to early May in 2020, Black and Hispanic populations were disproportionately arrested for not adhering to state and county guidelines in New York City, Chicago, and Ohio (Dunbar and Jones, 2021). This differential social distancing enforcement may have contributed to widespread variation in social distancing in communities across the country (Gibbons, 2021).…”

Beyond Tuskegee, To Middlesboro: How Perspectives of Policing Shape Vaccine Attitudes for Black Americans

“…The face of government in most ordinary African-Americans' daily lives is one of deceit, intimidation, coercion, and sometimes death" (Taylor 2021). And while this coercive face of government may take many forms in Black communities, the police stand out as the most consistent and visible (Rosenthal 2020;Soss and Weaver 2017), including in recent discriminatory enforcement of pandemic-related guidelines (Southall 2020;Dunbar and Jones 2021). As former Attorney General Loretta Lynch put it, for many Black Americans, "the police are the only face of government they see" (2015).…”