Rev. Joanne M. Braxton, PhD is an African American woman, an ordained minister in the Eastern Virginia Association of the United Church of Christ, a recent Davis Visiting Professor in Judeo-Christian Values at Ursinus College, and a Fellow of the Hastings Center. In 2016-17 she was David B. Larson Fellow in Spirituality and Health at the Library of Congress John W. Kluge Center, where she examined thousands of original documents for her project, “Tree of Life: Spirituality and Well-Being in the African American Experience.”

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COVID-19 Unevenly 'Culls' Humanity

by Rev. Joanne M. Braxton 06-02-2020

A healthcare worker in protective gear treats a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient at the El Centro Regional Medical Center in El Centro, California, U.S., May 27, 2020. REUTERS/Ariana Drehsler

COVID-19 is culling the herd of humanity. Beneath the conversation about herd immunity lies a silent and unstated conversation about who will survive. Why are black and brown communities being hit so hard? Why are we more likely than whites to die if admitted to the hospital? Who gets access to health care of any kind, and with regard to COVID-19, to inequitably distributed tests? Who gets a ventilator and who does not?