Washington Post, May 21, 2020: Did coronavirus lay bare inequalities? Not to those who were monitoring them before.
Perhaps one of the biggest stories to come out of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting economic downturn is that of the inequalities that exist in America.
Headlines about people living in communities with fewer resources, working jobs with fewer benefits and seeking health care as they lack insurance coverage have become common in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
But while some people tweet, write and speak about how the pandemic has exposed U.S. inequality, they essentially gloss over the fact that it is only some Americans — often, though not always, those with some degree of privilege — whose eyes are being opened to just how disadvantaged millions of other people are.
“The last foreclosure crisis was a slow-moving train; the impact in terms of people was over the course of several years,” Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a research and advocacy coalition of 600 community organizations, previously told The Post’s Renae Merle. “Whereas the current moment, it’s all happening pretty quickly, 25 million, 30 million unemployed in a manner of a few weeks.”
