In order to understand what Sarcany outlined above (important info), it's critical to know some history of why minorities in the U.S., especially Black people, are often skeptical of government messaging about health and disease (and might be more susceptible to believing disinformation).
Since the start of the practice of medicine in the United States, Black people have been used my the White-dominated medical establishment (doctors, hospitals, research labs, and medical schools) as unwitting or unwilling test subjects, often forced to endure extremely painful, debilitating, or fatal procedures and treatments without their consent. The egregious abuses of the
Tuskegee syphilis experiment was a key impetus for the development of modern medical ethics, which is why (among many other things) you are required to sign consent forms at the hospital before treatment.
This and countless other abuses from the time of enslavement until the late twentieth century, when
involuntary sterilizations of people with developmental disabilities were disproportionately performed on people of color. We are talking about practices that endured through nearly all of the 1970s in the United States; it's understandable that people alive in those communities, and those they have raised as children and grandchildren, might be skeptical of government-medical authorities that have proved so deceitful and damaging to their communities.
I appreciate Sarcany's description above - as I read it, I realized it could be read by some as leaving open to interpretation why a disinformation campaign like this might take hold in the Black community. That kind of ambiguity in our culture invites racist explanations, and I wanted to make one antiracist explanation explicit. Thanks, all.
Edit: thanks to Sarcany for responding below. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify:
At a time when the legacy of our past racism is
evident in the present racist structures of our economy, healthcare system, scientific establishment, and government, it is clear that racism and its particular anti-Black and anti-indigenous practices are not a thing of the past. This is especially true now, as these ongoing harms are visible in sharp relief as
covid-19 disproportionately harms non-White people in the U.S.. Skepticism from communities subjected to past and present abuse is warranted.
