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AP-NORC
poll:
Pandemic
especially
tough on
people
of color
BY
KAT
STAFFORD
and
EMILY
SWANSON
apnews.com
DETROIT
(AP) —
People
of color
have not
only
been hit
harder
by the
deadly
coronavirus
than
have
Americans
overall,
but
they’re
also
bearing
the
brunt of
the
pandemic’s
financial
impact,
according
to a
recent
survey
from the
The
Associated
Press-NORC
Center
for
Public
Affairs
Research.
The
financial
picture
is
especially
grim for
Hispanic
Americans,
while
some
African
Americans
face the
dual
burden
of being
disproportionately
affected
by the
virus
itself
while
also
struggling
to pay
bills
due to
the
economic
fallout.
The
poll
found
that 61%
of
Hispanic
Americans
say
they’ve
experienced
some
kind of
household
income
loss as
a result
of the
outbreak,
including
job
losses,
unpaid
leave,
pay cuts
and
fewer
scheduled
hours.
That’s
compared
with 46%
of
Americans
overall.
Thirty-seven
percent
of
Latinos
and 27%
of black
Americans
say
they’ve
been
unable
to pay
at least
one type
of bill
as a
result
of the
coronavirus
outbreak.
Only 17%
of white
Americans
say the
same.
“If
our
policies
do not
adequately
address
these
shortfalls
and the
racial
disparities
in
income,
wealth,
employment
and
wages,
then
we’re
going to
see the
same
pattern
that we
have
seen
historically,”
said
Valerie
Wilson,
director
of the
left-leaning
Economic
Policy
Institute’s
program
on race,
ethnicity
and the
economy.
“It’s
going to
take
much
longer
for
these
families
to
recover
— if
they
ever
recover
economically.”
The
survey,
conducted
in
mid-April,
found
that 21%
of
Hispanics
have
been
unable
to make
a rent
or
mortgage
payment
as a
result
of the
outbreak,
while
23% have
been
unable
to pay a
credit
card
bill.
That
compares
with 8%
of white
Americans
in both
cases.
Black
Americans
are also
slightly
more
likely
than
white
Americans
to have
been
unable
to pay a
credit
card
bill, at
15%.
New
Mexico
resident
Denise
Abraham,
a
retired
teacher
and
librarian,
said her
34-year-old
son has
experienced
a loss
of
income
after he
quit his
restaurant
job
because
he
didn’t
want to
potentially
expose
his
family
to the
virus.
“As
a
community,
I don’t
see a
lot of
anger,
just a
lot of
sadness
and
worry
about
what’s
to
come,”
Abraham,
a
Hispanic
woman,
said,
adding
that
she’s
worried
about
the
Navajo
Nation
and
people
who are
in the
country
illegally
becoming
infected.
“But
what
this
shows
now is
who we
really
need and
who’s
really
doing
the
labor to
carry
our
economy.
It’s
always
been on
the
shoulders
of poor
people.”
While
income
losses
have hit
Americans
across
the
board,
layoffs
have
been
especially
concentrated
among
lower
income
and less
educated
people.
Twenty-eight
percent
of
Americans
without
college
degrees
say
they’ve
had a
layoff
in their
household,
compared
with 19%
of those
with
degrees.
Milwaukee
resident
Tamela
Andrews
was
excited
to start
her new
job a
few
months
ago as
an
inventory
specialist,
serving
some of
the big
box
stores
in her
community.
She and
several
others
at her
company
were
furloughed
after
the
pandemic
began.
Andrews,
a
51-year-old
black
woman,
was able
to land
a
different
job, but
she’s
concerned
for the
future.
“I
hope
when
things
do go
back to
normal
maybe
the
stores
will
have us
back for
our
other
jobs,”
Andrews
said.
“It’s up
in the
air
though
and it’s
really
stressful
to
experience
this.”
Along
with the
financial
impact,
people
of color
are also
more
likely
to know
someone
close to
them who
has been
diagnosed
with
COVID-19,
the
illness
caused
by the
coronavirus.
The poll
found
that 12%
of
Americans
say they
or a
close
friend
or
relative
has been
diagnosed.
Among
black
Americans,
21% say
they or
someone
close to
them has
been
diagnosed.
A
separate
Associated
Press
analysis
of
available
state
and
local
data
shows
that
nearly
one-third
of those
who have
died of
COVID-19
are
African
American,
with
black
people
representing
about
14% of
the
population
in the
areas
covered
in the
analysis.
San
Diego
resident
Cristina
Hall,
who
identifies
as
Hispanic,
said
communities
of color
tend to
have a
cultural
history
of
multiple
generations
of
families
living
together.
She
believes
those
strong
familial
ties
have put
some at
risk, as
has work
in jobs,
such as
those in
the
service
industry,
that
require
them to
interface
with the
public.
“It’s
frustrating,”
Hall,
41,
said.
“All of
these
protests
all over
the
United
States
(to
reopen
state
economies),
who do
you see?
You
don’t
see
people
of color
at those
protests.
It’s a
sense of
entitlement
that
they
want
this
economy
to open,
not so
they can
necessarily
go back
to work
but so
that
people
of color
can go
back to
work and
take
care of
them.”
While
the
protests
have
garnered
attention,
the
AP-NORC
poll
found
that
most
Americans
overwhelmingly
support
restrictions
aimed at
containing
the
virus
and are
taking
personal
actions
to
protect
themselves
from the
coronavirus.
Ninety-five
percent
say
they’re
both
washing
hands
more
frequently
and
staying
away
from
large
groups.
African
Americans
are also
more
likely
than
either
white or
Hispanic
Americans
to say
they’re
wearing
masks
outside
the
home,
83% to
64% and
67%,
respectively.
“I
take it
very
seriously,
because
it’s an
invisible
killer,”
said
Michael
French,
a
62-year-old
black
man, of
St.
Paul,
Minnesota,
who says
he wears
a mask
and
gloves
everywhere
he goes.
“But
some
people
won’t
until it
affects
them
personally
and then
they’ll
wake up
to the
deadliness
of this
virus.”
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