America in 2020 is an America unmasked.
The coronavirus disease epidemic that upended every aspect of American life has exposed the naked face of institutional and interpersonal racism.
While there are endless lessons to be learned from this era of COVID-19, here are 19:
1. Racism is the pandemic within the pandemic.
It is impossible to discuss the state of Black America in 2017 without addressing the shift of power and priorities in Washington. Recovery from the Great Recession has been slow, but it has been real.
As we observe the 40th anniversary of the State of Black America®, the similarities in the nation in 2016 and that which then-National Urban League Executive Director Vernon Jordan documented in 1976 are disheartening. Our nation was struggling to overcome the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Few times in a nation’s history is the conscience of its citizens shocked and awakened across racial, economic, generational and even ideological lines. These are the times when the collective consciousness of a people also unapologetically screams that it’s time for change—and that it must start today.
A Climate In Crisis
Executive Summary