By Sikivu Hutchinson
"I'm
a Christian and there is a way that the Bible says to protect us from plagues.”
This robust declaration was made by one Prophet
Climate Wiseman of South London’s Kingdom Church in defense of his “divine
plague protection oil” and red yarn coronavirus “cures”. Wiseman is currently under investigation by England’s
Charity Commission and has charged
that the secular movement and those who hate god are fueling attacks on his
credibility. On his website, Wiseman also boasts that his “Miracle Pack” cure has helped millions in
the UK and the U.S. A grainy promotional
video on the site depicts a Black woman using the cure to rebound from dreams
about witchcraft. Like notorious white
Christian fundamentalist quack Jim Bakker, the Kingdom
Church’s charlatan, who is of African descent, exploits the fears of gullible
low income believers for a quick buck. Of course, faith healing and snake oil
have a long, twisted legacy. Religious crooks have always used them to line their
pockets while pimping divine access, but the latest crop of prophet-eers is
even more pernicious when viewed within the context of a pandemic that is devastating Black
communities and other communities of color.
From Evangelical defiance about holding church
services to faith-based rumors of miracle cures (e.g. Trump's widely refuted claims about hydroxychloroquine) and urban legend conspiracy
theories minimizing the outbreak, COVID quackery is a virus unto itself. On the
far right, COVID denialists and skeptics hold court at Fox News, ginning up vitriol
while portraying the pandemic as a Democratic conspiracy to hijack Trump’s reelection.
After the U.S. outbreak accelerated in March, homophobic white evangelical pastors framed COVID as a
symptom of God’s judgment against immoral LGBTQ communities. Right wing Christian
Trump supporters like Billy Graham offspring Franklin Graham ran TV ads exhorting
viewers to call in to his ministry and pray for forgiveness. Liberty University
head Jerry Falwell Jr., another spawn of a right wing fundamentalist dynasty, told Fox that coronavirus might be a “bioweapon
manufactured in North Korea”.
In
Kansas, four deadly coronavirus clusters
came from religious gatherings. After Kansas governor Laura Kelly issued an
executive order banning gatherings of more than ten people, it was vetoed by
Republicans. As a result, Kelly asked the Kansas Supreme
Court to overturn the Republican veto and uphold the ban. In advance of Easter,
Kentucky’s Democratic governor announced that he would require those who
violate a state order on large gatherings, including at churches, to quarantine
for fourteen days. Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who made headlines
when he tested positive for coronavirus last month, slammed the decision as anti-Christian
discrimination.
On the flip side, some in the African American
community initially shrugged off the seriousness of COVID. As recently as last
week, my mother was asked by a man in the grocery store why she was wearing a
mask. “You know Black folks can’t get it, right?” He chuckled. A cousin
routinely refers to the pandemic as the so-called coronavirus outbreak. Although science
skepticism among Black folks was historically tied to institutionalized white
supremacist medical apartheid targeting
black bodies, the persistence of myths that African
Americans are “immune” to COVID is
also part of a larger climate of faith-based and reactionary pushback. Case in
point is a widely circulated tweet suggesting that “immunity” is “God’s” reward
for Black folks enduring slavery.
Faith-based denialism and quackery are especially
insidious given deep racial disparities in work, health access, and contraction
rates. Writing in a March Christianity Today article, authors Elaine
Howard and Deidra Coleman speculated that anxiety about the virus might be a
form of privilege. Black folks could be far too preoccupied with struggling to provide
for their families in the day-to-day to be concerned about taking precautions. In
addition, blue collar Black workers are less likely to have paid sick leave and
job benefits that safeguard them from layoffs. They are also the least likely
to be employed in jobs that allow them to telework.
In her article, “On Being Black, Southern and Rural in
the Time of COVID-19”, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson examines the role subpar health care access
expansion has played in the rapidly accelerating number of Black folks affected
by COVID. Henderson zeroes in on the failure of many Southern states to fund Medicaid
expansions. The absence of health care access contributes to a violent self-fulfilling
prophecy—African Americans are shut out of the health care system, are more
likely to have underlying conditions exacerbated by these gaps in health care,
are not fully educated about the dangers of COVID, and consequently end up
contracting the disease in disproportionate numbers.
Responding to skyrocketing rates of COVID-19 cases and
deaths in Chicago’s African American community, mayor Lori Lightfoot has created a Racial Equity Rapid Response team
that focuses on providing communities with information, health resources, and science-based
education. On the federal level, Congressional Black Caucus chair and Los
Angeles Congresswoman Karen Bass is pursuing a bill that will provide COVID
education, treatment, and funding for African American community-based organizations.
Measures would also be put in place to ensure release of and protections for
incarcerated populations who are most imperiled by the pandemic. In Milwaukee, where
half of the city’s cases are Africa American, the health commissioner said, “We declared racism as a public health issue...It
frames not only how we do our work, but how transparent we are. It impacts how
we manage an outbreak.” Milwaukee was one of the first cities to publish
its racial data and develop an action plan for disproportionately affected
communities. Science-based education and data, equitable testing and treatment,
rejecting faith-based hysteria, and pushing for a racial justice stimulus that
specifically addresses the public health legacy of racism, poverty, and white
supremacy are the best weapons for loosening COVID’s deadly grip.
