Coronavirus Hitting the
IBlack Community Hard f you have visited the Evanston Library and had
the opportunity to meet him, you knew Mustafa
was a gentle giant. Mustafa Stanley Azeem
passed away May 19th from a CoVID-19 related
illness. He is described as a good man who was
passionate about his people. He served the youth,
his community, and Evanston Library with a black
masculine dignity. He was a graduate from ETHS
and made the choice to stay in Evanston. Many do
not make this choice with the same commitment.
His unfortunate and untimely death though, is symbolic of
what the coronavirus is doing to the black community not only
in Evanston, also in the US as a whole. Coronavirus is killing
black americans at a higher efficiency than other groups.
The national death percentages for the black community
averages 15%. In Chicago, African American covid cases
average 30% of all cases and its predicted to rise based on
summer projections. The black community is contracting the
virus and dying from it at much higher rates than other ethnic
groups. Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson,
D-Chicago, confirms. He also has called on county officials to
provide free COVID-19 testing and treatment to at-risk groups
such as service workers. This group is essential and they have
to keep going out to work exposing themselves to peril.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that the communities that
have suffered through institutional racism and crisis for
generations have certainly born the brunt of this disease,”
Johnson said. “But we are very clear that this pandemic has
certainly not only exposed the gross isolation of poverty in the
city of Chicago and Cook County, but quite frankly the whole
country.”
Chicago is Evanston’s closest city. Therefore watching the
infected numbers and interactions between Chicagoans and
Evanstonians is imperitive.
A recent interview with Chicagoan and national Comicview
comedian Shawn Morgan has revealed that his family has seen
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12 deaths due to Covid-19.
Why Is This Happening?
The answer is not so simple but the detailed observations will
include poverty and lack of resources as its core. Sergirgation
will be the tool used to create the divide.
Since the inception of the city of Evanston has been an
attractive place for hopeful and upwardly mobile African
American families.
Black families migrated to Evanston and changed the landscape
in a great way. “A great way to map the location and progress of
Evanston’s African American population is to note the location
and number of Churches.” said, Dino Robinson. Robinson is
the founder of Shorefront Legacy, a museum specializing in
black history. Churches show progress in the black community
(generalization) Evanston boasts a long list of historically high
church numbers. The African American population primarily
grew because the wealthy of Evanston needed Servants and
paid well. The people of Evanston were then segregated into
the neighborhoods marked by those churches.
Race relations in Evanston were structured by a high degree
of inequality that favored (and flattered) local whites and
minimized conflict through patterns of paternalism and
deference symbolized by the relationship of the domestic
service.
The policies that came out of the relationships in this system
has historically oppressed the Black Evanstonian, thus leaving
the less prepared to be exposed. Less heatlh care resources
made it possible for a pandemic to effect the population
most vulnerable our black community. Key members of the
community have been exposed to the virus and some have
passed on because of it. We want to keep you safe. To insure
your safety direct all questions to 311.
/EvanstonMagazine.net