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The Story of COVID-19

Small child stands by a water fountain in the park. On the tree besides him reads "colored."
Boy drinking from a "colored" water fountain.

Senator suggests high rates of COVID-19 among Black people are due to lack of hand washing.

Date: 06/11/2020

The Story of COVID-19
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Boy drinking from a "colored" water fountain.

Ohio senator Matt Huffman, a physician, suggest at a hearing that the higher rates of COVID-19 infection among Black people are because "the colored population" doesn't wash their hands as frequently as other groups. This statement harkens back to segregated public bathrooms and facilities under Jim Crow laws that were motivated by white supremacist beliefs that Black people are unclean and dangerous.