Racial Equity

Racial Equity, COVID-19, and Public Policy: The Triple Pandemic focuses on the health, economic, and justice impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on racial equity. The book does not simply document the problems made worse by the pandemic, but it provides historical context for issues that rose to the surface in new ways, the existing inequities revealed during COVID-19, as well as policy responses to those issues. The volume is distinguished in its focus on the implications for racial equity through an examination of both existing public policy and new ideas for change.

Following the civil rights movement, race relations in the United States entered a new era. Legal gains were interpreted by some as ensuring equal treatment for all and that "colorblind" policies and programs would be the best way forward. Since then, many voices have called for an end to affirmative action and other color-conscious policies and programs, and even for a retreat from public discussion of racism itself.