In fact, the coronavirus disparities closely mirror HIV/AIDS disparities. Black people and other people of color suffer wildly disproportionately from AIDS.

Note that I did not say HIV. I said AIDS, something which medically speaking no one in the United States should even have, given available effective treatment.

But racist approaches to access to testing and treatment not only keep HIV circulating needlessly, they ensure tons of HIV positive Black people progress to AIDS and die.

Henry Ford hospital system in Detroit has an AIDS ward – of all things. I used to think AIDS wards were part of the past. When a doctor friend took me to visit the ward, I wasn’t shocked that for at least the day I visited, all the patients were Black.

People in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and New Orleans could tell the same stories.

We could have ended this years ago. There is no reason anyone in the United States should have HIV, let alone AIDS. But racism and racist healthcare policies keep the epidemic surging right on ahead.