As cities and states implement social distancing guidelines to mitigate the effects of COVID-19, one concern is that the social construction of race, and the privileges inherent to those constructions, influence how and when to enforce social distancing In this theoretical paper, we discuss why Black people may be at a greater risk for police intervention when not abiding by public health guidelines We also describe the importance of considering how Whiteness, in addition to anti-Blackness, may influence how and when public health guidelines are enforced Finally, we consider how disparate public health policing related to COVID-19 is situated in a broader historical and global context © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
Race, police, and the pandemic: considering the role of race in public health policing