The pandemic is worsening disparities for Vermonters of color and other demographic minorities, according to a new report.
“Covid-19 is a mass-disabling event,” Xusana Davis, executive director of the state Office of Racial Equity, wrote in an annual update to the Legislature. “This is an example of the importance of an intersectional approach to equity, because members of historically marginalized groups exist neither in vacuums nor in mutually exclusive communities.”
The 14-page report noted both gains and losses for various populations since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
“State and local government in Vermont has worked tirelessly to avoid or ease the myriad harms faced by residents, visitors, small businesses, students and everyone in between,” it said. “It also must not be ignored that at nearly every step of the process, there were shortcomings and controversies at the local, state and federal levels that almost always harmed communities of color first and worst.”
The report praised the prioritization of vulnerable people for testing and vaccination, yet pointed out such challenges as a technical glitch that temporarily prevented registration for children of color ages 5-9.
“In situations like this, even a rapid correction will impact the clinical access rate for weeks after the problem is corrected,” it said.
Vermonters of color aren’t alone in facing pandemic-era issues, the report added.
“We will need to reexamine how we understand ‘ability,’ and how it intersects with race, ethnicity, age, sex and gender identity,” it said. “For example, eyeglasses are a disability aid, but their ubiquity makes it easy to forget that. If we did keep that in mind, what new links would it draw between groups who otherwise would have been thought to have little to nothing in common?”
The report noted that concerns about safety after the 2020 Minneapolis police murder of Black Minnesotan George Floyd had spurred local discussion from Brattleboro to Burlington, although Black drivers in Vermont remained three times more likely than white drivers to face searches at traffic stops despite being found less likely to have contraband.
On the subject of schools, the document observed that an increase in the number of districts with anti-discrimination policies and personnel came at the same time misinformation about critical race theory has led to “a contrived yet highly contagious panic in many communities about what equity-related content is appropriate.”
The report cited the work by the Vermont Racial Equity Task Force with the state Agency of Education and the Legislature to address an equally contentious debate over school mascots, such as Rutland High School’s red-arrowhead-logoed Raiders.
“The images, words, symbols and behavior that accompany the mascots can cause great harm to people of color, especially Indigenous people,” it said. “There are far more tangible and meaningful ways to ‘honor’ a historically marginalized community that don’t involve donning cartoonish representations of their ethnic group, or images that bear shocking similarity to harmful or incendiary ideologies.”
Vermont’s population has risen for all racial and ethnic categories except for people who identify as “white alone,” according to the 2020 census. American Indian/Alaska Native numbers are up 129%, Hispanic/Latino up 68.4%, Asian American/Pacific Islander up 54.7% and Black/African-American up 54.4%.
“The decrease in the number of people who identified as ‘white alone’ does not necessarily mean there is a decrease in the number of people who identify as white at all,” the report noted. “Rather, it most likely means the number of people who identify as white plus another racial/ethnic group has increased.”
The state Office of Racial Equity, which opened with Davis’ appointment by Gov. Phil Scott in 2019, recently hired a second staffer to assist in education, outreach, data analysis and research and currently is seeking a third employee.
“While it is tempting to list new strategy recommendations in each report,” the office’s report concluded, “it is important to pursue those that we have not yet completed before moving on.”
