The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected communities of color while highlighting the prevalence of structural racism in the United States. This crucial collection of essays, written by leading scholars from the fields of communications, political science, health, philosophy, and geography, explores the manifold ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted upon Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities and the way we see race relations in the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the significance of U.S. health inequalities, which the World Health Organization defines as avoidable [and] unfair. It has also highlighted structural racism, specifically, institutions, practices, values, customs, and policies that differentially allocate resources and opportunities so as to increase inequity among racial groups. Navarro and Hernandez therefore argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has unleashed a race war in America that has further marginalized communities of color by limiting access to resources by different racial and ethnic minorities, particularly women within these communities. Moreover, the systemic policies of the past that upheld or failed to address the unequal social conditions affecting Blacks, Latinxs, and other minorities have now been magnified with COVID-19. The volume concludes by offering recommendations to prevent future humanitarian crises from exacerbating racial divisions and having a disproportionate impact upon ethnic minorities.

This timely volume will be of great interest to those interested in the study of race and the social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Sharon A. Navarro is a professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, United States. Her research interests include women in politics, race and American politics, and Latinx politics. She is author of Latina Legislator: Leticia Van De Putte and the Road to Leadership (Texas A&M University Press, 2008) and co-author of Políticas: Latina Public Officials in Texas (University of Texas Press, 2008). She is also co-editor of Latinas and the Politics of Urban Spaces (Routledge, 2020), Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of the American Judiciary (Cambridge University Press, 2018), Latinas in American Politics: Changing and Embracing Political Tradition (Lexington Books, 2016), and The Roots of Latino Urban Agency (University of North Texas Press, 2013).

Samantha L. Hernandez is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, United States, and Director of Policy and Strategic Affairs at San Antonio City Council. She is co-editor of Race, Gender, Sexuality, and the Politics of the American Judiciary (Cambridge University Press, 2018) and Latinas in American Politics: Changing and Embracing Political Tradition (Lexington Books, 2016). Her work has also been featured in the Gender and Politics journal and various media outlets, including New York Times, NBC Nightly News, Marketwatch, WIRED, and The Wall Street Journal.