racial battle fatigue, which lies at the root of Black America’s presumed disaffection for July 4.Racial battle fatigue among many Black Americans is likely at its peak after months of required physical distancing, mounting and disproportionately higher COVID-19 deaths in their communities, and the recent killings of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Dreasjon Reed, Elijah McClain, and George Floyd.
The combined impact of COVID-19 and racism is brewing what Poteat and colleagues describe as a lethal force of mental health syndemics — or the social patterning of co-occurring disease conditions across place and time.