Texas Lt. Governor Falsely Claims That Black People Are To Blame For The Covid Surge
Updated: Aug 22, 2021
Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is under immense scrutiny after alleging that unvaccinated black people are the reason for the recent surge in COVID-19 infections across the country.
Patrick addressed Democrats criticizing his state's handling of rising COVID cases in an appearance with Fox News's Laura Ingraham on Thursday night. The Lt. Governor claimed that the virus is growing primarily among the unvaccinated in the Black community.
"Democrats like to blame Republicans on that," Patrick said. "Well, the biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated. The last time I checked, over 90 percent of them vote for Democrats in their major cities and major counties."
"The biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated," Patrick said.
"In terms of criticizing the Republicans for this? We're encouraging people who want to take the vaccine to take it. Still, Democrats are doing nothing for the African American community that has a significantly high number of unvaccinated people," he added.
The Texas Department of State Health Services, however, has data to the contrary. Black individuals, who make up approximately 12% of Texas's population of more than 29 million, accounted for around 15% of total COVID-19 cases and are only about 10% of fatalities.
"It's disappointing that the Lt. Governor would rather scapegoat Black people than do the right thing and work with local government to help control the spread of COVID-19. The comments were racist and flat out wrong." Rodney Ellis, a Black commissioner for the county that encompasses Houston, tweeted.
According to official statistics, Black people make up around 8% of the overall number of fully vaccinated people in Texas. The proportion of African Americans who have been vaccinated is unknown based on state statistics.
Many African Americans have lost faith in governmental institutions due to government failures and abuse. Such as the "Tuskegee syphilis study," in which unknowing Black males were used as guinea pigs in a study of a sexually transmitted disease. This is commonly and conveniently left out of the discussion on Black American vaccination by many non-Black Americans and most government officials.