BY TANASIA KENNEY

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Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is among a handful of celebrities doing their part to address the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Black and other minority communities.

In a video posed his Twitter account Thursday, the ex-athlete-turned-activist announced that he’d donated $100,000 to a special relief fund started via his organization to help the communities hardest hit by the fast spreading virus.

“Structural racism makes Black & Brown ppl more likely to die from #COVID19. We’ve launched the Know Your Rights Camp COVID-19 Relief Fund to directly impact the disproportionate effect #coronavirus is having on our communities,” Kaepernick wrote, followed by the hashtag #WeGotUs.

His tweet was accompanied by a video message encouraging others to join efforts to address the disparities, an issue Kaepernick argues is the result of “hundreds of years of structural racism.”

Recent reports have shown that Black Americans are not only more susceptible to contracting COVID-19, but are more likely to die from it as well. An analysis of state and local data published by the Associated Press this month found that over 30 percent of those who’ve died from coronavirus are Black, even though they make up just 13 percent of the population in the areas that were covered.

Several cities including Detroit, New Orleans and New York City have seen similar disparities. In Chicago for instance, almost 70 percent of the city’s coronavirus-related deaths have been African-Americans, the Chicago Tribune reports. Black people only account for about 30 percent of the city’s population, however.

There have also been unequal rates of COVID-19 deaths among Latino New Yorkers, who are 29 percent of the city’s population but comprise 34 percent of the coronavirus fatalities, according to the AP, citing preliminary data released by City Hall.

Via The Modesto Bee.