WCU Disaster Lecture 2 Zoom call with guest speaker Dr. Choi.
Western Carolina University hosted Disaster Lecture 2: COVID-19, Racism, and the Disasters of State Violence with guest speaker Dr. Vivian Choi, a professor at St. Olaf College.
This lecture was hosted on Zoom by the Anthropology Club, Criminal Justice Club, and Degree Plus on Oct. 28, and over 20 students and staff joined the lecture. The lecture was not for a class and was open for all students to join.
Dr. Choi received her doctorate degree in sociocultural anthropology at the University of California, Davis, and is an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology.
During the lecture, Dr. Choi addressed how COVID-19 is affecting the black community differently than white people. She also said how statistically, black people who are COVID-19 positive are dying at a 2.3% higher rate than the white population, which is a “public health issue” that needs to be recognized.
Dr. Choi’s graph showing the rate of different races dying from COVID-19.
The United States had a record-breaking single-day case count on Oct. 24, with 83,851 new cases, according to the CDC. At WCU during the week of Oct. 19 – Oct. 25, there were 67 known students who had tested positive, according to the WCU COVID-19 Data Dashboard. The impacts of COVID-19 can be seen everywhere but especially in minority communities, according to Dr. Choi.
The issue of police violence in America was also discussed during the lecture, specifically talking about the shooting of Jacob Blake and the death of George Floyd. Blake was paralyzed from the waist down and Floyd was choked to death.
In the lecture, Dr. Choi described the issues of racism and COVID-19 as a “pandemic in a pandemic.” This is because after Floyd was killed, his autopsy showed that he also tested positive for COVID-19, further describing how racial violence is like a pandemic.
This “terrible and disgusting” event helped “open eyes to the falls of our society” said Brittany Smith, who is the Criminal Justice Club president. Smith said later that “so much needs to be changed” and that is why these lectures are important.
In previous Zoom events held by WCU such as The Defamation Experience were “Zoom bombed” with racial slurs and derogatory statements both spoken and typed in the comment section, said D Germain who is the Anthropology Club president.
The Disaster Lecture event had to be closely monitored so that there would be “civil discussion” said Germain. There is still no knowledge of who did this or why it was done.
Dr. Choi concluded her lecture by saying, “How much more poignant could it be to have a pandemic that attacks the respiratory system that disproportionately affects black populations be the context under which George Floyd would utter his last words, ‘I can’t breathe’.”
Once the lecture was over, Dr. Choi encouraged students to ask questions. This helped lead to the discussion of the concept of “banality of evil” and how “it is contributing to the problem, “ said Christine Bailey, who is an anthropology professor at WCU. Bailey also said that “people should have opinions on these issues” and should not sit to the side doing nothing. The students in the Zoom meeting did not ask many discussion questions but rather wanted clarification of what Dr. Choi discussed in her lectures such as immigration policies, colonization issues, and desensitization within new generations.
Most students agree that this year has a “completely different atmosphere,” said Germain. Germain also said that “it’s been a very hard year,” and that WCU needs to be “united as one.”
The previous series was entitled Challenges of Mass Fatality Incidents with guest speaker Dr. Giovanna Vidoli. This lecture series will continue throughout the fall 2020 semester. The third lecture in this series is Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Odontology applied to Disaster Victim Identification with guest speaker Dr. Joe Adserias-Garriga. More information can be found on the WCU Engage page regarding the upcoming event.
