This piece echoes my very thoughts to the T. I work at a health care organization. We have agencies within the organization where frontline nurses and home health aides literally go into people’s homes. My organization will be getting the vaccine by early January and they are prioritizing the nurses and aides, at least half of whom are Black. Little thought is given to the reasons why we distrust the vaccine. I’m in administration so they won’t prioritize me but in this case, I don’t care. For those who argue that we should be grateful for the vaccine because our community is disproportionately affected by COVID, they conveniently ignore that systemic racism is mainly the root of why we contract and die from it at higher rates. Due to racist hiring practices, Black people are more likely to be essential workers. I have been working from home since March but it’s a privilege that a lot of other Black people don’t have. Racist housing policies mean that we’re more likely to live in densely populated cities, meaning that it’s more difficult for us to socially distance. And so on. But whites blaming us for our oppression is nothing new, so it’s no surprise that they’ll blame us for not taking the vaccine. There isn’t enough information about the vaccine right now for me to be comfortable taking it. But leave it to white folx to try to take away my agency.