Black people are aware that vaccines are available. In most cases they’re simply choosing not to get them. Here in New York City, we’re awash in vaccines, the publicity campaign to inform people about them dwarfs that of any blockbuster movie, and there are incentives attached to getting them. The vast majority of black New Yorkers belong to a political party that is ardently pushing vaccines.

Most of them are declining to go along with the program for various reasons: they don’t feel at risk, they fear the side effects, they are wary of potential long-term side effects, they’re suspicious of claims made by institutions, they’re waiting for full approval from the FDA.

The same reasons, in other words, that rural Fox News Channel fans cite for not getting the vaccine. So why hate one group and not the other? More to the point, why hate . . . anybody, if you’re vaccinated? Neither unvaccinated black people in my city nor unvaccinated white people who watch Tucker Carlson pose a threat to me. I am well-protected. I didn’t say I’m bulletproof. I could still die of the virus, just as I could die in a car accident, or be murdered, or drop dead of a heart attack. The virus is now just one of many background risks I face each day. It wouldn’t register in my mind at all if it weren’t for all of the hysteria around me.