White Americans continue to equate their milder and often totally-unrelated struggles to those endured by black Americans
Anti-vaccine protesters at the California state capitol in Sacramento. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP/Shutterstock Over the past two weeks, protesters have flooded the California state capitol to oppose a bill that restricts the medical exemptions parents have been using to avoid vaccinating their children.
Increased skepticism about vaccines — and fear of their alleged side effects — has since 2001 helped quadruple the percentage of American children under 2 years old who haven’t had any, according to the Washington Post. Research shows that in California, personal-belief exemptions were claimed overwhelmingly by well-off white people before being outlawed.
But the California protests, which were in response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s signing Senate Bill 276 into law on Monday, were equally notable for following a pattern in which white Americans equate their milder and often totally unrelated struggles to those endured by black Americans. People ranging from CNN anchor Chris Cuomo to former Maine governor Paul LePage have likened their personal travails — being called “Fredo” and “racist,” respectively — to black people’s being called “nigger.
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