Radio Free never takes money from corporate interests, which ensures our publications are in the interest of people, not profits. Radio Free provides free and open-source tools and resources for anyone to use to help better inform their communities. Learn more and get involved at radiofree.org
In an extended interview with LGBTQ+ scholar and journalist Steven Thrasher about his new book The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide he lays out his theory and shares stories of the people he writes about. “A framework of a viral underclass, I hope, will help people to understand why it is that the same kinds of people keep coming into the paths and being affected by very different kinds of viruses,” Thrasher says. He discusses factors that create the conditions for unequal viral transmission, including racism, shame, borders, incarceration, ableism and capitalism.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.