“Viral Convergence”: Interconnected Pandemics as Portal to Racial Justice

Black intellectuals and leaders have been working to address the country’s “raced” nature since at least the Civil War, but, thanks in part to a narrow and privileged conception of national security, racism remains a deadly virus in the United States. Professor Powell argues that to live up to America’s founding ideals, national security observers must broaden the lens for analysis beyond military security to encompass economic, physical, and human security. This more expansive understanding of “security” in turn calls for transformative change, beyond incremental reform, with respect to policing, poverty, and racism.