It’s a tough time in Papoose’s family.
As the coronavirus ravages the globe, the six degrees of separation has grown smaller with everyone seemingly knowing someone who has been infected. In the worst cases, they know someone who has died. Unfortunately, when it comes to Papoose, he knows two people whose lives the virus has claimed.
In a heart-wrenching interview on The Real, the “Freestyle” rapper revealed that both his cousin and uncle had succumbed to COVID-19. Where his uncle was concerned, the circumstances were even more devastating. He wasn’t feeling well [and] he went to the emergency room. Long story short, the hospitals are so focused on COVID-19 that people who have issues, they’re not really catering to them. So, it was kind of a neglect thing, but you can’t really question God’s plan.”
The feeling, according to Papoose’s wife, Remy Ma, is that the black community is even more vulnerable at the moment. Statistics have already shown that death and infection rates have been higher among African-Americans, with Remy believing that having a pre-existing condition means you are more unlikely to receive adequate healthcare, and even more so if you are a black woman. “If you have any pre-existing conditions, that’s what really exacerbates [COVID-19] and a lot of people in the African American and Latino community don’t have good health care, don’t have a primary care [doctor], [and] they don’t even have the sense of going to the doctor,” she said. “They don’t even take our pain seriously. We’re the most misdiagnosed and undiagnosed.”
Oprah Winfrey, too, expressed concern about her fellow brothers and sisters, as she said on Today that COVID-19 is “ravaging” the black community in the US. It’s taking us out. It’s killing your cousins and your friends and your neighbours. And you need to do whatever you can to protect yourself,” she told the host Hoda Kotb
