BREAKING NEWS FROM 1348: PLAGUE HITS LONDON; WOMEN, MINORITIES HARDEST HIT! BBC: Black women most likely to die in medieval London plague. But there’s a slight problem with the story, revealed in the second to last paragraph:

Dr Rebecca Redfern, from the Museum of London, said: “We have no primary written sources from people of colour and those of black African descent during the Great Pestilence of the 14th Century, so archaeological research is essential to understanding more about their lives and experiences.

On the other hand:

So if the black population of London was not statistically significant in the 14th century, then of course it affected them “at a higher rate.” If you have 50 black women in London and 45 of them died of the plague, that is definitely a higher percentage than how many white men or women died of the plague when their numbers were insanely higher.

But the other problem with their conclusion is that it’s a scientific conclusion you can’t test or challenge. There isn’t going to be a massive outbreak of Bubonic Plague in London in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-three, and the last pandemic we had (the COVID-19 one) wasn’t a racist one either, despite what the social scientists would like to say. Co-morbidities, socioeconomic status, and access to healthcare were bigger factors (when you look at the actual data), but it’s easier to blame “modern structural racism” than those factors.

Again, though, one point needs to be made clear: Plagues, bacteria, and fleas are incapable of being racist. That didn’t stop these researchers — from Michigan and Colorado, by the way — from claiming that they are.

In 2023, isn’t everything?