Well, now that we have it from the horse's mouth, so to speak, are we done here?
Does your review of the information provided above satisfy your question, Metaphor?
No, not yet; Metaphor still needs to say that Kendi's response is an obvious dodge and completely untrue, that if someone wants a vaccine, they can get one for free anywhere in the US, regardless of their race or location.
Kendi's answer
is an obvious dodge, and he is wrong (at least wrong by his own earlier standards) to qualify whether a vaccine mandate is racist on the basis of whether America's vaccine policy produced unequal outcomes on a particular basis (unequal access).
Kendi says:
"A
racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups. By policy, I mean written and unwritten laws, rules, procedures, processes, regulations, and guidelines that govern people."
White people are more vaccinated than black people in America. By the plain reading of Kendi's words,
the vaccination rollout in America was a racist policy, because it has resulted in vaccine inequity between racial groups.
Now, we get to the mandate part. A vaccine mandate will harm the social and economic and psychological health of unvaccinated people, and black people are more likely to be unvaccinated. Applying Kendi's stated rules,
a vaccine mandate in America would be a racist policy, given the underlying vaccine rate disparity.