April is National Minority Health Month in the United States. The first week of April is National Public Health Week. This year, both occasions passed as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded and, in the process, rendered remarkably clear the magnitude of the United States' collective shortcomings in advancing population health equity-particularly as related to dominant narratives of health and data politics. Drawing from critical theory, I use essay to contextualize present COVID-19 discourse and poetry to situate this discourse within a broader historical arc of the United States' racist, classist, and homophobic proclivities in times of public health crises. I use the combination of essay/poem as creative praxis to analyze and reflect on our present moment in relation to public health pasts and to raise questions about public health research, education, and data futures-offering a critical commentary on the intersections of infectious diseases, structural inequality (e.g., racism), data politics, and public health violence.
Keywords: COVID-19; data politics; narrative power; poetry; public health violence; structural racism.