RALEIGH, N.C. — Johnny Chapman knows he plays an active role in convincing Black people the solution to one day ending the pandemic is not worse than the problem that caused it.

What You Need To Know

  • Faith plays a role in choosing to or not to get a vaccination in the Black community.

  • An elderly couple who lived through a time of state-wide sterilization programs did not let a dark past keep them from innoculation

  • One Black man takes an active role on behalf of his own church to help other Black congregations

On a drizzly Friday towards the end of February at a church parking lot in Fuquay-Varina, Chapman begins talking about how he shares the "gospel truth" to African Americans when fiction gets in the way of the facts they need to follow.

“We are trying to take away the fears by pointing to the facts,” says Chapman. Some grim truths, like death rates of marginalized communities, are hard to hear but are pieces of information he uses to get the greater points across.

"And in pointing to the facts, COVID-19 is very real. And so is this vaccine," he says.

He knows the distrust is steeped in a dark history of failed government ideas like the Tuskeegee Experiment in Alabama. At the expense of acknowledging government-condoned mistreatment is horrible, he simply doesn't want to continue seeing Black people die over conspiracy theories instead of vaccinating themselves against a deadly virus.

"One of our primary objectives is to make sure we spread the word, and to also educate our community on the importance of the vaccine," he says.

On that day, Chapman was actually coordinating a vaccine clinic at St. Augusta Missionary Baptist Church. To show you the lengths leaders like him will go in the Black faith community, he belongs to another congregation: New Providence Baptist Church. This is an important distinction to note because Chapman believes to get a person of color to take an injection of antibodies they need to hear why it is important to do so by someone who looks exactly like them.

In a series of stories on different nuances affecting marginalized communities, Spectrum News 1 has been informed by multiple people interviewed in separate stories about how much having and hearing trusted Black people in the community matters.

Whether doctors lead the discussion and pastors follow, or vice-versa, the encouragement to inoculate oneself against the disease is a seemingly non-stop process.

The same day, Chapman is running another church’s vaccine clinic. Charles and Betty Sue Wilson arrive to the site as a particularly important demographic to follow.

The Black couple of almost 60 years are in their late seventies and were alive during North Carolina state-sanctioned sterilization programs. Charles is actually in a wheelchair. Both also told Spectrum News 1, they are strong in their faith.

“I got up this morning and I just didn’t want to be late,” Betty Sue says.

She is here to make sure her husband is wheeled down the hallways of the clinic for the same reason as herself. Each wants to receive the best possible defense against a mutating virus that can enter their aging bodies at any moment.

When asked if he was scared to receive a vaccine in a state where Black women were injected with substances keeping them from one day having children, Charles didn’t blink.

”I have taken shots before,” he says.

As a Christian, Betty Sue makes it loud and clear how putting faith in God made it easier for her to believe scientists who created the vaccines want to keep people from dying.

Fellowship is how Chapman alleviates fears over the vaccine. When he has moments to talk, he engages people waiting in line to get either round of the two round dosage.

“It’s very important that we want to get our Black community to get these vaccines,” Chapman says.

He waves at each person who steps out of their car ready for their appointment.

“If you are not registered, we can actually give some forms out to you for the registration,” Chapman says.

This next part addresses why he hopes his physical efforts can change statical trends.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services reports almost 16% of black residents have taken the shot in comparison to the almost 80% rate for their white Tar Heel State neighbors.

To give you a greater understanding of the gap in the data, A 2019 US Census shows how African-Americans make up a little more than 22% of the state population.

Whether more examples like the Wilsons will follow is enough to track the numbers.

“Because I feel like if I need it (the vaccine), I go ahead and take it. God is going take care of me,” Betty Sue says.