New Documentary ‘Plague at the Golden Gate’ Examines Public Health, Racism and Why History Repeats Itself

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An infectious disease arrives in San Francisco and is immediately associated with residents of Chinatown. Scientists and public health officials try to stop the spread. White residents believe they are immune. Politicians and the business class say the disease is not real because they worry about hurting commerce. Vulnerable people die in droves. A new PBS documentary, “Plague at the Golden Gate,” takes viewers back to 1900 when the bubonic plague hit San Francisco in a manner eerily similar to the way the COVID-19 pandemic has played out the past three years. The film examines how racism, discrimination, and misinformation contributed to the spread of the disease. We’ll talk about the film and how history is repeating itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:12.2	An infectious disease arrives in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:18.3	An infectious disease arrives in San Francisco and is immediately associated with residents of Chinatown.
1:22.9	Scientists and public health officials try to stop the spread but stumble on politics.
1:27.3	The administration denies the problem and white residents believe they are immune.
1:34.0	A new PBS documentary, Plague at the Golden Gate, takes viewers back to the early 20th century, when the bubonic plague, yes, the most feared disease of a whole millennium, hit San Francisco.
1:39.8	Then we've got Luke Sy, KQED Food Editor, on the best road-trippable food stops.
1:44.6	That's all coming up next after this news.
1:54.7	Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:59.5	You know that line about how history may not repeat, but it rhymes?
2:03.5	Well, the new PBS documentary Plague at the Golden Gate demonstrates that when it comes to the intersection of politics, race, and infectious disease, COVID-19 is just the latest edition of a long story for us here in San Francisco.
2:18.7	San Francisco was not only the busiest port on the West Coast, but connected by rail to the rest of the country.
2:27.3	It was terrifyingly well-placed to spread disease far and wide.
	...

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