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Christian Cooper should not have to fear for his life on a walk through the park. Breonna Taylor should be alive. Ahmaud Arbery should still be with us. George Floyd’s life should not have been taken by police, and they all deserve justice.
In a recent article titled “The Unmattering of Black Lives”, Kimberlé Crenshaw (originator of the theory of intersectional oppression) links the deaths of Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement to the effects of the ongoing coronavirus national emergency in Black communities. She writes, “... this unmattering of Black lives lost through state violence is the sacrifice of Black Americans via the stealth victimization of our bodies through radical disparities of health and wealth. We are witnessing yet again the disproportionate deaths suffered in Black communities in the face of the raging Covid-19 pandemic.”
As the tragically high COVID-19 death toll in the United States tops 100,000, we continue to address both the systemic inequities -- and the human impact. Race Forward is responding.
The Government Alliance on Race and Equity has organized a guidebook and convened rapid response meetings for the hundreds of its jurisdictions with the purpose of centering racial equity in their response to the emergency. Their work has included everything from setting up Emergency Operations Centers to maintaining racial equity priorities in budget and budget discussions. Given the urgency, and the weak federal response, GARE’s work is increasingly central to addressing the crisis.
The team at Colorlines was one of the first of any news outlets to highlight race explicit coverage of the Coronavirus emergency, the effects of which are disproportionately impacting communities of color. Colorlines continues to cover testing efforts, mass incarceration, growing unemployment inequity, and more, and provide ways for its readers to take action in this moment.
The Colorlines team has also been working to produce opinion pieces highlighting the experiences, views, and demands of communities that are being hit hard by the effects of the global pandemic. Here are three of Colorlines’ newest op-ed articles:
We Don’t Need to Return to Normal—We Need a New Normal
“Those who have been disproportionately affected by this crisis, whether due to racial and ethnic health disparities, poverty, or those who are working on the front lines right now and suffering physically and emotionally know firsthand the changes we need.”
‘Please Help Us’: Those on the Inside Are in Grave Danger
“During this unprecedented moment in history, we must demand the release of all detained and incarcerated people. As one detained immigrant at Stewart said: “Please, have mercy for us who are here locked up and who cannot do absolutely anything.”
Mass Rent Strikes Demonstrate That Housing Has Always Been a Racial Justice Issue
“We are all supposed to stay home, but that’s not possible in a society structured to make it impossible to keep a roof over our heads.”
Please encourage a friend, or family member to subscribe to Colorlines’ weekly newsletter to receive more race-explicit reporting on the Coronavirus emergency and so much more. Have a professional contact or a former colleague interested in learning about racial equity in this moment? Invite them to one of our Building Racial Equity Trainings on June 16th or 24th. You can also forward them this link to our other training dates.
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