On May 9, “The People’s Assembly on Race, Equity & Covid-19” was presented by the Community Coalition; Advancement Project California; Brotherhood Crusade; Anti-Recidivism Coalition; CD Tech; Los Angeles Black Worker Center; LA Voice; Power California; SEIU 2015; and other community partners.
Hosted by Angela Rye, the digital activation event centered on the voices of real people—grocery workers, students, street vendors, formerly incarcerated people, and gang interventionists as well as influencers, journalists, and artists—to help highlight concerns and develop solutions in the aftermath of this global crisis.
Special guests included Bishop William Barber, Chris Paul, Kendrick Sampson, Yesi Ortiz, and Karim Webb, as well as live entertainment by Aloe Blacc, Cedric The Entertainer, Las Cafeteras, and Ill Camille.
“The COVID-19 crisis shows that one of the deadliest underlying conditions in America is systemic racism. Obviously, a virus like this doesn’t have intentionality, but we can now see that it has directionality and velocity and is using L.A.’s long-standing structures of racial segregation to fuel a second, deadlier chapter in communities of color,” said John Kim, executive director of Advancement Project California.
The event stressed that COVID-19 brought America face-to-face with its pervasive inequities. In Los Angeles, race, class, and place are strongly linked. What is shown in the news about a flattening of the curve may be true for wealthier Whites, but that is not the case in low-income and Black and Latinx communities.
Generations of racial and economic segregation have resulted in the concentration of low-income and people of color in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities that have been exposed to toxic chemicals and other unhealthy land uses, failing infrastructure, and lack of access to services.
Advancement Project California recently released an interactive policy brief, called “How Race, Class, and Place Fuel a Pandemic,” describing how COVID-19 has shifted geographically and taken hold in predominantly Black and Latinx communities in Los Angeles.
According to the research – which was based upon data released by the L.A. County Department of Public Health (LACDPH):
• Most of the early cases were found in Los Angeles’ historically wealthier and often White communities.
• By mid-April, the trajectory of COVID-19 cases changed, particularly in higher concentration Latinx and Black areas, with a much steeper growth factor in caseloads compared to communities with more white residents.
• By the end of April, Pacific Palisades, a predominantly White community, saw a 2x growth in case rates (from the beginning of the month) while Gramercy Place saw a 14.4x growth in case rates and Bell Gardens saw a 28.2x growth in case rates.
Findings coincide with the conclusions from LACDPH’s report, where Black, Latinx, Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander, and low-income populations were the hardest hit residents for cases and deaths in the county. This interactive report from Advancement Project shows where the virus is moving over time and the urgency to address immediate needs as well as structural issues.
COVID-19 has exposed entrenched racial inequities and amplified xenophobic narratives, the group stated. The gaping divide in the education system, barriers to healthcare, housing, employment, and technology, as well as the lack of a social safety net and voter suppression exacerbated by the pandemic speak to a broken system.
“Communities of color have long been fighting for equitable distribution of access to healthcare, education, criminal justice reforms, housing, jobs, and other resources that have been denied due to systemic racism. COVID-19 is merely shining a light on what we’ve already known to be true,” said Alberto Retana, Community Coalition president.
