Tag: COVID-19

May our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and beloved Ancients and Ancestors from past millennia, yesteryears and, literally, yesterday – find you and (y)our extended Family healthy and staying positive during these extraordinary crises in our story of humane-ity. Sacred prayers to, and supportive actions for, everyone, including: those sacrificing and working hard to serve us; who have lost their job and source of income; and, to all who have tested positive for the covid-19 virus, suffered from other illnesses, had loved ones become ill or, worse, suffered the ultimate tragedy.

Here at the Lakota People’s Law Project, we’ve seen a lot and worked hard to address a variety of important issues over the past 15 years – among them criminal justice reform for American Indians. Now, in the coronavirus era, this problem has raised its ugly head again: A 30-year-old woman from my tribal nation, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, died in federal custody in a Texas prison on Tuesday, April 21, just three weeks after giving birth. The cause of her death? COVID-19.

The United States has not been able to control COVID-19. The Donald Trump administration did not react in time, played down the reality, and as a result tens of thousands of people have died. Yet the government finds time to attack Cuba.

Liberate the Caged Voices, a program of California Prison Focus, provides a platform to hear directly from our caged community members, their families and loved ones to foster engagement with the local community, while exposing the truth of the toxic conditions experienced by California’s incarcerated people and the impact on their families. Adding art and culture, the idea is to build awareness, solidarity and human relationship amongst community members on both sides of the wall and take collective action.

The COVID-19 emergency underscores longstanding truths about capitalism and socialism. Acting on the most immediate demands that it raises draws us directly into a confrontation with core issues.

Since my last column, more resources have become available for families who need medical care, including telehealth visits with their doctor or mental health care. In addition, there are more places you can turn to if you need help with education, food, healthcare, housing, loans, rental or mortgage assistance, immigration and other issues during the pandemic. Here’s a short-list of resources to check out:

San Francisco – Mayor London Breed and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD) have made nearly $1 million in new funding available for mini-grants to independently-owned and women-owned small businesses in underserved commercial corridors. The Neighborhood Mini-Grants will provide $1,000 to $10,000 in grants for urgent economic relief for neighborhood-serving small businesses and women-owned businesses impacted by COVID-19.

I am a Harlem Native who is incarcerated, and nearing the end of my prison sentence – three more years. However, within this pandemic, I sit in a pressure cooker, Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Westchester County, where the coronavirus infection rates are among the highest. Staff and inmates are infected.

Early data shows that Black Americans are more at risk for the coronavirus than other US ethnic groups; the death rate disparity is even starker.

Candice Elder, founder and executive director of the East Oakland Collective, is a force to reckon with in Oakland when the issue of homelessness is brought up. During this quarantine season, her comrades as well as herself have successfully organized a moratorium on the police sweeping of homeless encampments in Oakland, which was passed unanimously by the City Council.

Haiti Action Committee is honored to circulate this statement from Fanmi Lavalas, the people’s party in Haiti, at a moment when the coronavirus has made its deadly march into Haiti. Faced with government inaction, repression and corruption, Haitians have turned to each other and to the popular movement to meet the challenge. We urge you to distribute this statement widely.

San Francisco – The legislation to close County Jail 4, known in the communities most of the prisoners come from as “850,” co-sponsored by eight members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, moved unanimously out of committee with positive recommendation and was approved 10-1 by the full board.

On March 19, 2020, shortly after international institutions announced that millions of dollars would be available to impoverished countries with COVID-19 cases, Haitian authorities finally addressed the coronavirus pandemic by declaring two cases in the country. Haitians were outraged by silence and inaction of authorities as news spread of preventative measures being implemented in neighboring Dominican Republic and other countries.

Sacramento – For the past 23 years, Parent Voices, a parent-led and parent-run grassroots organization that fights for accessible and affordable child care, has visited the state Capitol on “Stand for Children Day” to advocate for child care on behalf of working families. However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parent Voices hosted its first ever Stand for Children Live event.

We call on you to immediately use your executive clemency and emergency powers to grant release of adults aged 50 and older, medically vulnerable populations with underlying conditions such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, pregnant individuals, juveniles, and individuals with less than one year left on their sentence, irrespective of the offense and who don’t pose a reasonable risk to public safety.

by JR Valrey, The Black New World Journalist Society Everyone in our society has had their lives altered in ways that we would not have...

Do you know what it is like to be invisible? To have people see right through you? To speak and not be heard? That is exactly what will happen if we all don’t fill out the 2020 Census.

Newsweek reports that more than a third of federally incarcerated people with coronavirus are now in one institution, Terminal Island Prison in Southern California.

Nearly six weeks since shelter-in-place and quarantine orders in the United States and worldwide because of the COVID-19 outbreak, countries all over the world have been pummeled with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases and 235,000 deaths worldwide.

Since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the U.S., officials have demonstrated incompetence and indifference in response to the growing pandemic.