Throughout this coronavirus pandemic it’s been hard for me to feel positive about anything. I’m deeply frustrated with inadequate government response and the refusal of so many Americans to follow safety protocols. But THEN I have the chance to be on the ground and follow incredible grassroots efforts like Solidarity Flowers that provide covid relief by/for our local communities of color. And I feel a gazillion times better. Shout out to all the folks on the ground who don’t wait for inequitable US systems to protect their communities and take survival/resilience into their own hands–as they always have.
Author: sharonhchang
COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma: Damithia
Eventually, the country will force all of us to ‘reopen’ and, as it does, police will be more empowered than ever to stop and brutalize black and brown people…On the one side, Covid-19 will be waiting to kill us in even greater disproportion to white folks than it is now. On the other? Our alpha predator, the American police officer.
ELIE MYSTAL for the Nation
Outcries have erupted across the nation after a video emerged last week of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder by a former white police officer and his adult son while Arbery was jogging in February. On Tuesday, a new study was released showing African Americans may be dying from COVID-19 at a higher rate than any other group in the US. Meanwhile, police officers in New York were spotted kindly handing out masks in the West Village (a predominantly white neighborhood) while a Black man was brutally beaten in East Village for allegedly not social distancing. This pandemic is amplifying and exacerbating the racism that was already so rampant here. Re-opening will not make inequity magically disappear. You can help. Please share. Thank you.
I am the light
from “I am the light” by Robin Pandey
I am the darkness
I may sparkle you
And enlighten you in a fraction of a second
Pictured: Damithia is a mother, daydreamer, thought-thinker educator, yoga teacher, plant lover, cloud watcher, sun lover, liberators path seeker. She is the founder of Thrive Yoga which provides movement mindfulness and healing centered restorative practices to youth in schools and community. She works with Yoga Behind Bars as a trauma informed yoga training facilitator and is co-chair of the board of trustees for Space Between.
COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma: hai shuixian
People of colour, especially Black and Indigenous people, trans and queer Black and Indigenous people, and other trans and queer people of colour, are dying from COVID-19 at frighteningly disproportionate rates compared to whites, and not just in the US. In the US, Black Americans are making up the majority of the deaths from COVID-19 in places like Chicago (even though the city is only 30% Black), Louisiana, and countless other places in the US.Why? Because the often fatal effects of living as Black, Indigenous, and people of colour is a pre-existing condition.
HAI SUIXIAN
The growing impacts of coronavirus on communities of color is increasingly being revealed in reports and studies. The disparities are stark, the challenges are steep, and for QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) in these communities–the challenges are even steeper. Last month, the Trump administration began finalizing a proposal that will allow health care providers to discriminate against patients based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Community centers and shelters serving LGBTQ+ people have been forced to shut down or are struggling to stay afloat. Meanwhile, fear over the coronavirus is also exacerbating homophobia and transphobia. You can help. Please share. Thank you.
i am a diaspora shanghainese chinese human being.
⁂ 海水仙 hai sHuixian
i am mentally ill & disabled.
i am a multiple suicide attempt & severe abuse survivor.
i am alive.
Pictured: ⁂ 海水仙 hai shuixian [ pronouns: they/them/theirs ] is a diasporic shanghainese chinese • mentally ill • sick & disabled • queer • trans • nonbinary writer, artist, creator, & mental health advocate. u can follow them on instagram at @fuck_instgrm, & see more of their work at https://rose.blue
COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma: Cecilia and Jabali
COVID19 has made more than evident the race-based inequities of this country, and the world. Continued adherence to the status quo or normal of pre-COVID19 times is active participation in the oppression of black and brown humans, the other creatures on this planet, and the Earth itself. If we don’t learn and change things this time, it’s going to be far more difficult next time.
JABALI
It’s been two months since coronavirus began spreading across the US and since then, our infection rate has soared. We have the highest case count in the world with over 1.1 million infections and yesterday recorded our highest daily death toll. Because of widespread racial inequity, those infections/deaths are hitting Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities unfairly hard. Yet some states are starting to reopen anyway which is causing many to sound the alarm. In Georgia (one of the states opening early), a study released Wednesday showed more than four fifth’s of the state’s hospitalized coronavirus patients were Black. Advocates and experts warn reopening states too early will continue to disproportionately harm/kill more Black and Brown people. You can help. Please share. Thank you.
We are love based
Cecilian and Jabali
We are margin walkers
We are spirit-based and space dust fed
We are creative with words and music and dance
We are for real.
Pictured: Cecilia is an eighth-grade student who will be graduating middle school in June and going to ninth grade. She loves to write novels as well as comic books. She tends to draw and sketch whenever she can even if it’s a small margin on her math homework. She plays D&D with her friends, but they rarely ever listen to her and burst into song every five seconds and sometimes it’s funny but not always. Jabali is an inclusion specialist utilizing Peacemaking Circle in schools (K-College), businesses, families, government, and community settings. He has trained in the lineage of Circle Keeping connected to Mark Wedge, Kay Pranis, and Barry Stuart for nearly a decade. His work is deeply informed by his belief and practice of sensible, love based leadership.
Continue reading “COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma: Cecilia and Jabali”
COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma: Alex
With all of the widespread hate, discrimination, violence, harassment, and fear the Asian Pacific American population has seen in the past two months…this is a time where people (myself included) are feeling the most isolated. Despite all the fear and negativity, in some ways I’ve also never felt more connected to my community seeing…how quickly folx have organized and mobilized to assist those who are most vulnerable. It is this that I will take with me and look back upon, as a constant reminder of how resilient communities of color can be.
ALEX JOHNSON
According to a new survey out yesterday, 32 percent of Americans have witnessed someone blaming people of Asian descent for the coronavirus. Of Asian Americans surveyed, 60 percent said they’d seen the same. Overall, three in ten Americans blame China or Chinese people for the pandemic. Incidents of increased xenophobia and harassment are happening all over the country from New York to Iowa to California. Stop AAPI Hate reported around 1,500 instances of anti-Asian harassment in a one-month period since mid-March. Gratefully, POC-led groups across the US have been mobilizing to combat this rise in hate. You can help by finding and supporting those groups wherever you live. Please share. Thank you.
I am Asian American
Alex
I am strong
I am supported
I am worthy
Pictured: Alex is a mixed race 3rd generation Japanese-American, born and raised in Seattle. He works as a civil engineer/construction manager supporting local agencies with their transportation, environmental, and infrastructure projects. He currently serves on the board of the Asian Pacific Islander Community Leadership Foundation as the President.
Black Womxn Farmers Fight the Pandemic With a Food Revolution
My latest for the South Seattle Emerald. It was such an honor to photograph and write about Seattle sisters Nyema Clark and Shanelle Donaldson farming for Black health and liberation. In a time of pandemic when Black lives are being ravaged because of centuries of racism, Shanelle’s and Nyema’s food/environmental justice work is more critical than ever. This piece continues a story series I started last summer on Womxn and Nonbinary Farmers of Color in Washington State. The series is supported by NW Journalists of Color and the Facebook COVID-19 Journalism Project.
COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma: Marcus
Major catastrophes may not discriminate, but the suffering they cause lands disproportionately on communities of color. Racial and social inequities are inflamed, and those considered least during the good times remain neglected in bad ones.
MARCUS GREEN
Anti-blackness, orientalism, xenophobia, etc. People across the world are turning to racist ideologies to deal with their fear over the coronavirus pandemic. Since five Nigerians in China recently tested positive for COVID-19, reports have emerged of Africans facing alarming discrimination in the Asian country. Photos show signs banning Black people from buildings and businesses. Some Africans have been singled out for quarantine based on racial profiling. Others have been evicted from their apartments and forced to sleep on the street. Racism is a global problem, pointed out Eddy Zheng (New Breath Foundation) in a virtual townhall yesterday on safety and security hosted by The Peoples Collective for Justice & Liberation. Othering and criminalizing each other will not beat the coronavirus but humanizing and healing each other will. You can help. Please share. Thank you.
I am…
Marcus
liberated
determined
resolute
unafraid
committed
Pictured: Marcus Harrison Green is the publisher of the South Seattle Emerald, and a columnist with Crosscut. Growing up in South Seattle, he experienced first-hand the neglect of news coverage in the area by local media, which taught him the value of narratives. After an unfulfilling stint working for a Los Angeles based hedge-fund in his twenties, Marcus returned to his community determined to tell its true story, which led him to found the South Seattle Emerald. He was named one of Seattle’s most influential people by Seattle Magazine in 2016.
Safety Not Stigma Campaign Awarded a 4Culture Creative Response Grant!
Wonderful news to share–I’ve been awarded a 4Culture Creative Response Grant to support my COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma portrait campaign! My campaign, launched Apr 7, works to combat increased racism against people of color during the pandemic and raise awareness about the disproportionate impacts of coronavirus on communities of color. The grant I’ve been awarded is part of 4Culture’s Relief Fund to support cultural workers and organizations during this time of crisis. Thank you so much 4Culture!
You can see my portrait campaign by scrolling this blog, or on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
COVID-19 Safety Not Stigma: Erin Shigaki
The “forever-foreigne” sentiment sticks with Asian Americans. It hurts to see this play out in the global pandemic, where once again, when it’s not convenient for us to be American, we’re foreign, and seen as causing something terrible.
ERIN SHIGAKI
Reports of coronavirus-related hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders keep coming in. Most hate incidents are verbal abuse, ethnic intimidation, and vandalism. But acts of violence are also taking place including the March 14 stabbing of a Hmong American family in Texas and April 5 acid attack on a Chinese American woman in Brooklyn. This week, actor John Cho published an essay in the LA Times, “Coronavirus reminds Asian Americans like me that belonging is conditional.” I took these images of Seattle-based artist Erin Shigaki as she did volunteer food deliveries in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (SCID). Erin said she felt comfortable wearing a mask in the SCID but when she wore a mask anywhere else, she was getting nasty looks. People of color deserve to stay safe from coronavirus too and not get stigmatized when they go out in public. You can help by sharing. Thank you.
I am Asian American.
Erin
I am grateful for and committed to my community.
I am powerful.
Pictured: Erin Shigaki creates murals and installations focused on the experiences of communities of color, often the incarceration of 126,000 people of Japanese ancestry, including her own family. Erin is passionate about highlighting similarities between that history, the inhumane detention and family separation immigrants face today, and other systemic injustices black and brown people continue to face. Erin is also a community activist with the Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee and Tsuru for Solidarity.
We’ll Never Flatten the Curve If People Are Behind Bars
Many of you have heard this week about the Ohio prison where 73 percent of inmates tested positive for COVID-19. Because of overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, prisons, jails, detention centers are literal “tinderboxes” for the coronavirus. All over the country, we are seeing some of the biggest outbreaks happen behind bars. I spoke to activists and organizers about what’s been going on in Washington State’s incarceration facilities and it’s so worrisome. From lack of testing and lies about the virus, to inhumane treatment of people incarcerated, there’s a lot we all need to know. In my latest for the Emerald, please read about what’s happening to one of Washington’s most C-19 vulnerable populations–the thousands of human beings behind bars–and learn what you can do to help.