Across the country, Black People are being infected and dying at disportionate rates from COVID-19. In order to respond effectively to the needs of the Black community our elected officials, health experts, advocates and organizers must take a look at the ways in which the descendants of slaves, Black, African and African-Americans are most impacted by this virus through a racial and class lens. 

This past Saturday, Community Ready Corps and The Anti Police-Terror Project convened a wide range of Black leaders in Oakland gathered virtually to develop a set of demands in terms of what we expect of our City's response to this crisis.  We are not the only impacted community but we are the most impacted and we are clear that unless Black people are healthy and safe then no community is healthy and safe.

WE, as the Descendants of Enslaved People, Black, African American organized in order to force acknowledgement of the impact of this crisis on the Black community to forge a path forward to health, demand equitable treatment from all public, local and state government and to establish a space for Black voices at all tables that plan around, impact and shape our lives. 

Black people are not suffering at higher rates of COVID-19 because we are “lazy” or “unhealthy”.  We are suffering at higher rates as a direct result of 500 years of discriminatory treatment.  East and West Oakland have the worst air quality in the City of Oakland, we have the least access to healthy food, the least access to quality education and jobs and face the most discrimataion by city policy and policymakers. 

This is a state of emergency for Black people that demands immediate action equal to those enacted in the presence of such a declaration.

Read the full list of demands here: https://justiceteams.org/the-black-new-deal