For many college students, COVID-19 has become an inconvenience and created a series of disappointments. Students miss their friends, have had events or sports cancelled, missed out on a traditional graduation, and had to deal with a transition to online classes. But for low-income students, COVID-19 has presented a much more dire situation. Uncertainty about how many universities will handle a new semester come August has not eased the situation for many students who rely on their schools for housing and food security.
Archives: Voices
CHN’S COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship June 19
It is Juneteenth. On June 19, 1865, the U.S. Army reached Galveston, TX to tell enslaved Black Americans that they were free, 2 months after the Civil War had ended with Lee’s surrender at Appomattox. We celebrate freedom today, but we also must confront that we are not two months late, but 155 years late in ridding the nation of the scourge of racism. That scourge is killing Black Americans ages 45-54 at 7 times the rate of white Americans from COVID-19. It means more Blacks and Latinx are losing income from work during the pandemic than whites, more work in frontline jobs and cannot work safely at home, more Blacks and Latinx are poor, more do not have enough to eat, and more are falling behind in their rent.
Supreme Court Rejects Trump Administration’s Inhumane Attempt to Deport Dreamers
We celebrate the Supreme Court’s ruling, but know that the real celebration of justice and human decency awaits Congress’ enactment of legislation to provide legal status and a path to citizenship for 700,000 DACA recipients and other immigrants who every day make essential contributions to our communities. That should happen with no delay and the Trump Administration should abandon its inhumane attempts to tear our neighbors from their homes and families.
CHN on landmark Supreme Court victory for LGBTQ workers: ‘Our country’s march toward ending systemic discrimination continues on many fronts’
At a time when millions of Americans are marching in support of black lives and to dismantle systemic racism, the Supreme Court Monday took an important step toward reversing another form of discrimination. The Court’s landmark 6-3 ruling banning discrimination against LGBTQ people in the workplace is a major step toward equality.
What Can You Do? Some Counsel: Show me your work
These last few days and weeks have reminded me of the importance of actions and not just words. Many of my well-meaning colleagues at other non-profit organizations and past work colleagues reached out to see how I was doing and let me know they were thinking of me. My initial reaction was why? Why are you reaching out to me now when the killing of Black people did not start with George Floyd or Ahmaud Arbery or Breonna Taylor. The killing of Black people and racism are deeply rooted in this nation’s history, and we have been living with that for more than 400 years. So, thanks for your nice words and prayers, but it’s time for you to do the work!
CHN’S COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship June 12
States are allowing businesses and other facilities to reopen, usually with some restrictions. COVID-19 is not done, though. We have passed the 2 million mark for cases in the U.S. and half the states plus Puerto Rico have seen cases trending up in the past two weeks. While some people are going back to work, close to half of all households (nearly 120 million people) include someone who lost income from work, with Latinx almost 1.5 times as likely to experience lost earnings as White households. 12 million of the poorest among us have not gotten help they are eligible for, and growing numbers have not had enough to eat or been able to pay their rent.
COVID-19 and Nov. 3, 2020: A colossal disaster in the making?
Anyone following the news knows the calamities that have come to characterize 2020: a coronavirus pandemic, a Great Depression-like economic collapse, and police violence born of systemic racism. On top of all this, election observers say Nov. 3, 2020 – Election Day in the U.S.America – could result in the largest mass voter disenfranchisement than at any time since the era of poll taxes and literacy tests in the 1960s and before.
COVID-19 and social distancing: What happens if a hurricane strikes?
With the arrival of hurricane season, local emergency responders as well as public health officials are asking, how can people practice responsible social distancing if they find themselves suddenly ordered to evacuate to high ground? The question is by no means academic. When Tropical Storm Cristobal first achieved tropical storm status in the Gulf of Mexico’s Bay of Campeche on June 2, it marked the first time in recorded history that three storms had achieved tropical status this early in the hurricane season.
CHN’S COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship June 5
Needless death afflicts this nation. As racism caused the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and so many others, so are death, sickness, and hardship from the pandemic disproportionately inflicted by race. Black Americans are dying from COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of Whites. Blacks and Latinx are more likely to be unemployed, more likely to go without food, and more likely to be unable to pay rent. With levels of joblessness far higher than during the Great Recession, and those without jobs far more likely to be uninsured, federal solutions and investments remain essential.
Food insecurity spikes to unprecedented level
The number of U.S. households suffering from food insecurity has nearly doubled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, and food insecurity among children has more than quadrupled. Those sobering conclusions are among the findings of a panel of experts who shared their research on a webinar this week sponsored by The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institute, the Urban Institute, and Share Our Strength.
Tinpot Tyrant
Last week, we cited an analysis showing that if black Americans died from COVID-19 at the same rate as whites, 13,000 more black Americans would be alive today. Another survey showed that 56 percent of black Americans had lost income from employment since mid-March, and that close to one-quarter of blacks reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat in the previous 7 days, more than three times the proportion of whites. Then, amid the tensions over sickness and want, another crisis. George Floyd was killed by homicidal police in plain view of the world. The outrage of this crime, after so many other injustices, sent thousands of people into the streets.
CHN’S COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship May 29
As the nation mourned 100,000 lives lost to the coronavirus, it was necessary to understand that there would be many thousands more deaths over the coming months, and hundreds of thousands more cases, with the numbers dependent on the ways in which reopenings are achieved. This week’s data show how much some of us have been hit harder: African Americans and the Navajo Nation, and families with children prime examples. Especially shocking: nearly one-third of those jobless because they are sick with coronavirus symptoms are going without food, or close to one-quarter of those home because they must care for their children. The Senate must join the House in enacting COVID recovery legislation similar to the House’s HEROES act.