Dallas, TX – On Saturday, April 25, cities and towns around the country mobilized for a National Day of Car Protests to demand the cancellation of all rents and all mortgages for homeowners, small landlords and small businesses for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. Demands included halting payments for utilities and internet, as well as implementing hazard pay for all essential workers.

With nearly half a million Texas workers left unemployed since March due to shutdowns and shelter-in-place orders, families across the Dallas-Fort Worth region need more than temporary concessions and moratoriums on evictions. It's time for the city and state governments responsible for the deadly lack of preparation and response to the crisis to step up and carry out real relief.

New data showing that Black communities in Dallas County are disproportionately facing hospitalization and death caused by COVID-19 adds a level of urgency to the demands for relief. Without stable housing and a safe place to ride out the worst of the pandemic, the communities already hit hardest by economic exploitation are made even more vulnerable.

In Dallas, activists and local organizers rode in a caravan of vehicles bearing banners and signs reading, “If we can't work, we can't pay!” “Bail the people out this time!” and other related slogans. Messages on vehicles invited onlookers to get involved with the organizations' campaigns. Participating groups included the Dallas Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (DAARPR), Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100), and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The caravan travelled through South Dallas residential neighborhoods, homeless encampments and downtown to city hall, garnering support and cheers from community members along the way.

“It was already a struggle to make ends meet for so many of us. Now, we're dealing with a crisis wreaking havoc on our health, and our economic situation – our stability. We need to know we'll have what we need to survive this. So we're going to get together and build this fight for us – every person and family deserves that right now,” said Jennifer Miller, an organizer with the Dallas Alliance.

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