San José, CA – The COVID-19 pandemic that is sweeping through the United States, with over 600,000 confirmed infections and almost 25,000 deaths as of April 14, is hitting African Americans the hardest. While complete data has not been released by the federal government – just one of a long list of failures – early and partial data shows that nationwide, African Americans are dying at twice the rate of other Americans from COVID-19.

The hardest hit in terms of deaths per local population, has not been New York City – although the death toll there has been terrible, with 8000 known dead – but in majority Black counties in the South. There in the black belt, the historic site of the African American Nation, the death rate per capita has been higher than New York City, (although the numbers are much smaller).

In a number of states in Midwest, including Illinois and Michigan, the death rate for African Americans has been three times as high as their share of the population. In the city of Chicago and the state of Louisiana, both with large African American populations, the percentage of dead from COVID-19 who are Black is twice that of their population share.

The heavy toll in Black communities comes as no surprise given the history of national oppression of African Americans. Blacks are twice as likely as whites not to have any health insurance, and face discrimination in the health care system. Doctors often do not test sick African Americans for COVID-19 and limit their access to proper care.

African Americans also are more likely to work in jobs which cannot be done from home, leading Blacks in so-called essential jobs such as in transportation to be more exposed to the virus. The higher levels of stress, less access to healthy foods, and higher level of poverty all add to the danger of dying from COVID-19.

What the African American community needs are both all-encompassing programs, such as universal health care, which would leave no one without health care because of their inability to pay. At the same time, support for targeted programs – such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), which graduate a disproportionate number of Black professionals, and a restoration of affirmative action in college and medical school admissions – is needed to overcome a long history of exclusion of African Americans from health care professions.

Please join Freedom Road Socialist Organization for a live stream discussion of the COVID-19 crisis and its disproportionate impact on oppressed nationalities, African Americans in particular. Featuring Masao Suzuki and Frank Chapman. Sunday April 26 @ 3pm Eastern/12pm/Pacific. Links to the program available on all the Freedom Road Socialist Organization social media platforms. Facebook: FreedomRoadSocialistOrg, Twitter:@FreedomRoadOrg, Instagram:@FRSOorg

#SanJoséCA #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #AfricanAmericans #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #BLM #Covid19

The weak job creation was reflected in the rise in the official unemployment rate, which rose by one-tenth of one percent, from 8.1% in April to 8.2% in May. This rise in unemployment was concentrated among oppressed nationality workers: the unemployment rate for African Americans rose from 13.0% to 13.6%, and the unemployment rate for Latinos rose from 10.3% to 11.0% between April and May. In contrast the unemployment rate for whites stayed the same, at 7.4%.

There was even more bad news in other parts of the report. Average weekly hours of work fell by one tenth of an hour, as more people had to take part-time work because of the poor economy. The broadest measure of unemployment, which includes people at work part time who can’t find full-time work rose from 14.5% to 14.8%. In fact the survey of households (on which the unemployment rate is based, as opposed to the survey of businesses that provides the number of new jobs) said that all of the gain in jobs came from part-time work, as the number of fulltime workers actually fell in May.

300,000 more workers said that they had been out of work for more than six months in May as compared to April, and now make up almost half (43.8%) of total unemployed. The average length of unemployment rose from 39.1 to 39.7 weeks, or almost ten months.

The poor employment report was the third month in a row that job growth has slowed and shows a slowdown in the U.S. economy. From December of 2011 to February of this year, an average of more than 250,000 net new jobs were created each month. But from March through May, the average was less than 100,000 net new jobs a month. Contributing to this problem is the continuing loss of government jobs, down another 13,000 in May alone, and 161,000 over the last year. The biggest loss in May was in public education, which makes up more than half of government job losses for the month.

The future is looking increasingly grim as major corporations such as Hewlett-Packard are announcing job cuts of tens of thousands while government at all levels (federal, state, and local) are cutting back on jobs. With almost half the Euro-zone countries already in a recession and growing signs of economic slowdown in Asia and Brazil (Latin America’s largest economy), the world capitalist economy is showing signs of stagnation – slow economic growth coupled with high unemployment – while the danger of another worldwide economic crisis is rising.

#SanJoséCA #Unemployment #AfricanAmericans #Capitalism #Latinos #workersStruggle

Statement by Freedom Road Socialist Organization

We express great sadness and extend our solidarity to all who have lost loved ones and their homes in the great disaster that has struck the South and New Orleans in particular. Bodies are floating in the water. Rooftops and bridges are crowded with those who have received no assistance whatsoever. No water. No food. Nothing.

While the rich were able to flee in their custom SUVs and get on planes to faraway second homes, the low income, working class and especially Black people suffered the brunt of the hurricane’s devastation.

Hurricane Katrina demonstrates the power of nature and the weakness of U.S. society. Not all of the disaster is natural; much of it is manmade and preventable. In fact, it is an unnatural disaster. Why do we say this? For poor African Americans there was no evacuation plan. None, period. Those who could not evacuate could only turn to each other and hold on for dear life. Not the city, nor the parish, nor the state had a plan for evacuation. Consider this fact: The authorities knew that in the event of a serious hurricane, a disaster of this magnitude was possible. Congress refused to spend money to protect the low-lying and poorest parts of the city. This is not ‘a mistake.’ It’s a crime.

Bush was warm and dry in Texas – on vacation. At his press conference following the hurricane, he had a stupid smirk on his face and preached “patience.”

Though the powerful storm was tracked and announced on every news station – every hour on the hour for days – and the region had experienced being smashed by big hurricanes in the past, government and politicians let this catastrophe happen and are now allowing the situation to get worse. The reason: Low-income Black people do not matter to them. Not to Bush, not to the Republican party, not to rich white people. Black people’s lives are not worth a thing to them. Poor people are expendable and their homes and livelihoods are unimportant to those who rule the land. Remember, this is the South and Black people are an oppressed nation in this part of the U.S. Black people’s oppression is not just history, it is now. The outrage is building across the country.

The authorities don’t care about those who need help – but let thirsty, starving, half-drowned people take from the shelves of stores sinking under water, and the police, the National Guard, the army and marines are called in to ‘keep order.’ Search and rescue operations were curtailed.

Bush and the handful of rich billionaires and multi-millionaires who rule the U.S. empire will send an army halfway around the world to occupy a country for its oil, but won’t mobilize the resources needed by the people of New Orleans and surrounding coastlines. Heaven and earth should be moved to stop this deepening disaster. Instead the politicians and the rich watch and wait. Allowing low-income African American people and others to suffer and die.

The current government-sponsored ‘rescue and relief’ operations are worse than inadequate. And those responsible need to be held accountable. We demand that the government do whatever it takes to provide meaningful aid to the victims of this crisis. Now. The priority must be placed on those who have the greatest needs. We must turn our collective grief into a storm of anger. Help is needed. And so is justice.

#UnitedStates #Editorial #AsianNationalities #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #HurricaneKatrina #greatDisaster #NewOrleans #PeopleAreDying #poorAfricanAmericans #AfricanAmericans #rescueAndRelief