Racial Disparities & COVID-19
What comes up when we bring a Racial Justice Lens to the COVID-19 public health crisis?
The racial justice lens has seven key elements to allow us to analyze & build plans, actions and campaigns for their maximum ability to achieve the systematic fair treatment of all people. Here’s a summary of some issues that come up when applying the elements of the lens to the COVID-19 public health crisis.
Status of Federal Demand for Data Collection - Until the Federal government commits and follows-through on delivering race data as part of their COVID-19 briefings and reports, we must take action to advocate for this. This document shares:
info on legislation introduced to require racial data
examples of advocacy to get the data that's needed
Guidance: Making the Demand to Collect Demographic Data - In the absence of federal leadership, we are relying on states and localities to collect and make available this data. This document shares:
which states have race data tracking and reporting in place
what the demand should be at the state and local levels
examples of actions by mayors and governors
Racial Justice Fact Sheet - Black, brown and Indigenous communities have always been denied the resources needed to be healthy. It is absolutely predictable that we are the communities hit hardest by COVID-19. This fact sheet provides numbers on the impact to help us demand effective, more inclusive responses for all of us.
Race Class Narrative COVID-19 Resources
These talking points were developed to assist you in framing the conversation around how communities of color are hit hardest with COVID-19. It applies lessons learned from our Race Class Narrative work and can be used in conjunction with other COVID-19 messaging guidance. Included are:
tips to remember
sample talking points
sample narratives
This National COVID-19 Message Guide was developed by Race Class Narrative Action & ASO Communications. It provides guidance on how to craft messaging that addresses the insidious rhetoric that undermines our long-term shared goals. In this moment we need messages that disrupts xenophobia, racism, and individualism. More than ever people are susceptible to fearing “the other,” and without a counter-vision we can inadvertently stoke that fear.
The Racial Justice Center recently held a research briefing that covered data from our recent Race Class Narrative message testing in six battleground states. In that briefing, we reviewed our union and People of Color samples and explored our Spanish language testing. Materials from that briefing are compiled here. This is not COVID-19 specific but the lessons learned can be applied to this moment.