Kevin Gosztola Profile picture
Apr 7, 2020 26 tweets 9 min read Read on X
Bernie Sanders is hosting another virtual chat on the coronavirus. This one will focus on the devastating impacts of COVID-19 on African Americans.

Watch here:

Thread on livestream.
Bernie: In Louisiana, 70 percent of people who have died are African Americans. But African Americans make up one-third of population. #CoronavirusUSA
Bernie: In Milwaukee, WI, where unbelievably enough there is an election today—that's a whole other story—twice as many black residents have tested positive compared to white residents, while comprising only 27% of the population. #CoronavirusUSA
Bernie: In Chicago, IL, African Americans make up more than half of all positive coronavirus cases. Make up 72 percent of coronavirus-related deaths and yet account for only 29 percent of the population. #CoronavirusUSA
Bernie: What we are seeing is African American communities is suffering at a far higher rate than the white communities. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Victoria Dooley says many black people cannot simply stay at home. They work in "essential services," and they are at high risk of getting the coronavirus. Plus, lack personal protective equipment to prevent contracting disease. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Victoria Dooley: Not only can most black people not stay at home but have more chronic health problems that put black people at high risk of dying from coronavirus (diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, etc) #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Victoria Dooley lists off what can ameliorate disparity between black and white Americans—

Raise minimum wage to at least $15. Need to eliminate homelessness. Several billionaires could write a check. We need federal jobs guarantee. Ban fracking. #CoronavirusUSA
Briahna Joy Gray says early on especially, one of ways you could be tested by COVID-19 is if you'd traveled abroad. Black Americans less likely to be able to avoid global travel so they weren't being tested. #CoronavirusUSA
Briahna Joy Gray: What you see in Milwaukee, WI, is community particularly hard hit by economic conditions.

Significant number of African American men worked in industrial west jobs. They were greatly impacted by trade agreements. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Barbara Ransby: I'm in Chicago. "Really can't speak about pandemic in colorblind terms."

Need to understand intimate relationship between race and class. As AOC said, a pre-condition is poverty. Race and poverty set stage for crisis. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Barbara Ransby: Movement for Black Lives is putting people first, which contrasts with those who are profiting off the coronavirus crisis.

Ransby mentions solidarity caravan that circled Cook County Jail to protest for release of detainees #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Barbara Ransby: Everything we are before the crisis as a society as a people, that's how we show up in the crisis. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Darrick Hamilton: Black people have low wealth. Inadequate health insurance. Work in jobs that are more precarious. Lower wages. Extended family networks to care for because of larger networks of poverty. Environmental degradation. All contribute to crisis. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Darrick Hamilton: Green New Deal says threat of unemployment should be removed. Federal government has responsibility to ensure adequate wages and adequate benefits #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Victoria Dooley: Some people say Medicare for All won't cure racism. For me, that's such a silly thing to say. Slavery didn't cure racism but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have done it. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Victoria Dooley: With Medicare For All, we could train medical professionals to provide culturally competent care.

Also, if first doctor doesn't treat you well, African Americans could afford going to second doctor for better opinion. #CoronavirusUSA
Briahna Joy Gray says free public colleges and universities, or fully funding HBCUs, would prevent African Americans from incurring hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. They would be able to complete advanced degrees. #CoronavirusUSA
Briahna Joy Gray: Twelve years after we graduate, the average African American tends to have more debt than when they graduated because of interest rates. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Darrick Hamilton: Millennials have gone through two economic crises. Yet, we told millennials pathway toward success was through education, and we burdened them.

Later adds education should be a right we guarantee in America #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Barbara Ransby: We need to democratize education, K-12. Address overcrowded and underfunded public schools. This is piece of puzzle of making higher education a human right. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Barbara Ransby says incarceration targets poor black and Latinx people of color. People leave prisons and return to communities after enduring discrimination. They're wounded, and that's part of landscape of coronavirus crisis. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Victoria Dooley: Lack of access to internet is huge problem for black and brown communities. Impediment to home schooling during crisis. So many don't have laptops, etc. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Darrick Hamilton: We're telling homeless individuals to shelter in place but they have no place to shelter. Need right to shelter. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Victoria Dooley: Asthma is huge problem for communities of color, especially with environmental toxins. #CoronavirusUSA
Dr. Darrick Hamilton: "It is a pernicious society when one's identity becomes a risk factor." #CoronavirusUSA

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Kevin Gosztola

Kevin Gosztola Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @kgosztola

Feb 20
Today is Day 1 of extradition appeal hearing for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the British High Court of Justice.

His legal team has requested that the court grant Assange a full appeal hearing.

Thread with articles on what Assange's team considers grounds for appeal.
The CIA allegedly plotted to kidnap, poison, or kill Assange. To extradite Assange would undermine his right to life & right to be free from “torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” under European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
thedissenter.org/countdown-day-…
Since the Espionage Act has never been used by US to prosecute a publisher, Assange's attorneys argue extradition is barred. Publishing info was not a “criminal offense under national or international law at the time when it was committed.”
thedissenter.org/countdown-to-d…
Read 12 tweets
Jun 22, 2023
The media delusion that Daniel Ellsberg blew the whistle 'the right way' thedissenter.org/media-delusion…
Video version that includes the clip of David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart erroneously arguing that what Ellsberg did was somehow different from Snowden's whistleblowing. Or that Ellsberg did it the "right way."
Incredibly, while contending that Snowden was an egomaniac, Brooks and Capehart spend the part of the show that is supposed to be a tribute to Daniel Ellsberg focusing on themselves. They make it about their views on Snowden—views they know Ellsberg absolutely didn't share.
Read 6 tweets
Dec 31, 2022
Not only was 2022 yet another year with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in prison, but it also was another year in which Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) refused to include Assange in their annual jailed journalists index
The United Kingdom, which has kept Assange in Belmarsh prison for over 3.5 years at the behest of the US government, should be light red on this map - just like Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Philippines, Turkmenistan, etc. But CPJ’s leadership can’t bring their organization to do that
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ own methodology suggests Assange qualifies, and should have qualified long ago.

Assange frequently commented on “public affairs” for print, radio, TV, and online.

So why doesn’t CPJ include Assange in their index?
Read 7 tweets
Dec 25, 2022
Bah humbug from @SouthwestAir to far too many passengers flying their airline.

This is Midway airport in Chicago, where families with crying children had to deal with the fact that they were lied to by this airline. Because their flights were never going to leave Chicago. ImageImageImage
I was booked on an 8:10 PM flight to Denver to visit family for Christmas. The plane was there at the gate, but @SouthwestAir had no pilot. They must’ve known, yet they waited til 15 min before boarding time to cancel the flight.
Apparently, @SouthwestAir is in the middle of major crisis in Denver. They are dealing with a staff shortage that’s so bad that at least one flight from Tampa was turned around and sent back to where it took off.

How many flights to Denver were canceled today due to this crisis? Image
Read 17 tweets
Nov 16, 2022
US Senate investigation confirmed that dozens of women at the Irwin County Detention Center were medically abused by a single ICE doctor, who was hired even though the Justice Department and state of Georgia had sued him thedissenter.org/senate-investi…
Here is Karina Cisneros Preciado at the Senate permanent subcommittee hearing on ICE's medical mistreatment of women. She courageously shared her incarceration story, including when OB-GYN contracted by ICE subjected her to treatment without her consent.
Sen. Ossoff grilled the ICE official who is in charge of oversight for doctors contracted by the agency. His negligence allowed Dr. Mahendra Amin to treat and abuse dozens if not hundreds of women who were in ICE custody at Irwin County Detention Center between 2017-2020.
Read 6 tweets
Oct 8, 2022
Rallies in Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, Tulsa, San Francisco Bay Area, & Washington DC, to support Stella Assange & supporters who formed human chain around UK Parliament to free Assange.

All part of global day of action that has been underway. I'm speaking at the DC rally.
LIVE: Hands Off Assange rally in DC at 12pm ET

thedissenter.org/livestream-han…
DC Free Assange rally at DOJ about to begin
Read 10 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(