The “Suburban Lifestyle Dream” is inherently racist because it relied on the displacement of millions of mostly Black and Brown people to construct freeways, as well as the legally-structured disinvestment from those communities. The scars are still visible today. The three images are of the area around Hollenbeck Park in Boyle Heights, LA before and after the construction of two freeways in twenty years connecting to the suburbs. The communities that experienced disaplacement were also experiencing severe housing shortages following WWII.

1| Here is the #Covid19 situation in LA County prisons:

The number of incarcerated men and women in prisons in LA County was 20,402 as of March 2020. That is 25% over capacity for the eight County (Sheriff), State, and Federal facilities in #LACounty. 2| Over 3,500 or 17% of incarcerated men and women have been infected; 13 have died.

Over 50% of the infections originate from the North County Correction and the Pitchess Facilities in Castaic; both Sheriff facilities. Over a 100 staff have been infected as well.

1 / Capitalism requires inequality and racism enshrines it. Ruth Wilson Gilmore is helping me connect the dots during these times of education. These two photos are of Hollenbeck Park in the southwest portion of the Boyle Heights community in Los Angeles; 1941 / 2020. 2 / Built nearly 10 years apart, the construction of US 101 on the left, in the late 1940s, and I-5 on the right, in the late 50s, would create decades of impacts that significantly degraded the quality of life and disrupted communal economic activity vital to this community.

1 || I had no idea to what extent @uscensusbureau policy dictates how the incarcerated are counted or not counted, not only in the Census but in all things legislative which includes equal rights. This also feeds gerrymandering.

npr.org/sections/codes… 2 || Prisoners do not get the right to vote while incarcerated, yet that inability to vote is used against them. They are never counted in the place of residence, pre-incarceration. They are counted in the place of their incarceration which skews all sorts of stats including C19.

1_ #Covid19 inequality in #LA County:

Out of the top 20 communities that have the most cases per capita, only two have majority white populations, two. Little Armenia has the highest rate; 1 confirmed case for every 40 people living in that community.

docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d… 2_ Latino / Latinx communities have been impacted more than any other group, but communities with large black populations have per capita rates far lower than the LA County per capita rate:

Vermont Square
Willowbrook
Vermont Knolls
Harvard Park
West Vernon
and more...

One of my closest friends recently lost two aunts to #COVID19 in a period of 14 days; one in Philadelphia, one in Corona, Queens.

One of those aunts was the maternal constant throughout his life. She lived in Corona where 1 in 26 people have been infected with the coronavirus. This disparate per capita rate is not just unique to Queens, NY. The coronavirus is having a profound generational impact on black families across the US. It is decimating an older generation of black women and men, and it’s not a coincidence.

Highest percentage of the population infected:

New York City: 1.40%
Spain: 0.39%
Italy: 0.28%
France: 0.21%
USA: 0.20%

For more comparisons between countries visit here: bit.ly/3eqbd8t

#COVID19 #coronavirus Highest death rates by country:

UK: 13.21%
Italy: 13.12%
France: 12.77%
Sweden: 10.63%
Spain: 10.46%

#COVID19 #coronavirus

Why is everyone acting like the US was / is better than Castro’s Cuba? Like we forgot what the American government did to black, brown, and gay people in the 1960s. 1
In the 1960s the US redlined land that was legally owned and / or housed, mostly in communities of color, depriving millions of people from economic and housing opportunities equal to those of white people.

2019 experienced an above-average year of costs ($45.0 billion) as the 40-year (1980–2019) annual cost average is $43.9 billion (inflation-adjusted). Our neglect for #climate and economic resiliency is unfathomable. #USA

Source: @NOAANCEIclimate The combined cost of the Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi river flooding ($20.0 billion) was almost half of the U.S. cost total in 2019. There was a trend of an increasing number of billion-dollar inland flooding events during the 2010s.

1 // (#rkelly #SurvivingRKelly)

To @RKelly,

When I was in high school I played your music so much that my discman wore down my copy of TP-2.com. I thought "I Wish" was the most beautiful song in the world. 2 // (#rkelly #SurvivingRKelly)

I haven't listened to your music since your trial but I want you to know that you've deeply disappointed the teenager in me, and disgusted the adult in me.