Roundup: Seeking Racial Justice in the Age of COVID-19
Solutions for the pandemic and for the structural problems that existed long before it.
This week we’re reflecting on what this pandemic means for racial justice, voting rights reforms, and climate equity. We also share an update on our continued work to stop unnecessary voter purges, this time in North Carolina.
Democratic Reform
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How we build a racially inclusive democracy during COVID-19 and beyond.
Policymakers and election officials must take the following steps to ensure that Black and brown Americans—and all Americans—can exercise their fundamental right to vote now:
- Increase opportunities to register to vote by making online voter registration and same day registration universal and by relaxing voter registration deadlines.
- Expand opportunities to vote by mail and ensure vote-by-mail systems are racially equitable.
- Preserve and secure in-person voting during an extended early voting period and on Election Day.
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Florida still hasn’t taken appropriate action for an election to be held during the COVID-19 crisis.
We’ve joined partners in renewed legal action against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee, demanding emergency accommodations to the state’s election procedures to ensure that Black and brown voters, who have borne the brunt of the economic and social crisis caused by COVID-19, are not also denied their vote as a result of the pandemic.
Read the press release on what DeSantis can do for voters in Florida
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We’re moving to stop an unjustified purge of thousands of registered voters in North Carolina in the run-up to this November’s presidential election.
Judicial Watch, a far-right activist group, sued North Carolina state election officials and two of the state’s most populous counties, which also have a disproportionately high number of voters of color. We see their case for what it is: yet another attempt to use bad data, routinely rejected by courts, to try to undermine political participation.
Read the press release on our move to intervene in their case and stop the purge
Economic Justice
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Let’s talk about racial justice and democracy in the time of coronavirus.
Racial capitalism and structural racism have made it so that Black and brown workers are more likely to be on the front lines of this crisis; more likely to have been exposed to the pollution that led to preexisting health issues; but less likely to have access to testing, economic relief, and health care.
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Fifty years after Earth Day, coronavirus, climate injustice, and inequality collide.
The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing the same structural inequalities we see unfold time and again in climate disaster. Now new evidence reveals that the same communities who live with pollution are most vulnerable to the disease. The Coronavirus is an environmental justice crisis.
