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People attempt to social distance as they wait in line in downtown Port-au-Prince on March 26, 2020

Haiti faces hunger as Covid-19 looms

By COVID-19 (Coronavirus), News & Current Affairs

By Chandler Thornton and Etant Dupain, CNN — Haiti is no stranger to crisis. Amid civil unrest, staggering unemployment, lack of quality health care and severe poverty, the country now faces a global pandemic that officials say could worsen its hunger crisis. “The situation has been described as a perfect storm approaching,” Dr. Carissa F. Etienne, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said in a briefing Tuesday, warning the spread of…

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The body of Ethel Freeman, in the wheelchair, was found outside the convention center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

When Blackness Is a Preexisting Condition

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

How modern disaster relief has hurt African American communities By Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, The New Republic — Ethel Freeman became famous in death, even though no one knew her name. For months, she was one of the many nameless people who lost their lives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s deadly intersection of race and class. Her son, Herbert Freeman Jr., had successfully rescued the 91-year-old retired school employee from…

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An illustration about how the coronavirus is especially ravaging the African American community. Image by Jamiel Law for the New Yorker.

COVID-19: We’re in This Together (But Who Does “We” Include?)

By Black Family Summit News, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

By Dr. Sharon L. McDaniel, BACW Board President — We are strong. I know we will come through this together. Whereas now there is despair, desperation and death, there will someday soon be recovery, renewal and life. I anticipate things will change. Perhaps online grocery shopping and virtual doctor visits will grow in popularity. We may also see a higher occurrence of daily hand-washing as a result of our new habits. But who is the “we” who will get through COVID-19 together? More importantly, will “we” all get through this in the same way? While a collective impact brings us together, does that same collective impact separate us more?

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Rev. Joseph Lowery with Rosa Parks

Undaunted Resistance: Joseph Lowery and the Spirit of SCLC

By Editors' Choice

By R. Drew Smith, AAIHS — Against all odds, a movement for racial justice took hold in mid-20th-century America, emerging from within the racially-heated South, and drawing sustenance from a rich-array of Black religious sources. A cadre of activist Black clergypersons were among the central figures in this historic social movement, with organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) epitomizing the promise of a socially-mobilized Black clergy sector. Although SCLC…

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