Black Sacramento Demands in Light of COVID-19 and Rates of Black Death
Across the country, Black People are being infected and dying at disproportionate rates from COVID-19. In order to respond effectively to the needs of the Black community our elected officials, health experts, advocates and organizers must take a look at the ways in which the descendants of enslaved people, Black, African and African-Americans are most impacted by this virus through a racial and class lens.
We are not the only impacted community but we are the most impacted and we are clear that unless Black people are healthy and safe then no community is healthy and safe.
WE, as the Descendants of Slaves, Black, African American organized in order to force acknowledgement of the impact of this crisis on the Black community to forge a path forward to health, demand equitable treatment from all public, local and state governments and to establish a space for Black voices at all tables that plan around, impact and shape our lives.
Black people are not suffering at higher rates of COVID-19 because we are “lazy” or “unhealthy”. We are suffering at higher rates as a direct result of 500 years of discriminatory treatment. We have the least access to healthy food, the least access to quality education and jobs and face the most discrimination by city policy and policymakers.
This is a state of emergency for Black people that demands immediate action equal to those enacted in the presence of such a declaration.
Immediate Demands:
General Demands:
The disproportionate impact on Black people demands a disproportionate response - most of the resources must be given/directed to those with the greatest need.
We first demand that all demands set forth by the Sacramento African American Covid-19 Outreach Coalition to Sacramento B.O.S and City Council be immediately met.
Cancellation of rent/mortgages and halt on evictions until December 31, 2020 with no requirement for repayment
Supply 500,000 reusable or disposable face masks and 500,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to the African American community.
Measures to increase access to the internet including buses with wifi in neighborhoods to provide internet access and making the internet a public utility to ensure access for all.
Universal basic income, with written assurances from employers to secure the jobs of those who suffered layoffs due to the pandemic, eligibility for food assistance, and expansion of unemployment benefits.
Publish cumulative data by race and zip code to properly track the spread of the virus and to inform allocation of resources.
No person, company or entity should be allowed to profit off of a pandemic, nor should the city/county of Sacramento direct COVID disaster funding towards ongoing development plans without being informed by relevant data to support those decisions as being a science based response to the pandemic.
No government can place a demand on a people without incurring responsibility for the costs those demands will exact – free masks for all, testing, retesting, contact tracing and adequate healthcare, internet access, etc.
Reparations for Black people, who as a demographic are disproportionately affected in this moment as a result of historic structural, institutional, and systemic racism
We demand that all Black people in the 95817, 95825, 95843, 95670, 95838, 95815 zip codes immediately receive no-cost universal testing and re-testing, and access to no cost PPE. With particular focus on locating and ensuring that unhoused neighbors receive these services as well. Secondly, Black people in the 95821,95608, 95630, 95610, 95823, 95758 area codes receive the above stated resources.
People who are unable to quarantine due to co - housing or multi- generational housing must be provided with temporary no-cost secure housing.
An immediate end to the criminalization of Black people who are wearing mask or face coverings in public spaces.
An immediate halt to the targeting and criminalization of Black people by law enforcement for noncompliance with the social distancing and any other public safety mandates.
The establishment of mental health wellness checks, making culturally competent or representative counseling available to the Black community to mitigate the impacts of trauma resulting from the combined impacts of systemic racism/oppression and the devastating effects of the pandemic.
Release all inmates of African American ancestry inside Sacramento County Jail who do not pose an immediate threat to the larger community…..not based on judge, DA or Public Defender recommendations, but with a community led commission to review questionable cases.
Universal Covid - 19 testing for all Sacramento County Jail inmates and staff with preference to inmates and staff of African American ancestry.
Immediate and adequate access to video and voice call visits.
Anyone requiring quarantine within any Solitary Housing Unit has access to phone visits and programming to reduce the effect of long term isolation.
Allow all birth workers, including but not limited to Doulas and Midwives, inside of healthcare facilities. Their presence and services ensure the survival of mothers and babies through the birth process.
Social distancing compliant in - person crisis and basic mental health services by culturally informed traditional and non-traditional practitioners.
Families who qualify for CalFresh and food programs receive additional monthly benefits (not a one time payment), as the impact of entire families being home sheltering together require more food resources.
Provide clear definitions across county and state agencies of "shelter -in-place" orders including clear definitions of any escalation of orders or mandates.
Halt any and all interference by state/local law enforcement agencies against Grassroots efforts to provide direct life-saving services in the Black Community.
Testing, Public Health, and Patient Rights:
To have free, full, accessible testing and retesting sites, both walk-up and drive-through, in Sacramento and at encampments throughout Sacramento.
Supply 500,000 reusable face masks and 500,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to the African American community.
Give anyone of African or African American ancestry priority status for testing, the same as medical personnel, first responders, and essential workers.
Black maternal health and birth workers’ rights are prioritized to offer greater safety and better outcomes for Black mothers and babies.
Better resource the already culturally competent and accessible clinics in Sacramento County, with funds to enable them to buy tests and offer unlimited testing.
Data is collected and that the race of all people impacted and the outcomes of their interaction with COVID 19 such as hospitalization, ventilation, or death, are recorded and desegregated by zip code.
Ventilation and other care for COVID 19 not be denied due to anti-Blackness.
Systemic racism be addressed, through both short and long term solutions, as a root cause of the disproportionate impact of COVID 19 on Black people.
Sacramento County to scale up their overall testing capacity, as more testing sites are needed countywide.
All people are entitled to free masks, testing, contact tracing, and care - especially people who are currently incarcerated, living in congregate living situations, and newly released and entering into a living situation with family and/or other people.
Consistent best practices put in place, monitored, and enforced in all congregant living spaces that house vulnerable minority populations in danger of being infected by staff or one another, mass death due to lack of intentional care should be considered as a threat to life.
Free healthcare and access to testing, including antibody testing, for all people.
Testing and a policy concerning containment at transitional homes.
Specific, relevant and community-led mental health resources for Black people to be made free, accessible and available to all, including grief support for people who have endured loss due to COVID 19 and beyond.
Education and Families:
"All demands set forth by The Black Parallel School Board and Dignity in School Campaign CA, be immediately met".
Universal passage of all students during this time due to lack of technology equity and redistribution of resources to ensure that all students have access to what they need.
Measures to increase access to the internet including buses with wifi in neighborhoods to provide internet access and making the internet a public utility to ensure access for all.
Shelter, housing protections, and healthcare for all students and their families.
No criminalization of youth in Sacramento County related to COVID 19 precautions such as wearing a mask or face coverings.
Investment in community schools once students return, with wraparound services such as health clinics, nurses, mental health services, food for students and families.
Divest in school police departments altogether and invest instead in health services, arts and culture programming, and student supports.
Recognize the difficulty of distance learning for many students and create accessible resources. All students should have equal access. Including but limited to one distant learning device per child and not per household.
Have a community oversight body that is chosen by community members to oversee a holistic transition back to school.
Create meaningful programs to offer mental health support for youth in their respective community.
Retention of and protections for Black Educators, including a right to return to jobs.
Immediately discontinue all adoption proceedings of black children in child welfare as black parents are unable to reunify due to halted juvenile court proceedings from Covid-19
Immediately discontinue removal of black children from their kin family and immediately waive all organizational barriers to obtain custody such as criminal background and child welfare history
Provide social distancing complaint technical support for children and parents transitioning to distance learning.
Extension of school meals and service throughout the summer.
Extension of all virtual learning resources throughout the summer.
Immediate inclusion and requirement of Ethnic Studies programming for ALL K-12 and public college institutions, to bridge racial divides and promote cultural sensitivity to the historic struggles of the Black community.
Immediately address the need for hiring and retaining Black educators, administrators, counselors and support staff, as under-representation affects the social and academic achievement gaps for Black students.
Support and fund programs that center the Black lived experiences with a culturally responsive curriculum.
Provide all Black students with technology in the form of chromebooks, laptops and iPads so as to provide additional support and access to closing the achievement gaps.
End the school-to-prison pipeline.
Support for Black Workers and Small Business Owners:
Protection, security of employment rights and immediate paid sick days for all essential service workers, the majority of whom are Black people.
Personal protective equipment for all frontline workers and financial compensation for the risk that essential frontline workers are taking.
Mandatory free testing and retesting for all frontline workers and protection and paid time off for people who are self-isolating, parenting children or caring for others.
Overall support for the livelihood of Black people during this time.
Additional protection and support for rebuilding for Black businesses to ensure their survival, including a dedicated fund that is low-barrier and without an application process.
Deferral of current payments and taxes for Black businesses and forgiveness of debts.
Requirement of the city to contract specifically with Black businesses in order to provide much-needed income.
Small businesses with fewer than 500 employees to receive no interest loans, reimbursements, and debt forgiveness.
Right to return requirement to combat systemic racism for all employees.
Community oversight body to ensure that “return to normal” does not usher in a new era of even more violent capitalism and greater dispossession for Black people and businesses.
The ability to declare and receive compensation for a standby for health and safety.
Right to return for workers who are laid off and right to stay for workers who do not want to leave their jobs. And right to return to those who elect to protect their health in a pandemic.
Protection for Black union leaders.
Congress should create a supplementary direct assistance program for the self-employed and microbusinesses to help cover the cost of lost business, paid sick leave, individual health care costs, and fixed expenses.
Self-employed Americans depend on critical e-commerce infrastructure, including financial services, shipping, and Internet connectivity. The federal government should ensure that these essential services remain fully operational, even as the public and private sectors take greater measures to contain the spread of the virus.
PPES mandatory for all Frontline and essential workers. State/County/City should make them available to employers at cost. Currently they have to get them at retail this is an additional cost they can’t afford.
Employers should receive subsidies as an incentive to protect their workers.
Unemployment Insurance rates should not increase because of COVID layoffs – rates should stay flat.
Workers compensation insurance should be covered for employers so that they do not take a hit when workers are out sick with COVID 19.
Congress should expand Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by increasing the income threshold (which is dependent on a number of factors), including younger and childless workers, and eliminating the marriage penalty. Lawmakers should also allow it to be calculated and administered on a quarterly basis instead of annually, which would better support individuals struggling to manage short-term income volatility.
The City of Sacramento and the County of Sacramento should help facilitate a local Small Business Relief fund.
Six-month income replacement program conditioned upon full and continued employment of all restaurant staff, payment of rents to landlords, and ongoing payables to suppliers.
Provide rent abatement for the duration of the administrative closure followed by percentage rent through 2020 for tenants. This must be coupled with mortgage forgiveness for landlords.
Suspend state sales and payroll tax through end of year. Permit deferral of utility payments until reopening. Mandate that fees charged by third-party delivery platforms to our local restaurants be capped at a maximum 10% of the order.
Require business loss insurance to cover COVID-19 closures for hospitality businesses. The Governor must declare that the pandemic has caused physical loss and damage.
Suspend the payment of all insurance premiums (and, protect against a spike in premium related to COVID-19), utility payments, fines and provide cure periods to businesses for violations that do not pose an immediate hazard to the public and workers. All taxes, fees, premiums and fines must be suspended indefinitely until a thorough and thoughtful strategy can be implemented to address these payments.
Add flexibility to the definition of small business to allow small to mid-size restaurants to apply for aid.
Establish an on-call pool of African American restaurants to provide food and beverages throughout all city departments for all events, functions, meetings, etc. This list is not exhaustive.
City/County should contract with Sacramento based businesses for office supplies, cleaning supplies, paper, vehicles, etc. This list is not exhaustive.
Corporate accountability- no more subsidies, no more tax breaks! Corporations, real estate investors, developers must pay their fair share to fund public resources we rely on like public health, affordable housing, etc.
Create a pool of funding to support the programming of CBOs, cultural institutions, direct service nonprofits, and artists whose services are essential to the cultural preservation and artistic health of marginalized communities
Public Safety/Criminal Justice Reform:
Decarceration for the safety of all people, including those inside prisons who are incarcerated and also for the workers inside jails.
Mandatory testing for all people inside jails to prevent community spread.
Mandatory testing and retesting of those working as officers, guards, probation, parole, etc in public safety/criminal justice to ensure the safety of the community.
Require all public safety/criminal JUSTICE employees to wear safety gear like but not limited to mask and gloves.
Require ALL public safety/criminal justice employees to practice social distancing.
Re-entry resources for people who are released, including financial support, identification, food, housing, MediCal and funds for family members who house and care for newly released people.
The removal of barriers resulting from a criminal record in accessing key essential human necessities.
End the militarization of police.
No national guard or military enforcement.
No further criminalization, fines or arrest of Black people based on the COVID 19 mandates, including orders on masks, travel, etc. especially for unhoused people who are disproportionately targeted and impacted.
All law enforcement must immediately cease profiling Black people, including health authority, housing authority, Sacramento Police Department including but not limited to all specialized task forces and Sheriffs.
End all requirements that people meet with parole officers, attend court, and other appointments. End all penalties related to this.
Stop criminal enforcement and divert funds to invest in public health workers, education and distribution of resources.
Cease police use of pandemic to conduct raids.
No expansion of the surveillance state.
No increased surveillance in connection to slow streets projects.
No use of disaster funds by the City to implement non COVID19 data to implement non essential programming connected to non essential development/gentrification.
Adequate long term housing for those being released due to COVID -19.
Access to all elected officials and return the right of the public to be present during policy decision making for City Council, Board of Supervisors and State Capitol meetings. No decisions should be made without the public.
Housing:
Access to hotel rooms and vacant units for all unhoused residents who want them now.
A humane, dignified, harm reduction approach to non-infected residents in housing or hotels, to allow for the same shelter-in-place guidance and guidelines as the general public.
Provide safe and secure off or onsite storage for all belongings of unhoused residents while sheltering in hotels or spaces.
Access to jobs for hotel workers on a voluntary basis, to work in hotels providing housing and a right to return for all of the hotel’s usual workers once business returns to normal.
No over-policing of people who are unhoused and sheltering in hotels.
Resources for new mothers and babies in sheltering spaces, including diapers, wipes, and other essentials.
Debt forgiveness of back rent for renters who cannot pay rent or utilities during this time.
Personal protective equipment, training, testing, and paid sick leave for all people working in transitional housing and shelters. Protections for residents and workers.
The return of buildings to the people once developers default, abandon it or leave it vacant.
The use of private hotels, closed schools, convention centers and City/County owned facilities to provide housing for those who need it.
Rent and mortgage moratorium and forgiveness across the board for the length of time necessary not to experience massive evictions.
No evictions citywide.
Stop all sweeps of houseless settlements and provide bathrooms, showers, hand washing stations, soap, drinking water, laundry vouchers, dumpsters, vermin abatement, and cleaning supplies.
Transportation:
Protections for transit drivers including partitions between driver and passengers, space for physical distancing, paid sick leave, and personal protective equipment.
Disclosure of COVID 19 positive status for emergency services drivers who are transporting someone who has COVID 19.
Sacramento Regional Transit must implement safety guidelines for drivers and passengers.
Guaranteed free public transportation for frontline workers, including but not limited to Light Rail, busses and ride shares.
Protection and funds for families of transportation workers and mandatory free testing and retesting for all transportation workers.
Other Resources:
Stop all nonessential construction in marginalized high-risk communities.
Transparency on the use of COVID disaster funding in Sacramento.
Prioritizing community projects- City and County staff time and resources should go to community projects first (affordable housing, small business support, etc) and private profit-driven projects and proposals last.
Food access- ensure all Black people have access to healthy and fresh food even when the market drives up food prices in the crisis.
Diversify the boards and commissions that inform and govern city decisions to ensure Black folks are part of decision making.
Ensure pedestrian safety and traffic calming measures in predominantly Black neighborhoods so that Black children and youth can walk, play and bike outside without fear of injury or fatality. Without the isolation or criminalization through enforcement of communities, with impacted communities at the table to be part of any plans.
Long Term Demands:
Reparations for Black people, who as a demographic are disproportionately affected in this moment as a result of historic structural, institutional, and systemic racism - -
Reparations, which include: debt forgiveness, free education, free healthcare, enforcement of CA Slavery Era Insurance Registry & similar local slavery era disclosure ordinances including mandatory reporting, imposition of maximum fines & penalties, mandatory fund contribution from companies that have disclosed already, and distribution of funds to Black-led organizations serving Black populations. Possibly even expand law to include profiteers from the housing/financial crisis and carceral systems.
Healthcare:
Access to long term mental health care, funding of culturally competent free clinics, cooperatives, community programming centered around healing and facilitation of individual and group agency.
Environment - cessation of environmentally compromising projects placed in black and brown communities, united and systematic planning, and immediate remediation of toxic neighborhoods.
Food Security:
Create neighborhood food banks.
Fund urban farms.
Fund urban gardening.
Utilize public land to grow food for distribution.
Plant edible plants in marginalized neighborhoods.
Tax property owners for boarded “unavailable” housing discouraging vacancies to raise prices or to divest neighborhoods for speculators.
Education:
No more privatization of public schools serving Black communities.
Fully functioning state of the art facilities with the appropriate technology.
Culturally relevant curriculum.
No sale of school land to private developers.
Community oversight.
Staff should reflect student body recruitment and incentivize to become educators.
Find out of school community based enrichment.
College fund.
Professional/craft/trade training.
No police in schools.
Housing:
Land trust for Black people in Sacramento City and County utilizing eminent domain over vacant or underutilized properties to create a land trust for housing and economic development for Black people. This would be a form of reparations for many things but specifically for the use of eminent domain to displace Black residents from Sacramento and ongoing gentrification etc.
Toxic-free communities, immediate repudiation, right to be housed elsewhere during remediation with funds to relocate with right to return/right of first refusal at the previous rate.
Equitable neighborhood services including cleaning and access to parks.
Criminal Justice Reform:
Sacramento County must increase diversion programs that keep people out of cages and allow them to successfully thrive.
End cash money bail.
No late night releases from any Sacramento County Jails
An audit of the Sacramento County Jails by an impartial party.
Redistribute recidivism funds to culturally competent programming invested in education, job training, and service to those incarcerated.
Remove all police from schools and redistribute those funds to student materials and needs.
Public Safety:
The Sacramento Community Police Review Commission should have the autonomy to function without interference from city leadership.
Immediately establish a Community Oversight Commission for Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. Whose ranks are made up of an accurate representation of Sacramento County’s population as it related to race and economic levels. Excluding any and all parties directly or indirectly in personal or professional relationships to anyone person or entity inside of the Sacramento Sheriff's Department.
Sacramento County/ City must redefine public safety to include jobs, housing, education, clean streets, mental health and access to food, water and clean air.
The Sacramento Police Department must be transparent and honest about incidents of Use of Force which still disproportionately impact Black Sacramentians.
Transportation:
Provide free transportation to unhoused/displaced persons with a means to access health care and other human needs.
Provide free transportation to all low-income community members.
Signatories:
Sonia Lewis - The LIBERATION Collective for Black Sacramento, ASCRIBE Educational Consulting and Sacred Passages Doulaing Services
Jamier Sale - Cell Block 2 City Block
Shane Lester - Sacramento Black August
Cat Brooks - APTP - Justice Team Network
Asantewaa Boykin RN, MICN - Anti Police-Terror Project/Mental Health First
Melina Abdulla - Black Lives Matter Los Angeles
Rhonda Stephanie Young, MSW - Ifeatu Healing & Community Services
Alexandria White, South Oak Park Community Association, SCC UMOJA Faculty
Robert Boykin
Christi Ketchum
Faye Wilson Kennedy, Chair, Sacramento Area Black Caucus (SABC)
Teah M. Hairston Safe Black Space (University of Missouri), SAC ACT
Keon Johnson - Yours Mine Ours
Ebony Harper - California TRANScends
Adam Jordan Wills - APTP
Eboni Stallworth
Ryan McClinton - LIVE FREE Community Organizer, Sacramento ACT (Area Congregations Together)
Berry Accius - Voice of the Youth
Charlotte Banks
Kara Toles, MD. Emergency Medicine Attending Physician.
The LIBERATION Collective for Black Sacramento
Elyah Williams (Eroz Blaqueer)- ENGAGE
Black Women United
Adrianne Pennington
Khaya Osborne — 2019 Youth Poet Laureate
Astin Williams - APTP Sacramento
Rashid F. Sidqe - Lift Up Love Always
Kalyn Dean
Alliance for Boys and Men of Color
Keyan Bliss - Move to Amend and APTP Sacramento
Ibraheem Bangura - ACCE, Decarcerate Sacramento, SOUP
Ayotunde Ikuku - Gender Health Center
Tifanei Ressl-Moyer
Aron King, BSN, RN
Onethia Yemonja Riley
Dr. Stacey Ault - The Race and Gender Equity Project
Ursula Yisrael, Black Parallel School Board Parent Organizer
Donielle Prince
Cheryl Grayson
Tanya Fasion - Black Lives Matter Sacramento
Janine Williams
Imani Mitchell, IAM Studios
Malaki Amen, California Urban Partnership
Chanowk Yisrael
Yisrael Family Urban Farm
Michael Blair, Neighborhood Innovation
Kionte Guines, BSW - Sisters Mentally Mobilized Sacramento, Justice4Desmond
Allies
Teresa Sale - ANSWER Coalition Sacramento
Decarcerate Sacramento
Robert Cummings-Decarcerate Sacramento
Erica Jaramillo, OPNA and Sac Tenants Union
Mackenzie Wilson, Sacramento Tenants Union, Sacramento Justice League, Decarcerate Sacramento, Anti-Police Terror Project
Gender Health Center
Nghia Nguyen Still Here : Alliance for Trans Rights
Thongxy Phansopha; ACCE, Sacramento SOUP, TLC for Black Sacramento, Decarcerate Sacramento
Uma Tufekcic: ACCE
Mk Orsulak, MD, MPH
Christina Bourne, MD, MPH
Carly Brannin: Anti Police-Terror Project Sacramento, MH First
Niki Jones: Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee, Decarcerate Sacramento, Sacramento Services Not Sweeps, MH First
Matthew Bridges: Decarcerate Sacramento, Sac SOUP, Sac Kids First, ACCE, Sacramento Food Policy Council
Courtney Hanson: California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Californians United for a Responsible Budget, Decarcerate Sacramento
Cailey Bronny: Students Together Reducing Exploitation And Trafficking Team; Decarcerate Sacramento; NorCal Resist; NLG; APTP; J2J
Delphine Brody - The Trans and Non- Binary Housing Collective
The Trans and Non- Binary Housing Collective (TNHC)
Ian Kim MD - Doctors for Camp Closure
Chayo Lavin - Anti Police Terror Project, MH First
Morning Star Gali, APTP Sacramento