President Trump recently announced the shutdown of all legal immigration to the United States, with one notable exception: temporary farm workers. Even Trump recognizes that immigrants are essential to keeping this country running.
That’s just as true, Josue De Luna Navarro writes this week, for immigrant workers who are undocumented. But even as they take terrible risks to go to work, they enjoy virtually no safety net. In the next stimulus package, Josue argues, that needs to change.
Demographic data on COVID-19 cases, meanwhile, is revealing another stark inequality: African Americans constitute a huge share of coronavirus infections and deaths. As Tracey L. Rogers explains this week, that’s because they’re more likely to be poor, uninsured, or working essential front line jobs in the first place. In a pandemic, these existing inequalities become even deadlier.
Also this week, Jill Richardson reflects on the quandaries facing medical marijuana patients quarantined in prohibition states, while Jim Hightower reports on the postal service’s fictitious deficits.
Thanks for reading. We hope you’re keeping healthy and sane.
New This Week…
In a Pandemic, Health Inequities Are Even Deadlier | Tracey L. Rogers
There’s an old saying in the black community: “When white people catch a cold, black people catch pneumonia.”
Undocumented Workers Need a Bailout, Too | Josue De Luna Navarro
Beyond performing essential labor, we are humans — and, in a pandemic, that should be enough to deserve help.
Quarantined With No Medicine | Jill Richardson
I used to have a prescription for medical cannabis to treat migraines, but now I live in a prohibition state. It’s going to a long quarantine.
Most Years, the Postal Service Is a Moneymaker | Jim Hightower
Most of the agency’s deficits are phony paper losses, manufactured by Congress at the behest of corporate privatizers.
Fashion Revolution | Khalil Bendib
No one’s ridiculing religious fashion now.
In Case You Missed It…
Postal Carriers Are Essential Workers. They Need a Stimulus, Too. | Sarah Anderson
The president is trying to use the coronavirus crisis to kill the public postal service. We can’t let him.
I Take Hydroxychloroquine. Please Don’t Hoard It. | Olivia Alperstein
To prevent hoarding and protect public health, we need to move towards universal care and lower-cost drugs.
The Next Coronavirus Bill Must Protect the 2020 Election | Robert P. Alvarez
We need no-excuse absentee voting now — and that’s the bare minimum.
The EPA Just Gave Polluters a License to Kill | Lois Gibbs
Using the pandemic as cover, the agency is suspending environmental regulations. I’ve seen firsthand what happens next — people die.
