The vastly disproportionate death rate of African people in the U.S. from COVID-19 is attributed to so-called “pre-existing health conditions”. These conditions are imposed on the African community because we can’t afford the profit-driven healthcare, have limited access to healthy food, and are forced to live in poor, high density housing, among other symptoms of a population dominated by an hostile U.S. government.
The U.S. has been condemned throughout the world for its inability to respond effectively or humanely to the pandemic. While the U.S. currently has more than one quarter of the world’s COVID-19 deaths, the government has done very little to provide meaningful resources to the vast majority of people.
Other countries like China, Venezuela and Cuba have led the way in responding to the coronavirus. They’ve identified potential cures, implemented rapid stay-at-home policies, provided free rent (along with already-free healthcare) and have dispatched doctors throughout the world to treat infected populations.
The U.S. has responded by cutting off funding to the European-based, World Health Organization for its praise of China’s response to the global pandemic. The U.S. has also responded to Cuba by continuing strict sanctions intended to starve the socialist-run island into submitting to a capitalist-dominated economy, and has even blocked the flow of personal protective equipment to the island.
This week we talk with Lisa Davis, member of the People’s Organization for Progress, vice-chair of the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations (BIBC) and chair of the BIBC’s Healthcare Working Group. She was co-signer to a recent letter to the FDA head demanding expedited approval of a Cuban-developed COVID-19 drug treatment, Interferon Alpha 2B. Based in New Jersey, she is an outspoken critic of the lack of hospitals and denial of healthcare in the black community. She is a researcher and advocate of nutritional and traditional African approaches to health and well-being.
“I believe that the reason black people have such horrible statistics when it comes to being able to survive COVID-19 in these hospitals is because we are in the hospitals of a system that was set up by the colonizers. Just as the police can look at us and say “they look like a criminal” and kill us, the medical profession has the same ability to do that”, says Davis.
Hosted by Ticharwa Masimba and Matop Nyungu, the weekly People’s War Radio Show features guests covering all aspects of the current crisis - providing health and medical tips and resources, economic survival information, analysis of the political and international impact, how to prepare for the future and organize for African community self-determination.
The People’s War Radio Show, Episode #48: “Judas and the Black Messiah”, COINTELPRO and African martyrs, part2
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #47: "Judas and the Black Messiah", COINTELPRO and African martyrs, part 1
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #46: "How the streets were made", interview with Yelena Bailey
The People's War Radio show, Episode #45: African women organizing collective childcare and resisting the colonial state
The People's War radio show; Episode #44: African workers of the world unite and organize.
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #43: All eyes on Louisiana, Justice for Reverend Errol Victor
The People's War Radio Show, Episode#42: 60th anniversary of the assassination Congo's Patrice Lumumba
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #41: Celebrate Haitian Independence Day, Vive Ayiti!
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #40: 2020 year in review with Chairman Omali Yeshitela
The People's War radio show, Episode #39: Sinterklass & Zwarte Piet, Jim Crow minstrels, black face and falling statues
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #38: FBI war on today's black activists
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #37: 50 shots fired, 38 pierced the body of another black man killed by police in St. Petersburg, Florida
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #36: Give us the land! Hands off the Bethesda African Cemetery!
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #35: The "white people's State"- pilgrims, proud boys, police
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #34: Culture, the "war of ideas" and the Black Power movement
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #33: Philadelphia - democracy for who?
The People's War radio show, Episode #32: Land, water, police violence and Black Power in the French West Indies
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #31: #EndSARS: Necolonialism vs. a united socialist Africa
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #30: Video gaming, black representation and capitalist exploitation
The People's War Radio Show, Episode #29: Breonna Taylor, Mike Brown and the role of the grand jury in protecting the police
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