Equity Lab | Inequity in COVID vaccines + Sacramento rental assistance
The Equity Lab is a community-funded journalism team that explores issues of equity, wealth, race, power and justice in the Sacramento region. Support our work. Donate here.
Good morning, Equity Lab readers:
It’s Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, and I’m Alex, your equity reporter.
I’ve been thinking a lot about power recently. Both metaphorical and literal.
First, literal: A massive winter storm has swept through the southern and central parts of the country. Huge swathes of Texas have been paralyzed by blackouts. Millions are in the dark, freezing cold, rationing their food and water. People are dying, waiting in the frigid temperatures, or sick of waiting, taking the matter of power into their own hands.
Watching it unfold is horrifying and sad and strange. Cataclysmic events seem almost … normal in California — earthquakes, rolling blackouts, destructive wildfires, and choking, smoky air. We’ve steeled ourselves to weather the monumental, and feel like it’s inevitable (it isn’t).
I grew up in New Jersey, in a city just off the Hudson River. I remember our family steeling ourselves for a hurricane in 2011 and getting nothing but strong gusts and heavy rain. When another, more powerful storm came through, too many of us thought we’d be OK. Hurricane Sandy was devastating — streets were flooded for weeks with oil-slicked waters, and power was out for days. The National Guard had to be sent in.
A couple years later, the New Jersey governor’s administration allegedly threatened to withhold hurricane relief aid for our city if the mayor didn’t support a lucrative redevelopment plan.
These were my first thoughts when I heard that Sen. Ted Cruz had apparently fled Texas to Cancun the same week millions are shivering in the dark. Experts say low-income neighborhoods and communities of color were among the first to see their power cut.
So many of us have learned to steel ourselves against the worst outcome. And then there are the small, select few who don’t listen to warnings, or don’t have to, or don’t care to. Power bestows responsibility. But power also absolves — if you have the means, you can just, I guess, leave. Everyone else will have to deal with the mess, and you remain untouched.
And now, power, metaphorical: There is, of course, the coronavirus pandemic, the big cataclysmic event that has touched essentially every corner of the globe, including Antarctica.
I’ve been writing a lot about vaccines these days. Who’s getting them, and who isn’t. The trend is, unfortunately, as you’d expect — white residents in California, for example, are getting shots at twice the rate of Black and Latino residents.
Health officials have put forward a couple explanations. People linked to industries like longterm care facilities (residents) and health care (workers) skew whiter. And, for good reason, a lot of early vaccine efforts have been targeting those groups. Demand, as of now, outstrips supplies.
But I’ve talked to health advocates and researchers who say those reasons alone aren’t enough to explain the disparity. For all the talk of getting vaccines targeted in neighborhoods that have seen intense hotspots through the pandemic, it’s still a patchwork system — you have to know someone who knows something about some place.
This story is still evolving. I feel like I’m in a kind of holding pattern, waiting for more data, waiting for more signs of improvement. Waiting.
— Alex Yoon-Hendricks, ayoon-hendricks@sacbee.com
Here’s what else you need to know this week.
Must-Read Stories
DEMANDING BETTER VACCINE ACCESS IN SAC COUNTY: In a letter sent Wednesday to county public health officials and elected leaders, prominent Black leaders in Sacramento point out that Black residents have disproportionately been affected by COVID-19, but have also received a low level of information about and access to vaccines thus far. “It is clear that the first phase of the vaccine distribution effort has not been equitably distributed,” the letter stated. “This has to change, and we must act now.” [Read more here]
INEQUITY IN COVID VACCINES?: Black and Latino residents are receiving far fewer doses than white residents in Sacramento County, according to new data released by state officials Friday, reflecting a trend of racial disparity that has come to define the coronavirus pandemic. [Read the story here]
FOOD ASSISTANCE FOR UNDOCUMENTED CALIFORNIANS: As immigrant communities continue to be left out of federal COVID-19 relief and are unequally impacted by the pandemic’s economic downturn, a Democratic lawmaker is introducing a bill that seeks to expand a state food assistance program to Californians regardless of their immigration status. [Read more here]
Photo: Workers harvest spinach in Hollister in 2019. Credit: Hector Amezcua/UC Davis
More Interesting Reads
Sacramento’s homeless people deserve more concern than Mayor Steinberg’s ‘landscaping’ | The Sacramento Bee’s Viewpoints
California nursing home workers died of COVID. The industry failed to tell state watchdogs | The Sacramento Bee
‘Accountability on all ends’: Some Sacramento sheriff’s units first to wear body cameras | The Sacramento Bee
Pain and Isolation Are Driving America’s Lockdown Overdose Surge | VICE News
Can ‘The Bachelor’ Ever Not Be Racist? | VICE Entertainment
ICE Will Focus More On Arresting Public Safety Threats Instead Of All Undocumented Immigrants | Buzzfeed News
What we’re listening to, and you should too:
I want to Report a Theft, by Gimlet Media’s Resistance
Across the globe, in the world’s most known museums, you can find artifacts from almost every modern day country in Africa. These artifacts — many cultural, religious, and familial treasures — were taken as bounty of war or just plain stolen from their rightful owners.
One activist, Mwazulu Diyabanza decided to literally take the matter into his own hands.
This week, we’re listening to the story of one man’s journey to reclaim this art and hold the true thieves — the world’s most powerful countries — accountable.
Listen to the podcast here.
Are you renting in Sacramento?
Equity Lab reporter Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks tweeted about the City Council approving a $31.7 million fund to help renters during the pandemic.
The tweet attracted a great deal of attention, which makes it clear how much of a need there is for financial assistance.
Wondering if you’re eligible? Find eligibility criteria here.
❗ Don’t miss the deadline: Applications are open from Feb. 25 to March 19, 2021.
➡️ For more information, click here.
Black History in Sacramento
It’s Week 4 of Black History Month.
Last week, we shared photos of Black history in Sacramento on our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts.
In case you missed them, check them out! ⬇️
Where to find us
➡️ We’re posting every day for Black History Month: Follow our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. And check out our monthlong Black History Month event calendar here.
❗ We want to hear from you! Please send us your story tips and thoughts to equitylab@sacbee.com.
Thank you for reading, and we will see you again next week!
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