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Data the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene compiled showed that in the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic the virus infected more than 40,000 people and killed more than 1,000, with the most affected zip codes in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn, according to The New York Times. As of Tuesday, the death toll was up to more than 14,345, and the city reported 247,543 confirmed COVID-19 cases. “There is a clear reason our communities are hit hardest by COVID: the vast, systemic inequalities that were growing pre-COVID are now determining who lives or dies in this pandemic,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
The Medicare for All proponent said the Bronx, which is about 44% Black and 56% Hispanic, has twice the death rate of the rest of New York City. “We have long been talking about how healthcare should be treated as a human right in the United States, why we need Medicare for All, and this is one huge case study as to why this is so important,” she said. “We need to really rally around and really understand the intersectional ways that this virus is hitting low-income black and brown communities.”
Civil rights activists are doing exactly that by organizing digital campaigns to direct money and legislation to communities of color. Civil Rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson is promoting a Kerner Commission to document the “racism and discrimination built into public policies,” according to The New York Times. “It’s really hard to overstate the critical moment we are in as a people, given how this virus has ripped through our community,” activist Rashad Robinson told the newspaper. Robinson is president of the country’s largest web-based racial justice organization, Color of Change. “We know the pain will not be shared equally,” he told The New York Times.
Ocasio-Cortez’s fundraising effort, a partnership with New York nonprofits, identified the hardest-hit areas of the congresswoman’s district and served them using donations through a community phone bank check-in and local food pantry fund. “It means a lot for the safety of seniors and others to not have to go out and wait in a crowded line for food,” the congresswoman said.
On the legislative side of activism, Ocasio-Cortez and other congressional Democrats have long been championing policies to pump more money into communities of color. Ocasio-Cortez is pushing the White House to do more than funnel an added $250 billion to a small business loan program depleted last week, according to the New York Post. She said she also wants to see a recurring direct payment of $2,000 a month and a $1,000 a month per child allotment that doesn’t depend on immigration status. “If you’re going to say and if we’re going to say that this new bill is going to give us $5 and then Congress is gonna peace out for another month-long recess, I’m here to say that that’s not going to help our communities,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
She also rebutted concerns of those worried the economic deficit would grow if a Democrat became president with advocacy for a tax increase on the wealthy in a web press conference with other Democrats on Monday. “Let’s make sure that [Amazon founder] Jeff Bezos pays what he needs to pay and contribute to this country. Let’s make sure Facebook pays taxes for once,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Let’s make sure Walmart pays taxes for once, so that they don’t pay less than undocumented immigrants do in taxes in the United States of America. So let’s get it together. I’m willing to come halfway, and let’s raise some taxes so that we can bring down the deficit—I’m happy with that.”
“But you are not gonna come for Medicare more than you already have. You’re not gonna come for Medicaid more than you already have. You’re not going to come for our education system, for our water, for our infrastructure because that is not where we need cuts right now,” the congresswoman added.
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