Centering Community Needs—Coronavirus
From All Praxis Staff • March 16, 2020
Greetings Praxis Family!
As we navigate the constant stream of news of coronavirus, we want to affirm and recognize our communities’ strengths. We continue to build power for community healing, and our hearts are full as we see how our communities are continuing showing up for each other.
To be clear, this isn’t our first epidemic or the first time our communities are at greatest risk of harm due systems and structures that have evolved in a manner that deprioritizes us. However, as we have learned over time, we must work together to ensure that EVERYONE is held and protected during this period.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of what The Praxis Project commits to as we continue to center community in health justice and racial equity during this challenging time:
We will continue to uplift the great work of our organizing partners from across the country who are showing up for each other in incredible ways. We will continue to share resources that help our communities to stay safe and to help others stay safe.
We will continue to push hard within the health serving professions to make sure that EVERYONE is provided care in a manner that is appropriate and does not put any of our families in danger or at risk of separation.
Praxis is adjusting our practices around our in-person convenings. We will update our network as we work to design the safest and most accessible ways to replace or modify our upcoming in-person gatherings. We are exploring different formats to ensure that we are continuing to provide meaningful support to help our organizing partners across the country focus on meeting your communities’ priorities for health and justice.
Praxis will continue to join our grassroots partners in demanding community-centered support from the federal government, including:
Free testing for anyone who is being told by a clinician that they should be tested.
Free care for those who test positive regardless of insurance coverage.
Transparency from our federal agencies.
Financial and material assistance for people who are expected to refrain from working.
Federal government transparently regarding supply issues, including shortages in protective gear, testing kits, and ventilators.
A moratorium on ICE deportations to ensure that undocumented folks are not discouraged from seeking treatment.
A safety plan that addresses the needs of disabled people in the US who may be affected by the virus.
An end to our current administration’s vilification of migrants attempting to cross the US’ southern border.
Honoring its legal obligations to Native people by providing necessary medical personnel on reservations and other indigenous lands to combat this crisis.
In this period, it is good to remember Audre Lorde’s sentiments that “caring for [ourselves] is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
In Solidarity,
The Praxis Project