Asma Mohammed felt an ache in her heart at not being able to participate in the nationwide protests against police brutality of black Americans last weekend. A Minnesota-based activist and community organizer, Mohammed wanted to hit the streets and march to demand justice for George Floyd and other black victims, but while the coronavirus is still rampant—and the possibility of unknowingly having it without any symptoms — the only option she had was to stay at home and stay safe from Covid-19.
“I have had a few breakdowns, because I can’t be out there with everyone. And I really want to be, because it’s important that non-black people show support,” Mohammed says. “But I can’t risk getting sick. There’s people in my household that are autoimmune-compromised, and I can’t put my family at risk.”
Although in May the FDA approved a Coronavirus Treatment Acceleration Program to help speed up testing to manage the virus, there are still no approved treatments to prevent or treat Covid-19.
Even so, activists like Mohammed aren’t allowing the pandemic to deter them from taking action. Instead, they’re turning to digital tools like social media to raise awareness, pass along information, and make demands to their local officials.
“Not everyone is a front-liner, and that’s OK because we need all types of people,” says Andréa Hudson, an activist and prison abolitionist based in North Carolina. “There are many ways people can help out from their homes, and we need people to do it. We need everyone to show up.”
A bail fund is an organization that collects money for the purpose of posting bail for those in jail on pretrial detention. Bail funds are used for a number of purposes, including freeing protestors who have been arrested or journalists detained in the course of reporting on the events.
The Community Justice Exchange lists a Directory of Community Bail Funds by state on its website, so you can contribute to one near you. ActBlue has a page that splits donations between bail funds in multiple cities here.
As Americans continue to demonstrate, police in some states and cities are gathering protesters and sending them to detention centers. Hudson, who is the director of the North Carolina Community Bail Fund of Durham, says that going to jail in the midst of Covid-19 can be a death sentence.
The CDC has strict guidelines for correctional and detention facilities during the pandemic, understanding that controlling the spread of infectious diseases in crowded, shared environments is difficult enough without potential introduction by staff members and new intakes, but many institutions are failing to protect their populations or, at best, struggling to adapt.
“You can’t socially distance yourself while being locked up. It’s not possible,” Hudson says. “We need to get folks out and at home. Yes, if you get the virus you can recover, but you can also die. That’s why it’s important that we free everyone. We all know for a fact that with Covid it can lead to death. No one deserves that death sentence.”
Donating money to organizations that serve to fight injustice and racism allows them to continue serving their missions. Here are a few:
Black Lives Matter is working for a world where black lives are no longer systematically targeted for demise.
Black Visions Collective (BLVC) believes in a future where all black people have autonomy, safety is community-led, and we are in the right relationship within our ecosystems.
The Okra Project is a grassroots, organizer-led initiative with the goal of fighting food insecurity in the black trans community.
Loveland Foundation is committed to showing up for communities of color in unique and powerful ways with a particular focus on black women and girls.
Not everyone is equipped to make avant-garde protest art, but anyone can create something inspired by how they are feeling in the current social environment.
Makia Green, a coorganizer for Black Lives Matter DC (who uses them/they pronouns), said that they would like to see more people creating art in support of the protests.
“Culture is very important in the moment, and we need people making signs and banners that align with what we are trying to change,” they said. “You can easily make a Black Lives Matter banner and put it on your balcony or up in your window. You can even make a song or write a poem. Whatever you feel moved to create and make is important.”
Emailing, tweeting, and calling your local officials to advocate for nondiscriminatory and antiracist policies, or to demand they take action to stop police brutality, influences policymakers to enact meaningful change.
“Some people just can’t take the risk of going out in public because of their safety, and in some places protesting means risking their lives,” Green said. “Calling your officials and tweeting in defense of black lives is just as important as taking to the streets.”
And for those who do take the risk to go outside and protest, there are factors to consider on how to keep you and your community safe.
Boston University epidemiologists Ellie Murray and Helen Jenkins have used their Twitter platforms to speak up about some of the wrong information circling around about protesting and the risk of transmitting Covid-19.
While both Murray and Jenkins believe numbers could possibly rise in Covid-19 cases, there’s not enough data to determine if that’s true.
“I don’t feel comfortable telling people that they shouldn't fight against systemic racism and police brutality,” says Jenkins. “I don’t think it’s fair to tell people they have to wait until the end of a pandemic to get justice. It’s also not going to be the public's fault if the numbers go up from protesting. It’s the system that forced them to go out and protest.”
Murray said it was alarming to see so many police officers without masks on in images and videos of the protests.
“It’s not a good idea to use tear gas, which causes coughing, or to force protesters to gather together in small spaces during a pandemic where we need to be able to distance ourselves from one another,” she says. “All of that leads to people being at a higher risk of transmitting the virus to others.”
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Murray’s advice to minimize your risk while protesting is to:
- Wear a mask, eye protection, and heat-resistant gloves
- Do not yell, because it can spread droplets. Choose signs, drums, or similar noisemakers instead.
- Stick with a buddy group to keep your number of unknown contacts low.
- Carry water, hand sanitizer, and bandages. Keep your hands as clean as possible.
- Self-quarantine and avoid the elderly, if possible, for 14 days after hitting the streets.
“Covid is a problem and so is racism,” said Murray. “We need to be fighting both.”
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