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Opinion – COVID-19 and the African American Community

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The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting the African American community especially hard due to stark health disparities that were widespread well before this pandemic.

Our Black community here in Oakland and Alameda County is now, once again, particularly at-risk for a dangerous health problem. While Alameda County’s Latino and Pacific Islander communities are also experiencing disproportionately high rates of COVID-19, African Americans are dying at the highest rates. This is a very stressful and frightening reality.

Governments at all levels must stay focused on this disparity to avoid the worst outcomes of this epidemic and protect our community, especially our beloved seniors. The way that this virus appears to cause higher rates of fatalities among African Americans needs to be central to the way we tackle this problem.

During the last few months there have been unprecedented organizational challenges caused by COVID-19, including a nationwide shortage of tests; an uphill battle to acquire enough personal protection equipment (PPE) for health workers and the community; medical staffing shortages due to the scale of this pandemic and the urgency of getting care and housing to people who are homeless.

Throughout this turmoil we remain focused on the ways that the outbreak is hitting some communities so much harder. Why? Because while this disease does not discriminate, it does not erase racism against the African American community.

In response, the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency’s Public Health Department (ACPHD) is working to reduce disparities and promote health equity.

For the COVID-19 response, ACPHD is using a multi-pronged strategy: increasing access to testing, facilitating isolation and quarantine through health and social supports, providing community-specific health education, and improving the quality and integrity of race/ethnicity data.

We can and must mitigate the long-term health and socioeconomic impacts of this pandemic on communities of color.

Here are a few of the ways that our County has been responding to COVID-19:

The County’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) is acting as a central hub for distribution of PPE, like masks and gowns, for local organizations. The OES purchases supplies and also receives PPE from state and federal sources, and directs it to the appropriate healthcare facilities and community organizations in the County. While PPE remains in tight supply nationwide, OES has fulfilled over 90% of the requests received.

ACPHD has launched a testing team, focused on increasing access to COVID-19 testing through partnerships with cities, community clinics, and faith-based organizations. Any testing sites that come online in the county must comply with ACPHD guidelines, including access for low-income and homeless individuals as needed. I’m proud to say that Roots Community Clinic is leading the way with their walk-up test site in East Oakland, which serves all.

• Due to decades of discrimination, the Black community makes up a significantly disproportionate share of the county’s homeless population. We have quickly expanded the availability of shelter and testing by working with the state of California to acquire hotel space throughout the county for unsheltered individuals who are COVID-19 positive or at high risk for complications from the disease. The program continues to expand with more hotels currently being added throughout the county.

• Although the emerging data in Alameda County and California shows that the racial disparity is not as extreme here as it is in some cities, any disparity is unacceptable. To keep our communities informed of this issue, the county has been updating a COVID-19 data dashboard with information on the spread of the disease, including by zip code and racial group. View the dashboard at acphd.org/2019-ncov.

We have much more work to do. We need to continue to increase testing and expand contact tracing to help us identify new cases early and understand how the COVID-19 is spreading in our communities.

We need culturally competent teams to do this work. We need to overcome a history of discriminatory policies and outcomes that brought us here. We need to continue to support families, workers, small businesses and communities struggling with the economic consequences of this pandemic.

We cannot accept as fact that the Black community will get sick and die at inequitable rates. As we keep fighting COVID-19, we must do so in a manner that substantively addresses the historical racial health inequities of Alameda County.

Supervisor  Nate Miley represents Alameda County District 4, which includes Pleasanton, Oakland and Castro Valley.

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Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 13 – 19, 2024

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Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 6 – 12, 2024

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Who are the Alameda County District 4 Supervisor Candidates’ Top Campaign Contributors?

Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.

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Jennifer Esteen. (Campaign photo) and Supervisor Nate Miley. (Official photo).
Jennifer Esteen. (Campaign photo) and Supervisor Nate Miley. (Official photo).

By Zack Haber

Nate Miley, who has served on Alameda County’s Board of Supervisors since 2000, is running for reelection to the District 4 supervisor seat.

Jennifer Esteen, a nurse and activist, is seeking to unseat him and become one of the five members of the powerful board that sets the county’s budget, governs its unincorporated areas, and oversees the sheriff, Alameda Health System, and mental health system.

District 4 includes most of East Oakland’s hills and flatlands beyond Fruitvale, part of Pleasanton and unincorporated areas south of San Leandro like Ashland and Castro Valley.

Voting is open and will remain open until March 5.

In California, campaign donations of $100 or more are public record. The records show that Miley has received about $550,000 in total campaign donations since he won the previous District 4 election in March 2020. Esteen has raised about $255,000 in total campaign donations since she started collecting them last July. All figures are accurate through Feb. 20.

While Miley has raised more money, Esteen has received donations from more sources. Miley received donations of $100 or more from 439 different sources. Esteen received such donations from 507 different sources.

Below, we’ve listed each candidate’s 10 highest campaign contributors. For Miley, two of his top campaign donors also bought their own advertisements to support him and/or oppose Esteen through independent expenditures. Such expenditures, though separate from campaign donations, are also public record, and we listed them. Additionally, the National Organization of Realtors has spent about $70,500 on their own independent expenditures to support Miley.

Nate Miley’s top campaign contributors:

The California Apartment Association, a trade group representing landlords and investors in California’s rental housing business, has spent about $129,500 supporting Miley’s election bid through about $59,500 in ads against Esteen$55,000 in ads supporting Miley, and $15,000 in campaign donations.

The independent expenditure committee Preserve Agriculture in Alameda County has spent about $46,025 supporting Miley through about $27,200 in their own ads, and $18,825 in donations to his campaign. Preserve Agriculture has supported reelection efforts for former Alameda County DA Nancy O’Malley, and Sheriff Greg Ahern, a republican. It’s received funding from ChevronPG&E, and a the California Apartment Association.

Organizations associated with the Laborers’ International Union of North America, or LiUNA, have donated about $35,000 in total. Construction and General Laborers Local 304, a local chapter of the union representing which represents over 4,000 workers, donated $20,000.

Laborers Pacific Southwest Regional Organizing Coalition, which represents 70,000 LiUNA members in Arizona, California, Hawaii and New Mexico, donated $15,000.

William ‘Bill’ Crotinger and the East Oakland-based company Argent Materials have donated $26,000. Crotinger is the president and founder of Argent, a concrete and asphalt recycling yard. Argent’s website says it is an eco-friendly company that diverts materials from landfills. In 2018, Argent paid the EPA $27,000 under a settlement for committing Clean Water Act violations.

Michael Morgan of Hayward, owner of We Are Hemp, a marijuana dispensary in Ashland, has donated $21,500.

Alameda County District 1 Supervisor David Haubert has donated $21,250 from his 2024 reelection campaign. He’s running unopposed for the District 1 seat.

SEIU 1021which represents over 60,000 workers in local governments, non-profit agencies, healthcare programs, and schools in Northern California, has donated $20,000.

UA Local 342, which represents around 4,000 pipe trades industry workers in Contra Costa and Alameda counties, donated $20,000.

The union representing the county’s deputy sheriffs, Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Alameda County, has donated $17,000.

Becton Healthcare Resources and its managers have donated $14,625. Becton’s mission statement says it provides “behavioral health management services to organizations and groups that serve the serious and persistent mentally ill population.”

Jennifer Esteen’s top campaign contributors:

Mary Quinn Delaney of Piedmont, founder of Akonadi Foundation, has donated $20,000. Akonadi Foundation gives grants to nonprofit organizations, especially focusing on racial justice organizing,

Bridget Galli of Castro Valley has donated $7,000. Galli is a yoga instructor and a co-owner of Castro Valley Yoga.

Rachel Gelman of Oakland has donated $5,000. Gelman is an activist who has vowed to redistribute her inherited wealth to working class, Indigenous and Black communities.

California Worker Families Party has donated $5,000. The organization’s website describes itself as a “grassroots party for the multiracial working class.”

David Stern of Albany has donated $5,000. Stern is a retired UC Berkeley Professor of Education.

Oakland Rising Committee—a collaborative of racial, economic, and environmental justice organizations—has donated about $3,050.

Fredeke Von Bothmer-Goodyear, an unemployed resident of San Francisco, has donated $2,600.

Robert Britton of Castro Valley has donated $2,500. Britton is retired and worked in the labor movement for decades.

Progressive Era PAC has donated about $2,400. Its mission statement says it “exists to elect governing majorities of leaders in California committed to building a progressive era for people of color.”

East Bay Stonewall Democrats Club has donated $2,250. The club was founded in 1982 to give voice to the East Bay LGBTQIA+ communities.

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