Without Testing and Vaccines, LA’s Garment Workers Are Hanging By a Thread
Alex Sanchez is 44 and had no pre-existing conditions, but almost died from COVID in January after being infected by his son, who works at an Amazon warehouse. He is still on oxygen and struggling to make it through the day, but he's trying to muster the energy to help people even more vulnerable than he is. Alex is a field organizer with the Garment Worker Center in Los Angeles, which mostly serves undocumented women who work in sweatshops. Some spend their days sewing masks and gowns for first responders. Alex says most of the 45,000 garment workers in LA aren’t getting tested for COVID, much less going to the hospital if they get sick. He’s working from his living room to help them find out where they can get vaccines, and how to stay safe during the pandemic.
Artist Cauleen Smith on Black Feminist Utopia in California
We’ve brought you so many stories about struggling with the loss of hope, and how much work there’s left to do to really reckon with America’s racist history. But today we’re having a conversation with someone who creates art from a deep sense of hope, and whose work also focuses on Black joy. Cauleen Smith is an artist and filmmaker who still believes we all have the means to create utopia in our everyday lives. Her immersive installations are currently on display at SFMOMA and LACMA.
Parents Unite From All Over California to Press for Reopening, But Whose Voices Are Being Amplified?
We are coming up on a year since most schools in California have been shut down. And now with the statewide shelter-in-place order lifted, some parents are clamoring for schools to reopen as soon as possible. This week, the city of San Francisco became the first in the nation to sue its school district and demand a plan for reopening. But getting all the pieces in place to reopen schools is really complicated. Julia McEvoy is the senior editor of KQED’s Education and Equity Desk, and joins us to unpack it all.