Race & COVID-19
Our churchwide antiracism policy, Facing Racism: A Vision of the Intercultural Community, reminds us that sin “is manifested in severe inequality in education, wealth, income, and opportunity.” The COVID-19 pandemic lays bare and even magnifies the sin of structural racism in how it has had inequitable impacts on communities of color. From the uptick in anti-Asian racism to the disproportionate mortality rates of black and brown people, this pandemic reveals to us how much work we have left undone in dismantling structural racism, and calls us into a future in which we will reckon with our injustice so that we might right our wrongs. We pray that the Church of Jesus Christ uses this moment as an important turning point to more fully live into the vision of a Matthew 25 Church, where racism finds an adversary in the friends and followers of the risen Savior.
Please take advantage of these resources to inform your antiracist work in witness in these especially difficult times.
Videos
COVID at the Margins | Immigration and COVID-19
Join the PC(USA) to hear from those at high risk during COVID-19 because of their immigration status. Panelists include a current DACA recipient, an asylum seeker accompaniment ministry in Pacific Presbytery, and a group organizing the immigrant community in COVID times. Panelists discussed the impact immigration law and enforcement is having on their communities amid the pandemic.
COVID at the Margins | Anti-Asian Racism in the wake of COVID-19
The impact of the pandemic on Asian American Communities is informed by a long and often obfuscated history. The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People and the office of Racial and Intercultural Justice talked with Rev. Laura Cheifetz of Vanderbilt Divinity School about what we are seeing and what we can do about it.
Anti-Asian Racism in the wake of COVID-19
COVID at the Margins | The Native American Response to COVID-19
The impact of COVID-19 on Native American communities has been devastating. The Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People and panelist talked how Native Americans have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists include Anna Marie Rondon, Fern Cloud, Rev. Irv Porter, Marcus Briggs-Cloud with the Self-Development of People project Ekvn- Yefolecv Indigenous Maskoke Ecovillage and Krystal Curley. Watch the discussion on this video and hear what they are seeing and what we can do about it.
The Native American Response to COVID-19
Resources
Helpful information for impacted communities.
COVID at the margins: Immigration and COVID-19
Join the PC(USA) to hear from those at high risk during COVID-19 because of their immigration status. Panelists include a current DACA recipient, an asylum seeker accompaniment ministry in Pacific Presbytery, and a group organizing the immigrant community in COVID times. Panelists discussed the impact immigration law and enforcement is having on their communities amid the pandemic.
Immigrant, Migrant & Refugee resources
News
Presbyterian News Service stories covering the intersection of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism and how Presbyterians are engaging.
- Presbyterian group finds a casual place online for serious conversations
- Riffing on gun sales during the pandemic
- Presbytery of Detroit writes an open letter to soften closed hearts
- LGBTQIA community susceptible to coronavirus in ways you may not have considered
- Environmental justice and COVID-19 come together in CPJ Day webinar
- ‘When America gets a cold, the African American community gets pneumonia’
- COVID-19 impacts overseas Filipino workers