Welcome. We are reporters and editors with decades of journalism experience between us. Levi Sumagaysay spent most of her career at the San Jose Mercury News and has specialized in technology news. Pati Navalta is editor in chief at San Francisco Magazine and has been a demographics editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, among other places.
As longtime storytellers, we know we are in the middle of one of the biggest stories of our lives. Race and Coronavirus is a newsletter and podcast that will address something close to our hearts: tracking the effects of this pandemic on minorities and immigrants. Because even though we keep hearing that COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate, we also know that in the United States, black and brown people are being disproportionately affected on many different levels.
So we’ll tell that story -- and more. We’ll explore how minorities are on the front lines because so many of them are service workers. We’ll discuss the effects on immigrants. We will talk about the inherent biases in this nation’s economic, educational and cultural systems and how they play into why many minorities were already worse off, and why this crisis exacerbates those disadvantages. We will talk to real people who are feeling these effects, plus academics, economists, advocates, policy-makers and celebrities who can lend their expertise and use their voices to call attention to these issues.
We will report and curate news, and share our own thoughts and experiences. We will tackle the cold, hard truths about this crisis but also point to ways people are helping one another. We will provide context and cite history in hopes that we can foster a valuable conversation.
We hope you’ll join us. Please subscribe, and recommend our weekly newsletter and podcast to others. Thank you!
Let us know what you think: editors@raceandcoronavirus.com.
Business inquiries: info@raceandcoronavirus.com.
Partner of Bay City News Foundation, which publishes free local news at LocalNewsMatters.org.
