Good morning.
Black and brown Americans have long faced higher rates of infant mortality, heart disease and other health challenges than their white counterparts. But it has taken the unequal devastation of Covid-19, and the nationwide upheaval sparked by George Floyd’s killing, to persuade the authorities that racism is itself a kind of pandemic.
As Maanvi Singh reports, city councils and other lawmakers in communities across the country have voted in recent days to declare racism a public health emergency. It is a “long overdue” acknowledgement of the facts, says Dr Allison Agwu, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins school of medicine.
As Robert Fullilove argues, the issue is not simply one of healthcare. Improving housing, education and employment opportunities for minority communities would help to close the health gap:
Investing in the building of healthy communities in the neighborhoods that experienced substantial Covid-19-related morbidity and mortality would not only improve the health and safety of neighborhood residents, it would substantially reduce the reservoir of infectious disease that threatens the health of all.
LeBron James wants to galvanise black voters, harnessing the momentum of the protest movement by forming More Than a Vote, a group of basketball stars dedicated to protecting voter rights and bolstering turnout.
Walgreens and CVS will stop locking up beauty products for women of colour. CVS told the Guardian its “product protection measures have never been based on the race or ethnicity of our customers”.
Seattle protesters have created a community without police
Protesters have laid claim to several blocks in the city of Seattle, banishing police and and renaming the neighborhood the Capitol Hill autonomous zone, or “Chaz”. Police essentially abandoned the area’s East Precinct after a series of clashes with protesters, who now say Chaz offers a real-world example of what a community can look like without traditional law enforcement.
Donald Trump has threatened federal intervention in Seattle, blaming the unrest there on “ugly anarchists” and “domestic terrorists”. But the city’s mayor, Jenny Durkan, tweeted back at the president, telling him “go back to your bunker”.
Latinos say they too suffer widespread police abuses in California, where they represented 46% of the victims of fatal police shootings from 2016-18, a disproportionate rate, second only to that for African Americans.
Arizona has more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases a day
When Arizona lifted its stay-at-home orders last month, the state was recording fewer than 400 confirmed new Covid-19 cases a day. Now, with the south-west facing a surge in infections, Arizona’s daily count is more than 1,000. The Republican governor, Doug Ducey, insists the rise is at least partly attributable to increased testing – but critics say he is doing too little to address the continuing crisis.
New Yorkers are quitting the city, according to real estate brokers who say the coronavirus crisis has generated a boom in demand for homes upstate and on Long Island.
India is experiencing a surge in Covid-19 infections as its lockdown eases, while the WHO has warned the spread of the disease is accelerating in Africa.
America’s top military officer apologises for Trump’s photo op
The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff – the most senior US military official – has publicly apologised for taking part in the president’s controversial photo opportunity at a church in Washington DC last week. Gen Mark Milley admitted it was “a mistake” for him to appear with Trump after police had violently ousted protesters from Lafayette Square, saying his presence had “created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics”.
The Trump administration is imposing sanctions on the international criminal court, after it opened an investigation into war crimes committed by all participants in the war in Afghanistan, including the US.
Joe Biden has said the military would escort Trump from office if he lost the election in November but refused to leave the White House. Speaking on the Daily Show, the Democrat said his greatest concern was that Trump would “try to steal this election”.
In other news …
Climate change can be directly blamed for $67bn in damage caused by Hurricane Harvey, which tore through the Caribbean, Texas and Louisiana in 2017, according to new research.
New US sanctions on Syria could prove devastating. The “Caesar Act” law, set to take effect next week, was supposed to punish the perpetrators of war crimes – but observers say it also threatens to crush what is left of the country’s already shattered economy.
Twitter has deleted 170,000 accounts linked to China’s influence campaigns focusing on the Hong Kong protests, Covid-19 and the US protests over the death of George Floyd.
… But Zoom admitted bowing to Beijing’s demands by cutting off the accounts of activists hosting online meetings to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Great reads
Spike Lee: ‘Music, dance, Apple, Nike – that’s how America dominates’
As his new film Da 5 Bloods arrives on Netflix, the celebrated director takes questions from readers, film-makers and politicians about Covid-19, race relations and a Do the Right Thing remake: “If they try, I’m coming back from the dead to stop it.”
How Fannie Lou Hamer stood up to white supremacy
Amid the current protests, many people are looking to the civil rights movement of the 1960s for inspiration. Author Tommy Jenkins and illustrator Kati Lacker present the story, in graphic form, of Fannie Lou Hamer, a heroic Mississippi sharecropper who endured violence and imprisonment as she fought for the right to vote.
Opinion: the arts world faces a fierce reckoning over diversity
Publishing and the arts have this week undergone a public reckoning over race and inequality, with resignations, cancellations and apologies across the media. If real change is coming to the industry this time, says Arwa Mahdawi, then it is long overdue.
It feels like we might actually be on the verge of actual change. It feels like this might actually be a real reckoning, rather than a panicked reaction to a cultural moment.
Last Thing: A pandemic parenting epiphany
Jean Hannah Edelstein realised something unexpected under lockdown: she’d gladly be a full-time parent. The Guardian invites you to share your own pandemic epiphany, for a series set to run all summer.
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