Thursday, March 28, 2024

Regina King on Helping Black and Latin Communities Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

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*Oscar winner Regina King has teamed up with Vaseline and Direct Relief to provide aid to Brown and Latin communities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were actually kind of trying to figure out those things before COVID hit, and before the most recent events that took place with police brutality, and we were trying to figure out what that was going to be,” she says, PEOPLE reports. “And then these two things happened and it kind of became obvious to us as partners that there was nothing else bigger or more important than speaking about the systemic differences for marginalized people.”

Blacks are nearly twice as likely as white people to die from the virus, according to a recent report from the National Urban League. Blacks and Latinos also appear to be hospitalized for COVID-19 more often that whites. 

“The source as to why they are happening, the high numbers in the Black and Latinx community and the brutality against Black people, are related to the same thing — systemic issues,” King says. “The care that we don’t get in our communities or don’t have access to in our communities are results of systemic issues.”

READ MORE: WATCH: Regina King, Louis Gossett Jr. Join ‘Watchmen’ Castmates to Talk Police, Racism & Tulsa Massacre

In an message about the effort to fans on Instagram, King wrote, “As we come together to battle systemic racism, there is still another fight happening: COVID-19. And it continues to impact black and brown people disproportionately. I am proud to stand with @VaselineBrand to raise awareness and help our communities get the care we deserve. Vaseline has given over $1 million to @DirectRelief, helping non-profit clinics offer quality care and testing. If you want to learn more or find a community clinic near you, please go to vaseline.com.”

Here’s more from PEOPLE:

Vaseline has donated $1 million to Direct Relief to support their COVID-19 Fund for Community Health, which helps bring testing to underprivileged communities, and provides personal protective equipment to frontline health works, as well as products for medical staff and patients. 

There have been at least 5.5 million cases and 173,306 deaths attributed to coronavirus in the United States as of Wednesday night,

A recent Times report found that within hard-hit New York City, the ZIP code that had the highest percentage of positive coronavirus antibody test results was in Corona, Queens, a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. 

“The reality is a lot of people don’t have WiFi, you know? So how do you get the people who don’t have WiFi, who are the ones who need those resources…how do you drive them to those places?” King explains. “I know that it’s making a difference, and people are finding places to go that are Direct Relief-assisted clinics that they did not know existed before.”

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