By Comrade Aquetea, The Black Hammer Times Staff

The u.s. settler government has systematically undermined the health of Africans: increased mortality caused by ailments such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and obesity.

Due to colonial-capitalism and the ongoing genocide of colonized people, the same can be said during this COVID-19 pandemic.

In my hometown, East Oakland, the concentration of cases confirms our fears that the most vulnerable communities are hit the hardest by COVID-19.

It appears Oakland’s communities of African and Colonized people will be most impacted by COVID-19.

Oakland, California’s predominantly Black and Indigenous people, “food desert” landscapes were created through a combination of industrial location, urban planning, and racist mortgage lending practices.

This epidemic of inequality in urban food security led to the creation of food deserts and increased demand for accessible, convenient and cheap food, which in turn, fueled endemic health problems among poor African and Colonized communities.

 In addition, rising economic insecurity brought on by decades of colonial policies, including the privatization of many public goods and the weakening of entitlement programs, increasing numbers of people struggle to meet basic needs in urban environments.

In these landscapes, food access declines as a result of poverty, poor infrastructure which affects our colonized siblings who have been victims of institutional racism that contributes to many inequalities including food insecurity.

Colonized people have always been subject to racist laws and policies that have taken away their ability to own and manage land for food production and gain access to healthy food options.

High incidences and prevalence of COVID 19 among African people are due to limited testing, slow response to care, and heightened discrimination in health care centers; often being turned away from care, and prioritizing “yt” people for healthcare services.

The sacrificial (essential) worker

African women represent the majority of the “essential” workers and are improperly using personal protective equipment (PPE), which has increased their risk of exposure to COVID 19.

For instance, Deborah Gatewood, a healthcare worker, was denied a COVID-19 test four times before finally passing away. She was denied by the very hospital she works for at Beaumont Hospital.

The u.s. hospitals do not care to provide quality healthcare services to African people who contribute to the increasing amount of fatalities from COVID-19.

These are not bureaucratic mistakes or accidental statistics or that African people are somehow more careless to abide by the legal shelter in place order.

This is an ongoing, live tactic of white power to kill and oppress African people—we want no part of it!

It is essential that we take our health back into our own hands to strengthen our power. The amerikkkan medical system has a long history of killing and mistreating African people, so learning about our African ancestor’s medicinal ways of healing our bodies are ways to limit our participation in this colonial medical system.

Neighborhoods are designed to kill. A huge number of liquor stores in black communities leave us with poor health outcome. Instead, we need to build community gardens to grow vegetables and fruits and nourish our colonized family.

The Cuban ambassador to South Africa, Rodolfo Benítez Verson, is stressing the need for solidarity and unity amidst this pandemic.

“If we act together, we can halt the spread of coronavirus in a faster and more cost-effective manner,” he urges.

Cuba played a vital role in the fight against white power imperialism in Angola and other regions of the African Nation. Our Cuban comrades have been diligently fighting the spread of the coronavirus amongst African and Colonized people!

We must organize to build a dictatorship of the colonized proletariat; otherwise our people will continue being murdered by the colonizers.

Only we can keep our people alive! The colonizer’s barbarism must be destroyed if we are to save our people.

Fight for Black Power!

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