[COVID-19 And Racism\Gov. Andrew Cuomo]
Barrons: “The City and State need to double their efforts in getting resources to our communities immediately…For the Governor to cut $2.5 billion from Medicaid and millions from our hospitals is the height of hypocrisy and racist neglect.’
Photo: IBW21
New York Assemblyman Charles Barron and City Councilwoman Inez Barron have ripped into Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a searing statement accusing him of prioritizing COVID-19 intervention for White communities.
“The recently released statistics on the number and rates of COVID19 related deaths by zip code confirms what we were saying to the Governor and Mayor all along. Black and Brown communities are hit the hardest by COVID19. We knew the statistics would tell us that. What we needed were resources from the beginning.
“For the State to put a ship in the white community, which was underutilized; to transform the Javits Center into a hospital in the white community, which was also underutilized; and to convert parts of Central Park into a field hospital in the white community; and to neglect Black and Brown communities that these stats clearly show were hit the hardest is unconscionable, unacceptable and a damn shame.
“The City and State need to double their efforts in getting resources to our communities immediately. Black and Brown neighborhoods in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island have among the highest number of deaths. We knew this from the beginning of the pandemic crisis.
“For the Governor to cut $2.5 billion from Medicaid and millions from our hospitals is the height of hypocrisy and racist neglect. It is time for the Governor and the State Legislature to do what they should have done during the budget time in April – and that is tax the rich to raise revenue to deliver more resources to our hospitals and communities in need.
“And for the long-range plans, poverty, unemployment, and inadequate health care need to be seriously dealt with by way of a multi-billion dollar commitment to make our communities healthier, more stable and better able to fight crises and disasters.”
