The most dangerous place to be during a pandemic is inside a prison. Today, even a minor arrest could cost more than your liberty; it could cost you your life.

Behind bars, people are packed like sardines. In correctional institutions, it is impossible to follow CDC guidelines and “socially distance.” To make matters worse, most jails and prisons are notoriously filthy. Soap is hard to come by, running water is not guaranteed, and hand sanitizer– because of its alcohol content– is considered contraband.

Under these conditions, it should come as no surprise that COVID-19 is ripping through prisons and jails at up to 15 times the infection rate of their surrounding populations. If elected officials don’t act quickly enough, America’s 7,000 jails and prisons could turn into morgues

Because 40% of the 2.4 million people behind bars in the United States are Black, the pandemic in our prisons poses a disproportionate threat to African Americans. 

Early on, we at the REFORM Alliance, along with our allies at the National Urban League, knew we would need to take bold and intelligent action on behalf of this easy-to-neglect population. To save lives and flatten the curve behind bars, we focused on three primary solutions:

1. Depopulate jails and prisons. Release people to home confinement who can come home safely. Since the start of COVID-19, we have seen the single largest decrease in the prison population in American history—but it’s not enough. Too many lives have already been lost. Many more need to come home.
2. Stop arresting people for minor or petty crimes. To minimize the spread of this virus, people should not get arrested for minor violations. This is an important step to reduce physical contact in our communities and minimize the number of people who enter and leave jails.
3. Surge medical and sanitation supplies into correctional facilities. Correctional facilities do not have fully equipped medical centers. As of late April, more than 70% of people living in federal prisons that have been tested for COVID-19 have tested positive. This is especially outrageous when considering the positive test rate in the general population is around 20% – and even that is considered extremely high. When COVID-19 hits a large portion of the population at the same time, individuals in need of medical support are transported to local hospitals. This additional burden to hospitals and health care facilities has already created a deadly shortage of resources in places like Illinois and Ohio where outbreaks have occurred.

It is impossible to defeat the virus outside prisons without also defeating it inside prisons. Correctional officers, food services personnel, and other staff travel in and out of these facilities multiple times per day. Their daily commutes home become potentially deadly ones that put their families and communities at heightened risk of exposure. 

In response to this life threatening dilemma, the REFORM Alliance, in collaboration with the National Urban League and others, developed the SAFER Plan recommendations. We are working with the National Governors Association and governors in more than 25 states to implement the following recommendations while keeping communities safe:

1. Identify people scheduled to be released from prison or jail in the next six months and release them into home confinement, barring a specific reason against doing so. This is not a proposal to carelessly unleash a flood of danger onto our streets. To be clear, we are talking about individuals who aren't considered public safety threats by state correctional departments and parole boards.

2. Parole prisoners age 65 and over, with priority given to those with underlying health conditions that make them particularly susceptible to the virus. The data is consistent and clear: people over the age of 65 are least likely to reoffend. A U.S. Sentencing Commission study found that formerly incarcerated people age 65 or older recidivate at a rate of 13%, which is far lower than the national average of 68%.

3. Suspend copays for medical visits. It is a cruel and unusual punishment to deny incarcerated men and women, who can get paid as little as $0.16 per hour for their labor—like those making hand sanitizer for the state of New York—access to potentially lifesaving health care in the middle of a historic, national health emergency.

4. Make hand sanitizer and other personal hygiene products available to incarcerated persons free of charge. People behind bars should not be penalized for trying to protect themselves and others by using hand sanitizing products that may contain alcohol.

5. Implement safe, smart social distancing policies to protect the 4.5 million Americans under some form of community supervision. The requirement that people at low risk of reoffending report to their probation or parole officer during this pandemic in person should be suspended immediately.

The statistics tell a shocking story: nearly one out of 100 people in the United States is in a prison or a jail cell—and this state of affairs has come at a high social and administrative cost. Americans have grown far too comfortable with the large scale caging of substantial swaths of our population, allowing a justice system infamously riddled with injustice to casually steal away valued members of communities and their liberties.

The vast inequities and disparities exposed by our current crisis is a call to action. We should not want to return to normal. We should want to create a new normal on the other side of the pandemic that delivers justice in areas where we now find injustice; this includes re-thinking mass incarceration and committing to maintaining those pandemic-era reforms that prioritize public safety, common-sense justice reforms, cost-savings, and public health long after the virus has stopped wreaking its havoc.

On behalf of the National Urban League’s Board of Trustees, I am proud to present this year’s edition of the State of Black America®: Unmasked.  The report takes a look behind the headlines and examines the alarming spread and tragic consequences of the coronavirus on Black American life. 

Since the pandemic’s onset in March, the news has barely changed. COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc and create challenges that are unprecedented in our country’s history.  The urgency of this moment demands that we work together to steer ourselves through these challenges and connect all communities in need to the networks and resources they need to survive and thrive.

While this crisis touches everyone, the evidence is clear: communities of color are being hit far harder than others.  As COVID-19 impacts these already vulnerable communities, we have all been forced to reckon with the resurgence of our common understanding of systemic racism, a disease our country has yet to cure.

The deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and so many other Black men and women at the hands of police officers demonstrate that systemic racism and discrimination—problems long observed—have been met with far too little action or progress.  As our fellow Americans march united in streets across the country demanding change, COVID-19 has further complicated the situation.  Protestors are forced to choose their constitutional right to assemble and protest over the still looming threat to their health and lives. 

The dual crises of coronavirus and national unrest have cast a spotlight on our nation’s systemic inequities for all of the world to see.  Inequalities in healthcare, education, policing, criminal justice, employment and more have led us to a critical tipping point in our modern history.

Since its founding, the National Urban League has readily taken its place on the frontline of every crisis—and this extraordinary moment in time will be no different.  We will hold an unwavering mirror to our society, calling out the need for concrete actions that ensure equal and unfettered access to COVID-19 recovery relief.  We will continue to use our voice and our leverage as a historic civil rights institution to insist that America uphold the true values of our nation—for all of its citizens—setting the stage for progress and opportunity in our urban communities.  

Out of great tragedy can come newfound clarity, courage and conviction to carve new paths that lead to an American future rooted in equity.  I invite readers to consider the recommendations advocated by the report’s contributors as a starting point in our shared conversations and commitment to create real and lasting change.

The road to recovery from the coronavirus and our reckoning with entrenched racism will be long and hard, but we can change the course of our nation’s trajectory.  We will face this crisis together, resolved to advocate for our nation’s most vulnerable and united in our goal of becoming the more perfect union we aspire to be.

Great social movements are marked by clear turning points, when major shifts in attitude and understanding spur people to act with new urgency. 

We are in one such moment now. Covid-19’s devastation of minority communities and the horrific deaths of George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black Americans have created an opportunity for change that, if sustained, could yield the kind of lasting action on racial equity, social justice and police reform that we have deferred for way too long. 

At this pivotal moment, it is crucial to recognize the tireless work organizations like the National Urban League have done for decades. We need to actively listen, learn and lean into their experience and perspectives. 

I’m proud that AT&T has been the Title Sponsor for the National Urban League’s State of Black America for more than a decade. While many organizations report facts and figures, we believe The State of Black America captures the heartbeat of the Black community. And on behalf of AT&T, I’m humbled to share a few of our thoughts on social justice. 

As Frederick Douglass told a cheering crowd in 1886 on the anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation: 

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. 

The message of his words is simple: We, collectively as a society and as individuals, all share a responsibility to stop race-based injustice wherever it exists. Doing so is a moral and business imperative – not just for AT&T, but for all companies, communities, and citizens. 

In my nearly 35 years with this company, I have been encouraged by our advocacy to advance racial equity and justice. Indeed, “Stand for Equality” is one of our core corporate values. But I also recognize and acknowledge that much more needs to be done. 

Why it’s different this time 

For many in the Black community, 2020 has been devastating. Black Americans have been disproportionally affected by Covid-19. And, as Black communities grapple with high infection 

and death rates and endure the economic hardships of the pandemic, Black citizens continue to be subjected to horrific abuses by law enforcement and citizens with racist motivations. 

Against this backdrop, AT&T has taken a public stance on social justice and the ways in which racial inequities continue to manifest themselves across every facet of society – education, health care, economic opportunities, law enforcement and more. 

Some ask why a large corporation should care. To us, the answer is obvious: Our society doesn't work if it doesn't work equally for all. We hear the concerns and anxieties of our customers and our diverse workforce, especially our 34,000 Black employees. Doing what we can to address the root causes of racism and violence is the only right response. 

A crucial part of this moral imperative is to ensure an equitable justice system for all Americans and to redefine the relationship between law enforcement and all those they serve. Minimizing the potential for confrontation and conflict between civilians and police, in turn, supports safe communities that businesses and citizens need to thrive. 

At AT&T, we support immediate Congressional, state and city action to reform the country’s police and law enforcement system. Specifically, AT&T strongly supports the following reform principles, as outlined by the Business Roundtable: 

• Community engagement: No effort to address policing issues will succeed without partnership and trust between law enforcement and their communities. We support increased investment in programs to promote community policing and increase police force diversity and community representation. 
• Better data collection and transparency: Citizens deserve better information about law enforcement, especially in cases of misconduct and use of force. To obtain federal funding, police departments should be required to report on these areas, as well as demographic information on arrests and detainees.
• Accountability: The vast majority of police officers are dedicated public servants. Officers or departments that abuse their positions must be held accountable – period. This could include a national misconduct and discipline registry and minimum Federal decertification standards to guide investigations. 
• Minimum national policing standards: The continued crisis of excessive use of force, the loss of Black lives and the related loss of trust in law enforcement across many communities of color necessitates federal minimum standards for policing. That would include a ban on racial profiling, a minimum national standard on use of lethal and non-lethal force, a duty to intervene and a U.S. Department of Justice review and establishment of minimum credentialing and accreditation standards and procedures for officers. 

Our shared goals 

Members of the National Urban League and similar organizations have an intimate knowledge and experience with today’s vital social issues in ways that few do. AT&T remains committed to continuing to give them our full support. 

Throughout this period of tremendous change, we also recognize the power of connectivity to accelerate turning points in our society and serve as an equalizer. 

Better access to broadband means children whose schools are closed due to Covid-19 can take online classes. It means that the unemployed can use the internet to learn new skills that lead to better jobs. And it means bringing better, more accessible healthcare to senior citizens and others without easy access to a doctor. 

We agree with The National Urban League that connectivity is important to everyone – especially underrepresented and underserved individuals. AT&T’ commitment to this includes allowing schools to activate new lines of wireless data service for free for 60 days to connect students on their school-issued tablets, opening public Wi-Fi hotspots to all Americans, lifting home data caps, and enhancing our wireless and low-income broadband offers during the pandemic. Looking ahead, we believe Congress should pass legislation to assist those Americans who cannot afford fixed broadband and help ensure broadband availability for people living outside the reach of existing networks. These are two crucial steps toward a sustainable solution to connect all Americans. 

Systemic racial injustice is an enormously complex problem. Our nation has a difficult and lengthy task ahead of us. But we can look to the future with optimism, thanks to the work of the National Urban League and the growing awareness of the need for change within the American population. And I promise this organization and all its supporters that the AT&T family is standing with you to help. 

The memes circulated around Facebook and Twitter, promising voters a more streamlined option to participate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“Avoid the line – vote from home. Text ‘Hillary’ to 59925,” read one post, seemingly aimed at Black and Latino voters. It bore all the hallmarks of an official Clinton campaign ad.

The text-your-vote campaign was, of course, a hoax. It was a digital upgrade to a decades-long, if not, centuries-old effort to disenfranchise minority voters via disinformation – the intentional dissemination of false or misleading information – about how, when, and where to vote. In 2016, these hoaxes were aided and abetted by Russian internet trolls whose systematic attempts to suppress the Black vote were motivated by geopolitical rather than political objectives.

As disruptive as these ploys were, their impact was likely minimal.  Apart from the unexpected outcome and unprecedented foreign interference, the administration of the 2016 presidential election was fairly routine. In the final analysis, relatively few voters had reason to actively seek out and, therefore, come in contact with falsified voting information. And those who did were unlikely to be persuaded to change their long-established voting habits.

However, the 2020 presidential election promises to be anything but routine.

The coronavirus has already upended primaries across the country; and while it remains uncertain the extent to which the pandemic will affect how Americans cast their ballots in November, what is certain is that public health concerns will disrupt the status quo, perhaps dramatically so. From a public information perspective, this is highly problematic. One of the time-tested truisms of disinformation is that it thrives in times of uncertainty when there is both a large demand for information and a short supply of available facts. Thus, any change to standard voting procedures, however reasonable, necessary, or life-saving, will create a potentially nightmarish scenario where the increased demand for up-to-date information is met with a manipulated supply meant to misinform parts of the electorate. 

In a best-case scenario, the pandemic settles down over the next few months, and the country holds a relatively standard November election. There is a dramatic increase in voting by mail, which allows voters to more easily cast ballots in a way that can maintain social distancing. Voters who prefer to vote in person, or are not able to mail in a ballot, have a reasonable number of early voting and election-day options to ensure fair, safe, and secure elections. And any election changes made in response to COVID-19 are shared with the public by trusted sources well in advance of the election to help prevent voters from relying on inaccurate information.

In one worst-case scenario, the general election unfolds much like Wisconsin’s April 7 primary. There, state leaders refused to act early to find a solution and, instead, held in-person voting in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak without adequate safeguards. Public health authorities recommended against in-person voting; yet, there was no statewide absentee mail-ballot effort, there were not enough poll workers, and there were dueling court cases sowing confusion about absentee voting, which contributed to thousands of missing or nullified ballots. In Milwaukee, where roughly 4 in 10 residents are Black, officials closed all but five of the city’s 180 polling places, forcing thousands of voters to congregate at a handful of voting sites. These circumstances undoubtedly forced many voters to make a needlessly impossible choice: risk their health—and possibly their lives—to cast their ballot or stay at home and forfeit their vote.

In another worst-case scenario, the general election plays out similarly to Georgia’s June 9 primary. After twice postponing its primary due to the coronavirus, Georgia, unlike Wisconsin, substantially modified its election processes to account for the virus. Georgia took the unprecedented step of mailing out absentee ballot applications to 6.9 million active registered voters. However, issues with the absentee voting process, polling place shortages, inadequate poll worker training, and the state’s new voting system contributed to a chaotic Election Day. Voters in parts of metro Atlanta – especially in predominantly Black communities – waited in lines upwards of four hours as election officials conducted an election with fewer voting machines, fewer polling places, and fewer experienced poll workers.

If there is reason for optimism, it is perhaps that the failings noted not just in Georgia and Wisconsin, but in primaries across the country, can be fixed before November. But even if, through some combination of good fortune and preparation, we were to avoid a worst-case scenario come November, the coronavirus has already crippled a critical component of any fair election: voter registration.

The months-long closings and stay-at-home orders intended to restrict social mixing and slow the spread of COVID-19 have made it more difficult to register new voters. Ordinarily, as the general election period takes off, there are large voter-registration efforts, much of it in-person. Additionally, in states that don’t allow online voter registration, such as Texas and New Hampshire, voters are generally required to register in-person. With many government offices currently closed or open for limited hours, there is concern that many people won’t be able to vote in November simply because they’re not going to be registered in time.

Limited voter registration will affect millions of Americans, but none more so than young people, naturalized immigrants, and communities of color. The challenges of registering these historically underrepresented and disenfranchised communities during a pandemic may be further compounded by bad actors—foreign and domestic—working to suppress the vote by spreading registration-related disinformation meant to keep eligible citizens away from the polls in November. A malicious actor could promise voters a more streamlined way to register to vote that doesn’t exist, such as registering by text or tweet. Or alternatively, a bad actor could falsely claim that a voter registration deadline has been extended due to the pandemic.

Finally, there is also the threat of post-election disinformation. In alarming previews, we have seen American elected officials, as well as foreign adversaries, question the security of mail-in voting, seeding the ground for future disinformation campaigns.

Fast forward to the evening of November 3, 2020. There is a distinct possibility that only partial results will be released on election night, and the urban centers of some large metropolitan areas will be slower to count their ballots. In an information vacuum, it is not hard to imagine one presidential candidate declaring victory while claiming voter fraud is endemic in absentee ballots. If the other candidate is declared the winner after the popular vote count, you would have two competing claims to victory and two competing slates of electors sent to the Electoral College. False claims of widespread voter fraud would assuredly reach a fever pitch.

Taken together, the disinformation threats before, during, and after the election are so dizzying in scale and scope that they may seem insurmountable. While it is true that disinformation thrives in the absence of trusted information, there are concrete steps we can take to build community resilience against this pending threat.

First, there is no need to try to stamp out each and every disinformation fire—numerous studies have shown it to be counterproductive.  Instead, we must flood the information sphere with enough consistent, credible messaging that voters are effectively immunized from falsehoods. Arming voters with accurate information and investing in media and digital literacy will protect them against existing and future disinformation threats. Activists and community leaders should, therefore, focus less on debunking falsehoods, an inherently slow and reactionary process, and more on “prebunking,” a proactive and preemptive process by which people are inoculated against disinformation before ever being exposed to it.

Of course, in the 2020 election context, “prebunking” will be most effective if local, state, and federal officials responsibly plan for coronavirus contingencies well in advance of the election. The best laid strategies of elected officials will also require the input of trusted local leaders. These leaders best understand their communities’ specific characteristics and vulnerabilities and can ensure that accurate information reaches their slice of the voting public. From places of worship and education to businesses and social organizations, many of the real-world institutions communities rely on for trusted information have shuttered. During our new normal, particularly in Black communities where voter suppression runs rampant, it is especially important for activists to follow in the words of Hip Hop Caucus President Reverend Lennox Yearwood and “engage people where they are.”  Right now, that means over the telephone, on social media, and in other online communities.

For many, digital activism is second nature. But for those who traditionally rely on in-person mobilization efforts, it is imperative that they rapidly adapt their outreach to the demands of the virtual world. While this does not require technical sophistication, it does require regular engagement. Like traditional door-knocking efforts, online outreach is a numbers game; local leaders should, therefore, treat their social media feeds as they would a neighborhood canvass—the more they post, the more chances they have of reaching and safeguarding voters.

For many Americans, COVID-19 has created new and unprecedented challenges to voting. It remains an ugly stain on our nation’s history that, for many African Americans, facing obstacles and challenges to their right to vote is nothing new. As we look ahead to one of the most consequential presidential elections in our nation’s history, we must prepare to protect every vote despite the pandemic. Given the well-documented pattern of voter disenfranchisement in Black communities, it is clear that a race-neutral approach will neither repair previous damage nor protect these vulnerable votes now. During these uncertain times, elected officials and leaders must commit to stop the spread of disinformation and ensure that all eligible Americans are free to safely carry out this sacred and consequential right.

In 2019, women across the country watched with immense pride as, for the first time in history, six women stepped into the ring and made their case for why they should be the next president of the United States. As we watched women candidates tout their legislative accomplishments, display a rare camaraderie not seen in previous presidential contests and tell voters how their approach to leadership would be different from the male candidates, many women shared a common hope that 2020 – coincidentally the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment that granted women the right to vote – might finally be the year a woman is elected president.

With the exit of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren – the last viable woman candidate to drop out of a promising and historic primary – in March, that hope was suddenly dashed. It seemed our nation would never be ready to accept a woman leader in its highest political office. For many of us, the pain of realizing that a woman would not become president in 2020 was both saddening and frustrating.

But this week, America got some news that should make us more hopeful than ever about the prospect of a woman in the highest office. Former Vice President Joe Biden announced that he has selected California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. Senator Harris’s story is a uniquely American one. The daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, she first ran for San Francisco District Attorney then quickly climbed up the political pipeline to be elected California’s Attorney General, becoming the first Black person and woman to serve in that position. In 2017, she was elected as just the second Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Much like many of the women we recruit at Emerge, where we train Democratic women to run for political office, Harris’s story is the story of so many women who answer the call to serve their communities. Biden’s selection of Harris as his running mate is historic. This country has never had a woman vice president or a Black, brown or Indigenous person serve in that office. Harris is the first woman of color to ever appear on a major party presidential ticket; and with her nomination, becomes a glimmer of hope that a woman attaining the highest office in the land is well within our reach.

Over the past few election cycles, women have been on an upward political trajectory. Since 2016, their political engagement has grown exponentially; and women, especially Black women, have become more involved as voters, activists and candidates. At Emerge we received 57.5% more applications than in the previous year from women who were angry that former Secretary Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election. Fueled by this anger, these women decided it was time for new voices to be heard on our shared political landscape.

In 2017, while Harris was in the Senate, Black women like Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy also stepped up—and made their own history. In Virginia, where elections were held for the state legislature, she was one of many women responsible for flipping an unprecedented 11 out of 15 seats from red to blue. They wasted no time passing key legislation like Medicaid expansion to help thousands of families, and their victory in organizing and marshalling their fellow citizens into political action and participation was just the beginning.

The 2018 midterm election would prove to be an even bigger turning point for women in government. For the first time, more than 100 women were elected to Congress, including a historic 22 Black women. That group of trailblazers included Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim American women elected to Congress; Rep. Lauren Underwood, the youngest Black woman ever elected; and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, the first Black woman to serve in Congress from Massachusetts.

A joint report from the Center on American Women in Politics and Higher Heights found that in 2018, Black women also saw their greatest gains in representation at the state level since 1994. In states like Alabama, where Black women were instrumental in electing the first Democrat to the U.S. Senate in more than two decades, we converted our power as voters into our own candidacies with a record-high 70 women putting their names on the ballot.

Now that many of us are in office, we’ve exceeded expectations and demonstrated that we are more than equal to the task of political leadership, leading through good times—and national crisis. Black women leaders, many of them Emerge alumnae, have stepped up and tackled the problems brought on by the coronavirus and the ongoing struggle for racial justice in this country. They have worked to implement forward-thinking and holistic policies that address the varying needs of their constituents:

• San Francisco Mayor London Breed is the first Black woman (and only the second woman) to serve as mayor of San Francisco. Under her stewardship, the city recently announced that police will no longer respond to non-criminal calls and will be replaced with unarmed and trained professionals.
• Colorado State Rep. Leslie Herod worked alongside her colleagues in the legislature to pass an expansive police reform bill that would increase accountability.
• Suffolk County Massachusetts District Attorney Rachael Rollins called attention to the danger that stay-at-home orders posed for victims of domestic violence and granted emergency protective orders.
• Virginia Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, who is running to become the first Black woman governor in Virginia and in the United States, has called for a vote-by-mail election in November to help voters safely cast their ballots

These Black women embody the thoughtful governance our communities need in perilous times.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Biden considered – and has now chosen – a Black woman as his running mate. Harris, who hails from the largest progressive state in the nation, has long been a rising political star in the Democratic Party. She is a staunch and visible advocate for justice and equality and is now well-positioned to become the 47th president of the United States.

A key part of our mission at Emerge is to build a robust pipeline of women leaders who can fill federal, local and state seats. To change the face of politics and ensure that elected officials who represent our communities look like us, we must do the back end work of preparing women and supporting their campaigns. This process is no different for the White House. By investing in Black women early, and often, we give them the launching pads they need to run for and win higher office.

We have been laying the foundation for a woman president for years; and today, we are closer than ever to realizing our dashed hopes. I am confident that one day soon we will be able to tell the Black women and girls in our lives that they can be anything they want to be—including the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—and mean it.

We have long known it to be true that it is dangerous to be Black in America. We have all watched the cell phone video and body cam footage of unarmed Black men—with hands raised in surrender—shot and killed by police. We have seen people of color shot in the back by officers while running away and police officers taking on the role of executioner at routine traffic stops.

Study after study has shown that unarmed Black Americans are far more likely to be killed by police than whites.

In 2020, the familiar existential threat that envelops the lives of Black people—the one that prompts us to have “the talk” with our kids—fused with a new existential threat: COVID-19, which is killing Black people in America at an alarming and disproportionate rate.

I believe 2020 is a seminal year that will mark a turning point in America’s consciousness toward Black Americans and—we hope and pray—provide the impetus to change longstanding systems plagued by injustice and inequity.

This year began with much promise and optimism, but quickly gave way to unprecedented threats and unrelenting fear. We found ourselves faced with the mortal threat of a global pandemic that spread quickly and had no treatment or cure.

Quickly dubbed “the great equalizer,” at first, no data existed to show which segment of the population was most likely to be struck by the coronavirus. But as regional data started to be reported, it became clear that the same health disparities that put Black people at greater risk for so many diseases due to poverty, inadequate access to health care, and nutrition also made them more vulnerable to contracting and dying from COVID-19.

And then there were compounding issues of Black people disproportionately holding jobs that made them essential workers who could not isolate and work from home, disproportionately relying on crowded public transportation, and disproportionately living in crowded conditions. For all these reasons, COVID-19 cases among Black Americans continued to spike.

Once COVID-19 mutated with all the normal risks of being Black in America, it gave rise to novel threats. When Black men were stalked by a police officer at a Walmart for wearing surgical masks to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus, we saw once again that the rules are different for our community.

Absent an intensive effort to counteract the disparities facing communities of color, it became clear this devastation would rage alongside the dangers of racism—with the ruin recorded in body bags, battered lives, and broken communities.

Then George Floyd unwittingly stepped onto the world’s stage.

It was hard to imagine that in 2020 there could be an issue that would dominate and change the American consciousness as it relates to Black Americans in more profound ways than COVID-19. But the horrific video of a Minneapolis police officer pressing the life out of George Floyd for eight minutes and 46 seconds while a crowd of witnesses pleaded for his life and videotaped his death did just that and awakened America to racial injustice as nothing had before.

For weeks, Americans filled the streets in cities across the nation to protest the death, not only of Floyd, but of the countless Black men and women whose deaths were not caught on videotape and whose names never became trending hashtags. Black, white, Hispanic, and Asian, they poured out of their homes in the midst of a pandemic to proclaim: Black Lives Matter!

Suddenly, Black Lives Matter signs sprung up on the front yards of non-Black Americans in predominately white neighborhoods. Suddenly, Americans were having conversations about the need for police reform and racial inequities in our education and health care systems. Suddenly, people who hadn’t thought about it before began noticing the racial underpinnings of poverty and substandard housing that lead to mortal threats. Suddenly, people became woke to environmental racism and the ways some corporations market dangerous products to marginalized Black people for a profit. Suddenly, justice became about more than just police brutality.

It is highly likely that 2020 will not be remembered as the year America fixed its deep-rooted racial inequalities and turned the hearts of all Americans to love their brothers and sisters of all colors. But it may well be remembered as the year of a great awakening, when long overdue conversations happened and when “Black Lives Matter” became a call to action for more than just Black people.

When the pandemic is behind us and the final body count is in, I feel sadly certain that we will be confronted with a stark picture of the deadly effects of racial inequality.

Early in March, President Trump speculated that the ability of celebrities, athletes, and politicians to access coronavirus tests over poor and more vulnerable individuals was just “the story of life.” Let his words act as our clarion call. Let the legacy of 2020 be that it was the first chapter of our shared mission to rewrite the story of life in America.

Four years ago, the Russian government interfered in American elections. They stole information from campaigns, posed as Americans spreading divisive rhetoric, and attacked election infrastructure. Black voters were heavily targeted, not just as part of the American electorate, but as a specific focus of the interference.[1] In fact, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian interference “found that no single group of Americans was targeted by IRA information operatives more than African-Americans.”[2]

Operatives linked to the Russian government created social media accounts that focused on “issues of sensitivity to the African-American community.” They also promoted items that expressly featured “voter suppressive content intended to dissuade African-American voters from participating in the 2016 presidential election.”[3]

We can expect that Black voters will be targeted again in 2020, but we should not assume all attacks will look as they did in 2016.

Indeed, the Senate Intelligence Committee has warned that the infrastructure attacks Russian actors attempted in 2016 may have been preparation for a more damaging assault in future elections.[4] One area of specific concern must be the protection of the election infrastructure used to register voters and cast votes. We know that Russian government agents attempted to learn about election systems, sent election observers to polling places, and targeted election system vendors.[5] They also targeted voter registration databases, perhaps to plan an attack in which “voters arrive at the polls and find that their names had been removed from the rolls.”[6] Attacks on election infrastructure could be targeted at voters with specific political affiliations, living in certain neighborhoods, or with names that are common among certain racial or ethnic groups.

Voters need not despair, however. Many state and local election officials have taken crucial steps to improve security against these sorts of attacks or to make systems of democracy more resilient if attacks do occur, such as replacing paperless voting equipment with paper ballots. Unlike paperless systems, paper ballots can be audited to check whether the machine-tabulated vote counts match up with what humans hand counting the votes would find.[7] Officials can also require polling places to keep emergency paper ballots on hand in case of machine or printer failure[8] in order to avoid long lines. And, they can require plenty of provisional ballots for voters. If there are problems with or cyberattacks on registration databases that make it unclear who is eligible to vote, provisional ballots could be counted later once the eligibility questions are resolved.[9] All of these fail-safe plans are important even if there is no attack on our elections, as long lines, failing machines, and poor election administration disenfranchise voters, especially African American voters.[10]

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic presents new challenges, especially for Black people, who are testing positive and dying from the virus at higher rates than other groups.[11] Increasing access to vote-by-mail is one piece of what must be done to ensure voters can exercise their rights to vote without risking their health. Making it simple to vote by mail not only ensures that voters can cast ballots without risking infection, it also provides a voting method that is resistant to many forms of cyberattack as it uses paper ballots that can be audited. It also avoids the problem of malfunctioning voting machines or electronic pollbooks in polling places and the accompanying long lines. 

But mail ballot systems themselves need upgrades to ensure that they work well for all voters. Studies of mail ballots in California and Florida have shown that voters of color and young voters do not have their votes counted as often as white and older voters.[12] To fix these disparities, officials should focus on voter education efforts that teach people how to obtain a mail ballot. And election officials should send an application to all those who have not applied for a ballot so they can request one. Postage should be covered, and there should also be convenient drop off options, such as secure drop boxes.[13] Placing drop boxes throughout a jurisdiction can be particularly helpful for voters who receive their ballots close to Election Day, giving  them the peace of mind that their ballot was returned in time instead of having them stick it in the mail and wondering whether or not their vote will be counted.[14] Finally, if officials check a voter’s signature to see whether it matches the signature on record, the rules of the locality must be applied fairly. No ballot should be rejected without first notifying the voter and giving him or her a simple way to fix the problem. Without following up on missing and mismatched signatures, officials have no way of knowing whether, as is often the case, a voter’s signature has simply changed over time or whether a malicious actor has stolen the voter’s ballot.

While voting by mail can protect us from foreign interference or other manipulation to a certain degree, it is not without its shortcomings. Ineffective mail delivery is more common in minority communities.[15] Moreover, as we saw recently in Wisconsin[16] and Georgia,[17] mailed ballots do not always reach voters by election day. A cyberattack on the registration system could exacerbate this problem, causing mail ballots to be sent to the wrong addresses or to never be sent at all. And furthermore, some voters with disabilities cannot vote privately using a mail ballot. 

These challenges are a key reason why in-person voting options must also be available for voters, and those options must be healthy and safe. Officials must provide appropriate protective equipment, such as masks for poll workers and voters, as well as enough space for voters to keep their distance from each other. Once again, resiliency measures, like having plenty of paper ballots on hand so voters can avoid exposure to infection in long lines, are crucial.

Wisconsin’s April 2020 primary showed what can happen if officials lack the time, resources, or political support to prepare for an election during the coronavirus. From the delays in mail ballots reaching voters to a lack of in-person polling places in Milwaukee, the state’s experience should serve as a nation-wide warning. Local authorities must begin to put measures in place that ensure that everyone who wants to exercise the right to vote during these unprecedented times can.

Officials across the country have already been preparing for a November election that is both threatened by foreign interference and may see a historic turnout.[18] Now, they must do so in the face of a contemporary menace: a global pandemic. To protect the vote, election officials must implement resiliency plans that can help recover lost or suppressed votes in case of an attack or malfunction. Priority must also be given to establishing a transparent and trustworthy vote-by-mail system and providing  in-person voting options that follow health and government guidelines. With these initiatives, our nation can respond to this year’s public health crisis and execute an election that is fair, secure, and safe.

[1] Young Mie Kim, “Voter Suppression Has Gone Digital,” Brennan Center for Justice, Nov. 20, 2018, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/voter-suppression-has-gone-digital

[2] Select Comm. on Intelligence, S. Rep. No. 116-XX (Volume 2), at 6 (2019), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf.

[3] Select Comm. on Intelligence, S. Rep. No. 116-XX (Volume 2), at 61.

[4] Select Comm. on Intelligence, S. Rep. No. 116-XX (Volume 1), at 35 (2019), https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume1.pdf (describing a possible attempt to “catalog options or clandestine actions, holding them for use at a later date”).

[5] Select Comm. on Intelligence, S. Rep. No. 116-XX (Volume 1), at 29-30.

[6] Select Comm. on Intelligence, S. Rep. No. 116-XX (Volume 1), Minority Views of Senator Wyden, at 2.

[7] Andrea Córdova McCadney, Elizabeth Howard, and Lawrence Norden, “Voting Machine Security: Where We Stand Six Months Before the New Hampshire Primary,” Brennan Center for Justice, Aug. 13, 2019, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/voting-machine-security-where-we-stand-six-months-new-hampshire-primary.

[8] Karen Brinson Bell, Numbered Memo 2020-02: Ballot Preparation Instructions, North Carolina State Board of Elections, Jan. 9, 2020, https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/sboe/numbermemo/2020/Numbered%20Memo%202020-02_Ballot%20Preparation%20Instructions.pdf.

[9] Edgardo Cortés, Gowri Ramachandran, Elizabeth Howard, and Lawrence Norden, “Preparing for Cyberattacks and Technical Failures: A Guide for Election Officials,” Brennan Center for Justice, Dec. 19, 2020, https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/policy-solutions/preparing-cyberattacks-and-technical-failures-guide-election-officials.

[10] See e.g., Stephen Pettigrew, “The Racial Gap in Wait Times: Why Minority Precincts Are Underserved by Local Election Officials,” Political Science Quarterly 132, no. 3 (Sept. 2017), https://www.stephenpettigrew.com/articles/pettigrew-2017-psq.pdf; M. Keith Chen, Kareem Haggag, Devin G. Pope, and Ryne Rohla, “Racial Disparities in Voting Wait Times: Evidence from Smartphone Data,” National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper No. 26487 (2019), https://arxiv.org/pdf/1909.00024.pdf.

[11] Clyde W. Yancy, “COVID-19 and African Americans,” Journal of the American Medical Association, Apr. 15, 2020, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2764789.

[12] See e.g., Dr. Daniel A. Smith, Vote-By-Mail Ballots Cast in Florida, American Civil Liberties Union Florida, 2018,  https://www.aclufl.org/sites/default/files/aclufl_-_vote_by_mail_-_report.pdf; Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian Americans face higher than average vote-by-mail ballot rejection rates in California, 2017, https://www.advancingjustice-la.org/sites/default/files/issuebrief-vbm-FINAL-1.pdf.

[13] U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Voting by Mail/ Absentee Voting, “Ballot Drop Box” (resource created by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), accessed May 6, 2020, https://www.eac.gov/election-officials/voting-by-mail-absentee-voting.

[14] See for e.g., Tierney Sneed, “Vote-By-Mail, Critical In Pandemic, Poses Risks For Voters Of Color,” Talking Points Memo, Apr. 22, 2020, https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/vote-by-mail-covid-19-minority-voters-obstacles; Laura Schulte and Patrick Marley, “Many Wisconsin absentee ballots have returned without postmarks and may not be counted because of it,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr. 10, 2020.

[15] Dayna L. Cunningham, Who Are to Be the Electors? A Reflection on the History of Voter Registration in the United States, 9 Yale L. & Pol’y Rev. 370, 393 (1991),  https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1210&context=ylpr.

[16] Daphne Chen, Marcia Robiou, Elizabeth Mulvey, Kacey Cherry and June Cross, “‘Voter Suppression at its Finest,’ Wisconsin Citizens Say Missing Ballots Kept them from Being Counted in Election,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Apr. 23, 2020, https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/04/13/wisconsin-election-missing-ballots-long-lines-kept-many-voting/2979975001/.

[17] Mark Niesse and Ben Brasch, “Absentee Ballot Requests Go Missing in Fulton Ahead of Georgia Primary,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 29, 2020, https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/absentee-ballot-requests-missing-fulton-ahead-georgia-primary/kkXUUbxL0wug5niqAvKTqM/.

[18] See e.g., Susan Milligan, “Preparing for a Voter Surge: Experts predict record voter turnout in 2020, but will it materialize?,” U.S. News & World Report, Sept. 20, 2019, https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2019-09-20/experts-predict-huge-turnout-in-2020; William A. Galston, “What does high voter turnout tell us about the 2020 elections?,” Brookings, November 20, 2019, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2019/11/20/what-does-high-voter-turnout-tell-us-about-the-2020-elections/ (“While the 2020 outcome may be unclear, what is clear is that turnout in 2020 could break all records and test our election machinery as it has never been tested before.”); Richard H. Pildes and Charles Stewart III, “The Wisconsin primary had extraordinarily high voter turnout,” Washington Post, Apr. 15, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/15/wisconsin-primary-had-extraordinarily-high-voter-turnout/.

We all have a story to tell. But until recently, only a privileged few had the power and the platform to share people’s stories. They not only decided whose stories were told but how. Today, affordable technology and the rise of social media have democratized the communications landscape—and changed the rules. Today, the people have the power.

In the past, poor and marginalized communities had no means of controlling how their stories were framed and shared. When their stories were finally told through their voice and perspective, there was little choice but to comport tone, message, and delivery to fit the needs and worldview of gatekeeping media conglomerates. Today, technology has unlocked the gate and placed the power of storytelling in the hands of the people to share their untold stories and unseen struggles.

As an organization keen on delivering unfiltered messages, the Winston-Salem Urban League began producing news clips and casting them on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook Live. We used the clips to promote our programs, activities, and events, and garnered tens of thousands of views. The high number of people who comment and inquire about our professional looking videos is proof that you do not need expensive equipment to produce high quality content. A little elbow grease, a $150 studio lighting kit, an empty office, a smartphone camera and free video editing software goes a long way.

Social media also allows us to deliver our messages immediately and directly to our community. Two summers ago, when deadly interactions between police and Black Americans stunned the nation, the teens in our Summer Youth Employment Program worked with our staff to produce a 10-minute video called “Ten Tips For Teens When Dealing With Police.” The video, advising teens on their rights when stopped by the police, was viewed on Facebook more than 8,000 times in over a week. In January 2018, we launched our “Home of My Own, Home Buying Seminar” in partnership with Delta Sigma Theta with a three-minute news style video shared on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Our social media promotion strategy boosted registration and the event was sold out in a matter of days.

It did not take us long to recognize that we had an obligation to share this opportunity with our community in a way that empowered their own voices. This year, we will transform a drab space in our computer lab into a hub of community-driven creativity. Members will have access to video equipment, studio lights,  backdrops, video editing software, high-quality microphones, and courses on videography and podcasting.

With a little ingenuity, affordable technology, social media, and the leadership of the Urban League, members of our community will have the power to control how their stories are told.

UnidosUS has been a proud partner of the National Urban League for many years. What unites us is a common goal of equality and justice for all and a common mission of improving opportunities for the communities we represent. Our work together has focused not only on ensuring civil and voting rights and ending discrimination, but also on achieving full economic opportunity for the 48 million African Americans and 58 million Latinos who call this country home.

Our organizations have worked together to ensure that communities of color have access to 21st century job opportunities, such as those in the renewable energy sector. During the economic downturn last decade, we partnered on a housing counseling initiative to help families save their homes from foreclosure. Last year, we worked together to fight for improvements to the tax bill that would help working families, rather than just the wealthiest individuals and corporations, and we partnered to protect federal programs that help vulnerable families, like the Affordable Care Act (ACA), from severe budget cuts.

We have also worked in coalition for more than 10 years to help close the digital divide that continues to affect both of our communities. The numbers are stark. More than 15 years after broadband became widely available in the United States, African-American and Hispanic households are still far less likely to have broadband in their homes. This situation is no longer tenable, as we believe that the digital divide is no longer just a tech issue but is, in fact, a civil rights issue.

There is simply no way to live a life completely offline in 2018 America. People looking for a job must increasingly apply online. Families seeking much needed benefits must do so on a computer. The most basic functions of one’s economic life—paying bills, banking, filing taxes, etc.—have all migrated to the internet.

But even more urgent is how the lack of access to broadband is affecting our children. The digital divide is exacerbating our educational divide. While there have been substantial improvements in the educational performance of Latino children in this country, and we are very proud of the fact that the dropout rate is at its lowest levels ever for both African-American and Hispanic students, our educational achievement levels—including test scores and graduation rates—still lag behind those of other groups.

The task of narrowing the achievement gap becomes even harder when success in education is heavily dependent on access to computers and the internet—yet access to the technology is limited. In other words, we cannot expect all of our nation’s children to be successful if they are competing in a two-tiered system where some students work with state-of-the-art laptops while others must sometimes resort to fast food restaurants to access free Wi-Fi.

UnidosUS and the National Urban League presented a united front against this injustice at the Federal Communications Commission and pressed the agency to prioritize closing the digital divide and push the federal government to create and implement a comprehensive, equitable national broadband plan. This is why we have also successfully worked with America’s largest broadband providers, such as Comcast and Charter Communications, to help these corporations develop their own low-cost, quality plans to help low-income families obtain broadband in their homes.

Beyond closing the digital divide, the most urgent challenge we are facing right now is developing best practices to increase diversity in the tech sector. Both UnidosUS and the National Urban League have spent decades advocating for greater representation in corporate America; and these efforts have had measurable effects on the make-up of many, if not most, large corporations in this country. A notable exception has been the younger, more recent companies, firms and start-ups of Silicon Valley. After much outcry, these companies finally began publically releasing their diversity numbers less than four years ago—and the numbers were predictably dismal. Only 2% of employees at tech giants Google and Facebook were African American, and only 3% were Latino.

The frustration is that after numerous promises from these companies to do better, the numbers were not significantly better in 2017. At both Facebook and Google, there was either a 1% to zero percent increase in diversity. The numbers are even worse for tech employees and those in senior management.

Going forward, the task at hand for the National Urban League and UnidosUS is to ensure that Silicon Valley moves beyond platitudes and vague promises to “do better” and takes the steps necessary to invest in and create diversity. This is not just a pipeline problem. While we support and actually run efforts to put more students in the STEM fields, there are steps that can be taken today to fill the void left by the dearth of diversity. We suggest recruiting at community colleges, where  the majority of African American and Latinos in higher education are enrolled and where many of them are getting degrees in tech-related fields.  In addition, minorities who are already established in their fields should be recruited for senior positions in other corporations.

The diversity challenge is not insurmountable. Silicon Valley need only look at the success of legacy tech companies to see how it can be done. Organizations like ours stand at the ready to work with tech firms to help them achieve the goals of their publically professed progressive values.      

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has been a sustaining voice throughout its 109-year history for justice, equal opportunity, and an end to discrimination.  Many have tried to silence our voice.  Many have failed.  Still, the fight continues. 

Today, we face yet another grave attempt to quiet our message and mission as a result of regulations that curtail an open and free internet.  The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decision to end net neutrality threatens the civil rights of African Americans and other disenfranchised communities by effectively denying access to information for the poor, sanctioning censorship by the politically motivated, and supporting a system that is inherently unfair.

Few can deny that internet access has become essential to creating economic opportunity, galvanizing social action, and spurring innovation for individuals as well as the communities and nations in which they live.  The internet has the power to democratize information, allowing us to communicate instantly and mobilize efficiently.  In recent years, the internet has proven instrumental as a catalyst for social justice movements not only in America, but around the world.

 A free and open internet is crucial to our ever-forward march for civil rights and equality.  An open internet speeds and coordinates communication with our 2,200 NAACP branches across the country.  An open internet allows us to organize in hours, as compared to weeks or months, and raise our collective voice for beneficial change.  Most important, an open internet educates, thus enabling African Americans to take advantage of the civic, economic, and creative opportunities otherwise afforded only to the entitled.

The internet, and other communications technologies like it, must continue to be firmly rooted in our nation’s democratic and free speech principles as expressly cited in NAACP national policies, as well as the United States Constitution.

Free speech is essential to our democracy.  Participation equally is essential to our democracy.  Both are compromised by the FCC’s decision that now bifurcates the internet into the rich who can afford access and the poor who are relegated to lesser or no service options; to the powerful who can censor content and the disenfranchised who cannot get their voice, or video, heard or seen. 

The NAACP stands opposed to Discriminatory Prioritization.  Simply put, no service should be stuck in a “slow lane” because it does not pay a fee.  Similarly, individuals should not be required to pay additional and potentially prohibitive fees for internet with speeds supportive of videos and dense content.  Nor should a person be blocked from content and sites, or barred from exchanging data due to the ever-rising costs of service.

The NAACP stands opposed to Blocking.  If a consumer requests access to a website or service, and the content is legal, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) should not be permitted to block access.  The NAACP stands opposed to Throttling.  With the FCC’s recent decision, ISPs now have the right to intentionally slow down some content or speed up other content of their choosing by means of a process called throttling that allows for content selection based on the type of service or the ISP’s preferences. 

The NAACP strongly affirms its support for increased transparency.  The connection between consumers and ISPs – the so-called “last mile” – is not the only place some sites might get special treatment.  The NAACP is committed to policies that break down all barriers to internet entry that prevent people of color, the economically disadvantaged and other Americans from taking advantage of the civic, economic, and creative opportunities enabled by comprehensive broadband internet services.

Net neutrality is now compromised. ISP gatekeepers are able to remove or otherwise modify information that we obtain across the internet.  The powerful images and voices seen and heard on social media of young, unarmed Black men brutally killed have galvanized communities that have strengthened our movement for justice.  Imagine, for a moment, that such images are inaccessible to communities, or wholly blocked.  This is a very real possibility with the end of net neutrality. 

The NAACP denounces the FCC’s decision to eliminate critical safeguards for ensuring an accessible internet.  The internet fuels economic opportunity, civic engagement, and social action.  It allows instant communication and public discourse, fuels innovative, and results in impactful action for social justice.

Yet, with the FCC’s decision, economic opportunity, civic engagement, social action and public discourse have taken a back seat to the profit margins of large corporations.  The average American citizen is second in line to his or her wealthier neighbor.  The result is greater disparity between rich, the middle class and the poor.  The educational gaps will widen, the disenfranchised will be further marginalized, and opportunities for advancement will be ever more limited.

We will not stand for the FCC’s decision, and will continue our fight for an open internet that serves all Americans equally and effectively.  We will continue our call for justice and inclusion.

For, in the end, the FCC’s decision has compromised the internet, but it has not weakened the voice of the NAACP.  We remain strong.  And we will not be silenced.