Six women on COVID in East LA
Kim Lopez, 22, of East Los Angeles has essentially become the de facto matriarch of her family. Like a great general in an army, she watches and commands her parents due to their vulnerability to the virus. She doesn’t let them shop for groceries anymore, that’s now her job. Any errands need to be taken care of? She’s on top of it. All while holding down a job and trying to stay afloat in her college classes.
Communities of color throughout the country’s history have always had to bear the burden of America’s missteps when finding its way to strive to live up to its ideals. From being redlined out of economic boom periods, to police issues that can trace its roots back to the plantations. So when a pandemic rages through the country, why wouldn’t its most vulnerable citizens get hit with the worst of it? One of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in all of Los Angeles County is East Los Angeles, CA. Nearly 100% Latino, one of East LA’s defining characteristics is that it’s famously Brown. The city is essentially a canvas painted with memories and celebrations of Latino culture. But with nearly 12,000 confirmed cases as of COVID as of December, it’s hard for East LA’s residents to not feel like it’s only happening to them.
Here are six East LA natives with their respective thoughts on the pandemic and it’s relation to their city…
CHRISTINA
“I’ll be completely honest. I didn’t take it seriously at the beginning. That changed when two people who live in my building died from it. One was an 18-year-old with asthma. The other was a 22-year-old who was in perfect health. I think it just hit him harder than most. So when you see that, it makes you re-evaluate some things.”
KIM
“You have to understand that so many essential, work service jobs are done by people of color. Bus drivers, janitors, hell the lady who sells tamales down the street from my house every morning. These people don’t have the luxury of working in an office building and have their desks separated exactly six feet apart. And some people would say, well they should work harder to get those jobs, but you have to realize where these people are coming from and once they do get here, where they’re starting from. It’s not even first base.”
CAROLINA
“Well, I took it seriously from the start. That first couple of weeks was so scary. My younger brother loves sports, and I just remember him saying how they canceled a basketball game right in the middle of it because I guess one of the players tested positive. I sent my mom a text with a bunch of photos of things we needed to grab immediately. Yes, toilet paper was on that list.”
MICHELLE
“The first time I stepped outside after the lockdown was put into place, I had to go to the bank. My mom still pays bills with cash, so I had no choice but to leave the safety of my room. And I remember just driving and the city felt like a ghost town. Usually, this place is so vibrant and full of beautiful people, but it felt dead. Now, I feel like people just don’t care anymore. And I want to be mad at them, but can you blame them? As a fellow human, can you blame them? People need to make a living.”
GENIVIVE
“I’m one of those people who not only wears a mask everywhere, but sometimes I wear a double mask. I don’t care how people look at me. I carry hand sanitizer everywhere too. Now that I know that East LA is near the top of the corona list, I don’t plan to change anytime soon. I guess it makes sense. A few days ago, one of my girlfriends sent me a picture of her at a party. Not a mask was in sight.”
GISELLE
“I live over in Boyle Heights, and we’re going to hit 6,000 cases soon. I check the LA Times COVID Tracker too! The first thing I thought about when the Lakers and Dodgers both won was, “oh no, cases are about to skyrocket.” For the record, I don’t think the people in Hollywood Hills are doing anything different than we are down here. In fact, aren’t people of color more likely to wear a mask than White people? So I believe it to be more of a systemic issue than we think. By the way, how messed up is it of all the years that both LA teams would win, at the same time, we couldn’t properly celebrate it. No parade at all. 2020, man.
