Today on Sojourner Truth:
We continue our coverage of COVID-19. What is going on in the area in Louisiana known as Cancer Alley? How are residents there responding? What is the inter-relationship between pollution, racism and COVID-19? Our guests are Robert Taylor and Lydia Gerard. Robert Taylor is the founder of Concerned Citizens of St. John. The mission of the organization is to ensure the health and safety of all citizens while working to hold government officials and industry accountable for air pollution. Lydia Gerard is a member of Concerned Citizens of St. John. Lydia lost her husband Walter to cancer. She is also imperiled by COVID-19, as she has several preconditions because of her exposure to chloroprene from the Denka Dupont plant in Reserve, Louisiana.
Also, the impact of COVID-19 on sex workers. Should they be eligible for economic relief? Our guests are Niki Adams and Rachel West. Niki Adams is a spokeswoman for the English Collective of Prostitutes, a network of women working in different areas of the sex industry " both on the streets and indoors " which has campaigned since 1975 for decriminalization of sex work, sex workers' safety, and the resources for sex workers to leave the sex trade if they want to. Rachel West is a spokeswoman for the San Francisco-based US PROStitutes Collective (US PROS), part of the International Prostitutes Collective and a multiracial network of women who work or have worked in different areas of the sex industry. Founded in 1982, US PROS campaigns for the decriminalization of prostitution and for justice, protection and resources so that no woman, young person or man is forced into prostitution through poverty or violence.
For our weekly Earth Watch, we speak with Eleanor Goldfield about mutual aid amid the COVID-19 crisis. Eleanor Goldfield is a creative activist and journalist. Her work focuses on radical and censored issues via photo, video and written journalism, as well as artistic mediums including music, poetry and visual art. She is the co-host of the podcast Common Censored along with Lee Camp, and will soon be releasing a film, Hard Road Of Hope about West Virginia as both a resource colony and radical inspiration. She also assists in frontline action organizing and activist training. Her website is: ArtKillingApathy.com
