needs. Every sector in our people, from people oppressed because of their gender and sexuality, wage-slaves living pay-check to paycheck, disabled people, hair dressers, people robbed of their human right to housing and forced to sleep in squalor on the streets, sex-workers, incarcerated people, etc. has very specific health needs created by the particular ways national oppression manifests amongst Black people colonized under U.S. Imperialism. The North American settler nation ignores these health disparities to their peril. Their lack of focus and attention to those most impacted and vulnerable to this pandemic will cause a large amount of their own population to become affected and die from the disease too. While their healthcare system discriminates, the coronavirus does not. The Black nation must defend itself; and we call on those who resist this imperialist settler-colonial empire to stand with us through centering the needs of those amongst our people who are dying from COVID19 and imperial neglect. Our people make up 13.4% of the general U.S. population and 40% of the U.S. prison population, the largest prison population by percentage in the world (making Black people in the United States the most heavily incarcerated nation on the planet). Of the 48,000 incarcerated youth in the United States, ​42% of boys and 35% of girls in juvenile facilities are Black. ​The empire's jails and prisons are already known to be places riddled disease with imprisoned people who suffer from medical neglect and torture. COVID-19 is already starting to take the lives of our people languishing in the jails. Amongst these prisoners are our many Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War, including Dr. Mutulu Shakur a freedom fighter and acupuncturist and founder of our organization who is being illegally held in prison years past his mandated release date. Dr. Shakur currently suffers from bone cancer which makes him not only a member of the population of people highly vulnerable to COVID-19 but also eligible for compassionate release. Any measures taken to address this health crisis needs to also take into account the impact of the economic devastation that is a result of the fallout from this pandemic; with 195 million jobs projected to be wiped out worldwide leaving 2 billion people or 61% of the global workforce in need of some form of economic assistance to survive. People who have had their right to housing violated, people being released from jails and prisons, and people who are attempting to flee domestic abuse need to have housing made available immediately in order to both slow the spread of the pandemic and to uphold their human dignity. Rent and eviction moratoriums need to be put into place across the empire. It is not enough to provide housing and rent relief on a temporary basis. This housing and rent relief needs to be made permanent and federal resources extracted from the taxes people pay in this country need to be used for the immediate benefit of everyone residing in the country. Our people have the right to do whatever they need to survive. Our people’s survival is not a crime. Nations who have economic sanctions and blockades imposed on them when the entire world is fighting this pandemic. Oftentimes these nations, especially Cuba through its Socialist Revolution, have stepped up to provide critical medical resources and expertise in an exemplary display of international solidarity and joint struggle to countries who have been ravaged by the coronavirus. We stand with the grassroots people of Venezuela and Iran and see a commonality of struggle with them as they By Any Means Necessary
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