May 13, 20213 min
By ONME News
Dr. Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Equity Research Institute at USC. Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC. Pastor was the founding director of the Center for Justice, Tolerance, and Community at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has previously served as a Public Member of the Strategic Growth Council in California, as a member of the Commission on Regions appointed by California’s Speaker of the State Assembly, and as a member of the Regional Targets Advisory Committee for the California Air Resources Board.
Dr. Pastor talked extensively about the how badly the Black and Latino populations have been affected economically and emotionally after the pandemic; they really need culturally relevant and sensitive resources for mental health to address the trauma they have been dealing with, or are still trying to manage.
Regarding the vaccine, Dr. Pastor said he wished they would have started the marketing effort of all three vaccines in December or earlier before the actual rollout to address which vaccines suit individuals based on their daily job demands; many blue-collar workers are not able to take off two times in a several-week period, just to get a vaccine--one shot, such as the Johnson & Johnson, is easier for such individuals who have rigid working arrangements.
Leslie Cooper Johnson is the Vice President of Organizational Development at Community Coalition. She received both her B.S. in Kinesiology and her MSW from the University of Southern California.
Since joining Community Coalition in 2007, Leslie has coordinated fundraising strategies that have helped the organization raise more than $25 million in funding from government, foundations, corporations and individual donors. In her current role, she is charged with leading strategies to grow the organization’s resources, both human and financial. Leslie currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the South LA Transit Empowerment Zone. She is also a graduate of the Los Angeles African American Women’s Public Policy Institute and the African American Board Leadership Institute.
Cooper Johnson said the Community Coalition has been an activist for its South Los Angeles residents for 30 years; she talked about how severely this community has been impacted after the pandemic, due to the pre-existing conditions already present concerning academic achievement, lack of internet access, and lack of income, the COVID-19 exacerbated the problem.
She also suggested that it is imperative for people to know that "racism is the true pandemic; we must call for solutions that are bold, systemic and address root causes."
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