LEROY, California
Leroy is the founder of the Krip-Hop Nation and has been writing the ‘Illin-N-Chillin’ column for POOR Magazine since 1990. He is also a founding member of National Black Disability and activist around police brutality against people with disabilities. Leroy is an activist for disabled people of color and lives with cerebral palsy.
In his video, Leroy speaks about how COVID-19 affects disabled people of color.
COVID-19 Video Transcript
COVID Isolation
Well, you know, people with disabilities have always been isolated. I think the country is now finally waking up to the realities of people with disabilities. We work from home; many of us do their whole work from their bed. We have been teleworking ever since the internet began. So, I am glad that the rest of the world is waking up about how people with disabilities have been living since day one. The question is: After this, are we going to really sit down and look at how we can implement some of the things people with disabilities have been doing since day one?
Disabled people of color
The media is so idiotic because if you look at any other health things, it affects brown and black people. If you look at who is working in the grocery stores or who is doing the essential work. My sister works for FedEx, and she has to go to work. So it makes sense that black and brown people are affected more by the virus. The thing is, what are we going to do about it as a country?
Institutionalized racism
I think institutionalized racism kills us constantly every day. With the virus, it is compounded.
