Patrice Peck: As a black woman and a freelance journalist — and a black woman journalist passionate about writing stories for us — I’ve been desperately brainstorming constructive ways to lend my writing skills to help fight this disease, suppress its spreading, and end this pandemic. I’ve also been wanting to write more original stories independent from any publication, for my own audience, and start a newsletter. So I decided to combine all these ideas and dedicate my newsletter SpeakPatrice to highlighting coronavirus news for black folks, both stories written by other journalists and by me, Patrice Peck. Hence, SpeakPatrice Presents: Coronavirus News for Black Folks.

Peck: Black people — particularly those in the United States (which has the most confirmed cases worldwide) — experience significant health disparities, including access to quality health care and insurance, and are disproportionately affected by cancer, heart disease, HIV, asthma, diabetes, obesity, and sickle cell disease. (The death rate for these illnesses is also generally higher for black Americans than white Americans.)

These health disparities stem from social inequities that are deeply rooted in and perpetuated by systemic racism, including (but not limited to) a much higher barrier of entry to and/or lack of access to fresh foods and healthy environments, employment, fair working conditions, and other economic opportunities, housing, and unbiased and high-quality health care, especially preventative services, like screenings and vaccinations, and insurance. According to the CDC, people who have serious underlying medical conditions — including cancer, heart disease, HIV, asthma, diabetes, severe obesity, liver and kidney disease, and sickle cell disease — might be at higher risk for severe illness from the coronavirus disease COVID-19.

All that being said, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic is the most important, most pressing news story of our time. And while the mainstream media has been doing an excellent job of providing stories about COVID-19 and the pandemic, there’s still a huge lack of widespread daily coverage focused on the ways in which the disease and pandemic are disproportionately impacting the black community.

Not only will this lack of coverage likely worsen the pandemic overall due to a lack of greater awareness and information about the disease and pandemic within (and without) our community, but it’ll also devastate our community to a much greater degree. So, SpeakPatrice Presents: Coronavirus News For Black Folks aims to empower our community by circulating existing coronavirus (COVID-19) news and stories as it relates to the black diaspora and creating our own original FUBU written and audio content to fill the many gaps in coverage, from how the disease and pandemic are specifically impacting our physical and mental health, our social and cultural structures and institutions, and more.

Peck: I’m testing formats that are non-overwhelming, yet comprehensive, informative, relatable and engaging. That includes easy-to-skim news aggregation (including weekly and mid-weekly roundups), interviews spotlighting specific people, places, and things, audio content (Substack has an audio feature I hope to test out), and user-generated content gathered via the newsletter’s comment section, Google Forms, social media, and more. I’m honestly open to testing out whichever formats help relay and retain information best.

Peck: Oh, there are so many gaps, because there are so many underreported areas of intersections within the black diaspora. For example, black people in the U.S. experience significant health disparities that also include lack of access to quality health care and insurance, so it’s critical that publications consider how this uniquely impacts black immigrants and include these groups when addressing disparities among immigrant communities.

Intersectional U.S. coverage is key, including (but not limited to) African Americans, Caribbean Americans, Afro-Latino Americans, black immigrants living in the U.S. and the LGBTQI+ people and people with disabilities within those communities.

Peck: One of the most significant differences is that I don’t have to wait for a story pitch to be received, considered, and commissioned or passed. Editors understandably have a ton on their plate, especially these days. At the same time, time is of the essence when reporting on and sharing news related to the coronavirus disease and pandemic, given how fast this disease spreads. Also, sometimes an editor just won’t understand the significance of your story or consider it to be along the lines of activism, or they might not feel it worth spending some of their budget on commissioning it.

So publishing my own newsletter allows for my original ideas and stories to go up faster and helps me not to second-guess the importance or validity of a story, whereas I might be tempted to do so if the initial pitch had been “rejected.”

Peck: Right now SpeakPatrice Presents: Coronavirus News For Black Folks is a one-woman-show, so I’d love to speak with people who are interested in supporting the newsletter, whether that’s through writing, social media, art design, data journalism and visualization, etc. People can reach me here and on social media at @SpeakPatrice.

Peck: My favorite social media is definitely Instagram. I’m a visual person at heart, and I’m constantly inspired by the inspiring, informational, and creative images and videos that black women are sharing on that platform, whether that be a fresh set of box braids plaited by a stylist in Detroit, a funny video of a black dad stunned into silence as his toddler daughter sings along to every lyric in the car, or a breathtaking self-portrait oil painting done by a fine arts student in Kingston, Jamaica.