What A Day - When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Mutual Aid

Episode Date: March 30, 2020

Mutual-aid networks, which allow neighbors and community members to pool resources, have blossomed during the coronavirus crisis. We interview Christine Gatson-Michalak, co-founder of the Claremont Mutual Aid Project, about the biggest needs right now. Trump held a press conference yesterday, where he said among other things that social distancing measures will continue until April 30. So our promised Easter Egg hunts will be taking place in our apartment living rooms. And in headlines: Shaq misses meetings at Papa John’s, twisters in Arkansas, and the EPA rolls back protections during the pandemic.

It's Monday, March 30th. I'm Gideon Resnick. And I'm Erin Ryan, filling in for Akilah Hughes. And this is What A Day, preparing for at least another month of recording from my dark closet. I guess that explains your outfit, Gideon. Yes, I am wearing, uh, if you've ever seen Joe Exotic, I'm wearing exactly what he's wearing. On today's show, how mutual aid networks are responding to the coronavirus crisis, then some headlines. But first, the latest. This right here, it's a world name called i believe that we will win this right here is to motivate the world with that said i want you to stay healthy stay safe

stay blessed that's i believe we will win a new motivational coronavirus anthem by pitbull all right so last week we told you about the massive economic relief bill that passed in I believe we will win a new motivational coronavirus anthem by Pitbull. All right. So last week, we told you about the massive economic relief bill that passed in Congress. President Trump signed it into law on Friday. And on Sunday, he held one of his daily news conferences on the pandemic where he, among other things, seemed to insanely suggest that hospital employees may be hoarding masks and lashed out at at least one reporter for reading his own quote back to him. But aside from his maniacal theatrics, what other news is coming

out of D.C. right now? Yeah, so let's start with the relief bill really quick or the CARES Act. As we talked about, Democrats added an inspector general to oversee how the administration would actually dole out that bailout money to various companies. Well, when Trump signed the law, he also released a statement saying he wants to oversee the overseer, which would ultimately defeat the purpose. So that's an important story and fight that we're going to be monitoring down the road. But about that Trump press conference yesterday, it followed tweets from the president about the television ratings of such events, again, during the midst of a crisis. But the big news is that Trump said social distancing will now extend until April 30th, far past Easter, which is when Trump had previously said he wanted to get the economy up and running again.

Earlier on in the day, on Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said that it's possible the United States could see 100,000 to 200,000 deaths and millions of infections. But he qualified it saying those numbers were a, quote, moving target. Right. And that helps explain why the social distancing guidelines have been extended. So we know one of the major hotspots for the virus so far has been New York and the surrounding tri-state area. Over the weekend, Trump tweeted something about quarantining the region and then quickly walked it back. What the hell? Yeah, so this actually happened in a span of time that I think was long enough to confuse people, but it quickly got shot down. Instead, the CDC put out guidance Saturday night saying that residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut should not travel domestically for 14 days unless it is essential. This does not apply to individuals who are working, for instance, in trucking, public health, and food supply, among other things.

But already, a number of other states have been urging people who traveled from New York recently to self-quarantine. And in Texas, this is really crazy, authorities are saying the Department of Public Safety agents will find violators and possibly jail them for up to 180 days. Meanwhile, New York City's Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city has about a week left of medical supplies as hospitals are being overrun. And on Sunday, an emergency field hospital was being built in Central Park. More supplies are on the way, but it's been a patchwork of shipments rather than a coordinated response. Again, this is what everybody has been talking about in terms of the administration not stepping in and filling its role here. More on all of that as it develops,

but let's talk through what's going on elsewhere. All right. So internationally, I want to give an update on a few areas we haven't talked much about yet. So let's start with Africa. The virus is just getting a foothold on that continent and governments there are trying to tamp down its spread before it overwhelms health systems. Unfortunately, police and military enforcement of lockdowns and quarantines have turned violent in Kenya, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. And in South Africa, where there are the most cases on the continent, police reportedly have harassed homeless people in Johannesburg and arrested 55 people on Friday, which was the first day of the country's lockdown. There are now more than 4000 confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa, but that number is probably much

smaller than the actual number of cases because in Africa, like in the U.S., early testing has lagged. Right. And in Russia, as of today, Moscow residents are only allowed to leave home to perform essential jobs, buy food or medicine or walk their pets within just 100 meters of their houses. Why has Russia got a lockdown Fido? Anyway, we have another cruise ship to report on, a Holland America ship that has been floating off the coast of Panama for days and waiting for permission to cross the Panama Canal. Finally got some news today. 130 passengers have fallen ill with flu-like symptoms and four people have died, but now the ship has gotten permission to pass through the canal.

Healthy passengers will be removed, and the rest of the ship will sail on to South Florida where they will dock and be met by medical personnel. That's the update for today. A quick pivot. While all of this is happening outside of our homes, a lot of us are trapped indoors. And for parents, that means spending a lot more time with your kids than you normally would. So for those of you with kids, how are they handling it? Are they weirder or more terrifyingly stoic than you remember? On my podcast, Hysteria, we're featuring stories from parents submitted through our parental vent line.

So if you've got a story about your wild kids, record a 30-second voice memo on your federal and local efforts to support people at a time when many are struggling. The government has beefed up unemployment insurance and expanded paid sick leave, but we know these efforts don't cover everyone. For example, you may not qualify for stimulus checks based on your immigration status or if your parents claim you as a dependent on their taxes. For many more, the support that is being provided isn't going to be enough or delivered fast enough. Right, and that's where mutual aid networks come in, where neighbors and community members come together to pool resources and respond quickly to requests for assistance. It's not a new organizing concept. Historically, we've seen these networks play an important role in Black, Indigenous, and immigrant communities when disaster strikes or institutional support just isn't there. And now during this health and

economic emergency, mutual aid networks are popping up and scaling up all over the country. To get a better understanding of how these groups work, we spoke with Christine Gatson-Michaelak, co-founder of the Claremont Mutual Aid Project in California. I think a lot of the networks that we're seeing happen right now, in general, before the crisis and right now during the pandemic, is people coming together, using online spreadsheets to state what they need. Like, just to say, this is what I need. I need baby formula. I can't find baby formula anywhere. It's not that I can't afford it. I just can't find it. We put that out in the world. And a day later, we have someone driving to East Los Angeles to drop off some baby formula. And it's really, it can be as simple as that. And it's just about bringing people together to meet

needs, right? And right now we're seeing a lot of folks who need their basic necessities, food, medicine, rent money, right? So while a lot of this is resource, like material support that looks like actual supplies, we're also seeing a need for a lot of money to be moved around at this time. Right. And you've been involved in community organizing for quite some time and started this mutual aid project last summer, you know, before the day-to-day realities of a pandemic. But how have you adapted in response to this new reality in terms of the kind of stuff that you're doing day-to- day and the work that is happening within the network? There hasn't necessarily been much adaptation. It's more been about scale. Like we're doing

the same things that we were before. It hasn't really changed. It's the same. It's just gotten bigger. There's more people participating and participation is happening more often. What have you seen is the biggest need for people right now in your community? And how do you see mutual aid networks continuing to meet community needs through this crisis and beyond? Yeah. Like I said, the most basic necessities are what people need food, medicine, hygiene products, like menstrual products or toilet paper or soap. And then again, rent money, right? Like, our government is not doing enough to protect people from eviction, like maybe in the short term, but not in the long term. So it's really basic necessities that we're seeing now. And I'm really excited about the

opportunity as really sucky as the reason is that we're in this moment. I do have a lot of hope that people who haven't considered this a viable option for community care in the past are going to see it working now and realize that this is how we can be with one another all the time. Like we don't have to rely on other people who are higher up and who are making decisions about who is worthy and who isn't. We can just take care of one another. Like it can always be like this. And on the topic of rent, just quickly, I'm kind of curious in practice, how that works, I guess, is it sort of like a Venmo situation? Or what exactly is going on? Right now in the mutual aid network that I am helping to organize and administer, folks reach out and say like what they need. And in a lot of cases that is looking like rent money.

And then they have the opportunity to say how they want that money to get to them. Whether it's mostly it's through payment apps, right? Like Cash App or Venmo or PayPal. And it's not the organized, it's not the admin team who is making decisions about who gets what. This is a network of people who are coming together. And there's a lot of people who have more than they need. And so they look at this spreadsheet, and they read this person's note about what they're going through and how much money they need and why. And they just send it directly to them. There is no middleman, there is no decisions about worthiness. It's person to person giving, like direct giving. And I think in this time, it's, and always really,

it's just so important to lean into trust. I hear people being concerned about scams, but I'm not actually hearing about scams, right? And what I am hearing a lot is from poor and working class folks who are nervous about asking for what they need. They're like, I know that there's other people who are so much worse off than I am. It's hard for me to ask for $2,000, even though that's how much I need to survive the next three to four weeks. Because I know that there are people out there who are sleeping on the street. So there's obviously people who need it more than me. And yeah, it's definitely something that is not normal or comfortable for a lot of people. And it just takes practice. Like got to lean into

that discomfort and just do it. So if somebody wanted to start a mutual aid group in their community, or they wanted to find one to get involved with, what's the easiest way to go about it? I would encourage folks who want to engage in mutually to seek out networks that already exist. Because having a broad base of people who are sharing resources makes it easier for people's needs to get met. And if folks want to start something because there's nothing going on or because a complimentary project would make sense, like in Los Angeles, there's four big ones that I know of. And we're all working, not necessarily together, but Los Angeles is a big area, right? So if you do find the need to start something on your own, there are so many resources online.

I would definitely recommend Big Door Brigade, which it was started by Dean Spade, who is definitely an expert on mutual aid. I am not. I would also encourage folks to look at the models that are already being used. Like there is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are so many models that exist. Just copy them. That was Christine Gatson-Michalak, co-founder of the Claremont Mutual Aid Project in California.

The resource she mentioned there to learn more about mutual aid is BigDoorBrigade.com. It's got a list of mutual aid networks around the country and information on how to build a network in your area if nothing exists already. Plus a bunch more useful links and tools. Check it out. It's Monday and time for a check-in. Okay, so by this point, millions of Americans have been in mandatory isolation for at least 10 days, which means we've had plenty of time to get really tired of the people that we are in mutual isolation with or if we live alone of ourselves. So Gideon, I know we live alone of ourselves so gideon i know you live alone what's one annoying thing really hot i know what's one annoying thing you've noticed about

the gideon that you're currently sharing space with you know this this gideon uh lacks a degree of organization uh lacks willpower to stay focused on various things throughout the day. There could be better Gideons, but we need to come together and deal with the Gideons that we have before we move on to the other Gideons. Exactly. That old chestnut. Play with the Gideons you have,

not with the Gideons you want, for sure. Look, that's the adage from the Bible. But how about you, Erin? Are things getting tense in quarantine? A little bit, but they've smoothed out. I think initially we had a lot of fights about food and fridge organization. When you're with somebody at home all the time, it's like you get mad at them for the way that they stack the tortillas

on top of the the smaller tortillas like the bigger tortillas should go on the bottom and the smaller tortillas on the top and like of course we have to keep a large bottle of pickle juice in the fridge we might want to take pickleback shots this is not a time to limit the type of shots we can take during an epidemic, you know? I think that as a mediator in this situation, I'm going to come down on both sides being right. One on the count of tortillas, which I believe would be points to you, and one on the count of needing to clear up space and get rid of the pickle juice, which I think would not be points for you.

This is a quick temperature check. Wash your hands, call your friends, and have a beautiful day. And a pickleback shot if you want. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. The Environmental Protection Agency has suspended its enforcement of environmental laws during the coronavirus pandemic so that the trees can also get sick. The temporary directive, which will remain in place indefinitely, means factories, power plants and other emitters will not be subject to fines for failure to monitor, report, or comply with regulations. Experts and environmental advocates say relaxing rules on a case-by-case basis could make sense for companies that may be short-staffed due to the health emergency, but they say this policy is far too expansive and gives too much discretion to companies to pollute, as long as they can say they did so because of the pandemic. Gideonon i want to know who these people are who are just chomping at the bit to get out there

and pollute are they like racehorses just like oh god i gotta get out there i gotta like dump some toxic waste in some water like who are these people the the ceo of of bp you know just in a stable ready to ready to rock and roll okay uh the city of jonesborough arkansas was hit with a violent tornado on saturday causing severe property damage and injuring at least 22 people the twister lifted debris more than four miles in the air and flattened buildings officials said that coronavirus related social distancing and business closures probably cut down on the human toll of the storm. Had more people been out, the city's mayor said the outcome could have been much worse. So this is the only way in which coronavirus is good.

Employees of Instacart are striking today after the company failed to provide them with supplies to protect themselves during coronavirus. This comes as more people are relying on delivery companies to buy groceries from home. I'll be eating my most ancient freezer-burned venison my dad sent me in the mail in solidarity with the workers. I literally just did this. Instacart employees are seeking more personal protective equipment like disinfectant sprays and wipes, plus hazard pay and an expansion of sick pay for workers who contract COVID-19.

Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island are staging a similar demonstration today. They're refusing to work until Amazon closes and sanitizes their facility, which recently saw an employee test positive for coronavirus. Go workers. Everyone go to Aaron's dad. Please send me some venison.com.

He'll do it. He will 100%. We have three giant frozen venison summer sausages in our freezer, too, which we will eat in solidarity with the Instacart workers so that we are not ordering food when they're striking. Listen, my arms are wide open for venison. Okay. Advisors for shareholders of Papa John's Pizza say

Shaquille O'Neal shouldn't be reelected to the board because he missed too many meetings in his first term as director. Sounds like a classic case of being mad you didn't get to look at PowerPoints with Shaq. Shaq signed an $8.25 million contract to join Papa John's as part of a push to rehabilitate the company's image. One good way to rehabilitate your image is by not firing a beloved athlete. The man more commonly known as Kazam brought a lot of experience in the restaurant business as the owner of 155 Five Guys restaurants. For anyone doing the math at home, that's 775 guys total. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review,

watch our laptop for one sec, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not mysterious crop circles like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Erin Ryan. I'm Gideon Resnick. And hello to Shaq's nearly 800 guys. He's got a freaking army and he's coming. What a day is a product of Crooked Media.

It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.