The Bay

Several surveys show that Black Americans are, on average, more hesitant to receive a COVID-19 vaccine compared with white people. And when it comes to Black communities showing less trust in the health care system overall, many journalists, politicians and experts point to one specific historical incident: the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.

But many people, including KQED reporter April Dembosky, are worried that Tuskegee has become a scapegoat for the many structural inequities in the health care system today. And it has real implications right now, especially for Black people who are disproportionately dying from COVID-19.

Guest: April Dembosky, KQED health correspondent

Episode transcript here: http://bit.ly/3aA4MQ9

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After the pandemic forced strip clubs in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood to close and protests against police violence erupted in the summer, many dancers were laid off and started to work virtually instead.

This created an unexpected opportunity to push for more worker power among strippers, and fight back against issues like sexual harassment, racism, and a culture of fear around speaking out. And now, some dancers are hoping that this organizing will lead to better working conditions in strip clubs when the pandemic eventually ends.

Guests: Kathryn Hurd and Ellie Lightfoot, reporters and students at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism

Episode transcript here: http://bit.ly/3aBSua9

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Sakhone Lasaphangthong spends his work day in Oakland's Chinatown helping people get the resources they need. He walks the streets and connects with merchants, elders, and people who don't have housing.

Over the last few weeks, violence against Asian elders in the community received national media attention and sparked a lot of debate about race, policing, and community safety. Today, we speak with Sakhone about what he's been seeing in Oakland's Chinatown.

Guest: Sakhone Lasaphangthong, director of housing services at Family Bridges and Chinatown ambassador

Episode transcript here: http://bit.ly/3apL49O

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Traditional Chinese Medicine has a complicated history in the Bay. In the 70s, a Chinese immigrant in Palo Alto named Miriam Lee was arrested and put on trial for practicing acupuncture — even though she learned it from a master in her hometown in China.

Today, Traditional Chinese Medicine is still often exoticized or dismissed. But now, some Asian Americans in the Bay Area are reconnecting with these practices — and building new communities in the process.

Guest: Cathy Erway, food writer and host of the podcast Self Evident: Asian America's Stories

Read Cathy's piece about this in the San Francisco Chronicle here. Episode transcript here: http://bit.ly/3tQXSxD

We're taking a break on Monday, Feb. 15th. Talk to you on Wednesday!

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After months of debate on whether to reopen public schools in the Bay Area's largest districts, some families have finally had enough of distance learning. But parents are divided on whether it’s safe — and worth the risk — to send their kids back to school while the pandemic rages on. And even if everyone did agree on what to do, the path to reopening is sure to be a long one.

Guest: Vanessa Rancaño, KQED education reporter

Episode transcript here.

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There’s a long history of Black women in the Bay Area leading social justice work — including the hundreds of women who led the Black Panther Party. One West Oakland resident believes a celebration of these women and their contributions is long overdue. That’s why, after last summer’s protests against police violence, she decided to memorialize their legacy with a permanent mural on the home she's owned for more than 20 years.

Guests: Jilchristina Vest, curator and West Oakland homeowner

Ericka Huggins, human rights activist, poet, educator, Black Panther Party leader and former political prisoner

Rev. Cheryl Dawson, Black Panther Party member, Berkeley Chapter

Learn more about the Women of the Black Panther Party Mural unveiling on Feb. 14 here.

Episode transcript here.

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The climate crisis isn't just about big tropical storms and deadlier wildfires. Rising sea levels — as a result of climate change — are forcing contaminated groundwater to the surface in parts of the Bay Area. And the neighborhoods in most danger are places where there was once heavy industry, including areas that were once redlined.

Guest: Laura Klivans, KQED science reporter and host of Deep Look.

Episode transcript here. Subscribe to our newsletter here.

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California’s vaccine rollout has been…confusing. Many people have been writing into KQED with basic questions about eligibility or where they go to get vaccinated. Our engagement editor has been fielding those questions. But she’s not the only one trying to fill the vaccination information void.

Guest: Carly Severn, KQED senior engagement editor

Carly answered the top five questions our audience wanted to know. You can read about those questions here. Plus, learn more here about eligibility for the vaccine and where you can get vaccinated.

Episode transcript here.

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It’s easy to think that California’s eviction moratorium means people can expect to remain in their homes during the economic crisis and global pandemic.

But a KQED investigation found that hundreds of evictions are still taking place across the Bay Area, to mostly Black and brown renters. So why hasn’t the state’s eviction moratorium stopped evictions from happening? And why is it worse in some counties than others? What your local governments are doing is a large part of the answer.

Guest: Molly Solomon, KQED housing reporter

Are you facing issues with housing during the pandemic? Share your story with us here.

Episode Transcript here.

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It takes a lot of hard work to curb gun violence at the community level. For the past few years, those efforts in Richmond and Oakland were paying off.

But then the pandemic happened, and a lot of in-person community building became unsafe, and advocates fear years of hard work has been lost to the pandemic.

Guest: Abené Clayton, reporter for The Guardian’s Guns and Lies in America project. You can read Abené's story here.

Episode transcript here.

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