Across America, people seek ways to feel safe and heard during pandemic and protests
Frank Fahland, 61, is one of hundreds of Libby, Mont., residents who has an asbestos-related disease. That makes them potentially more vulnerable to complications from COVID-19.
Ed Mahon hosts a Facebook Live conversation with a founder of Erie's Black Wall Street and two local business owners.
Our work with reporters and producers to better understand what’s on the minds of our community members continued in July, with two new “throughline questions.” (Learn more about the effort in this previous story.)
We asked journalists from Libby, Montana, to Lebanon, Pennsylvania to record the answers to these questions:
Where do you get your news and information?
What has been your experience with voting this year, or in years past?
It’s no surprise that fear of COVID-19 and a strong desire for action against systemic racism continued to emerge as top of mind for people across the country. Here’s some of what we’ve heard:
‘Sitting ducks.’
In Iowa, the death rate from COVID-19 has been on the rise. Iowa Public Radio producer Lily DeTaeye says that many people she’s engaged with via GroundSource say they feel like “sitting ducks” because of the lack of government involvement with the issue. She says she’s been able to build trust by giving people an opportunity to tell their stories in the way they want to.
‘Wearing masks is patriotic.’
In Libby, Montana, a town already dealing with the after-effects of decades of asbestos pollution, residents have deep concerns about contracting the virus, regardless of their political affiliations. One Trump supporter told the Mountain West News Bureau’s Nate Hegyi that “wearing masks is patriotic.”
Feeling ignored by mainstream media.
Some residents in Erie, Pennsylvania, and along the I-4 corridor in Florida had something in common — distrust in mainstream media. In Erie, Black community members told Ed Mahon of PA Post they felt ignored by local media, so they started Erie’s Black Wall Street — a grassroots group with a website that has a directory of Black businesses.
And in Florida, a group of conservative Republicans told Matthew Peddie of WMFE they turn to conservative talk radio or Fox News because they feel most of mainstream media doesn’t speak to them.
Here are the new questions we’d love America Amplified journalists to ask and then record the answers here.
How do you feel about protests and unrest in your community and elsewhere?
What are you looking for in a political leader?
