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Oregon faces legal challenges after establishing blacks-only COVID-19 relief fund A COVID-19 relief fund set up by the state of Oregon has run into legal challenges after it became known that the fund was reserved exclusively for African American residents. The state’s doling out of inadequate financial aid to troubled businesses on race-based criteria reveals the politically bankrupt and deeply reactionary nature of racialist politics. The Oregon Cares Fund was arranged by state Democratic Party officials in July 2020 and reserved $62 million out of the $200 million that was set aside by the Oregon legislature’s Emergency Board to provide relief to small businesses affected by the pandemic. The fund’s website declares it is intended for “Black people, Black-owned businesses, and Black community based organizations” and provides up to $3,000 per-family and $100,000 per-business. The relief funds were drawn from the $1.4 billion that the state of Oregon received f ....
JOHN DAY — A John Day-based lawsuit has halted further distributions of COVID-19 funds earmarked by the governor for Black-owned businesses and families. ....
White and Latino Plaintiffs Stall Oregon COVID Relief Fund Specifically Addressing Needs of Black Families and Businesses, Calling It Discriminatory Citing a number of historical disparities that have decimated the Black community for centuries, Oregon lawmakers last year took steps in trying to ease the burden on African-Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Legislators carved out $62 million in aid for Black families and business owners from the state’s $1.6 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act package. But a pair of federal lawsuits filed last year in the U.S. District Court of Oregon successfully sought injunctions to stop those grant dollars from reaching their intended targets, calling the relief fund unconstitutional and biased. ....
Black civic leaders in Oregon heard the alarm bells early in the pandemic. Data and anecdotes around the country suggested that the coronavirus was disproportionately killing Black people. Locally, Black business owners had begun fretting about their livelihoods, as stay-at-home orders and various other measures were put into place. Many did not have valuable houses they could tap for capital, and requests for government assistance had gone nowhere. After convening several virtual meetings, the civic leaders proposed a bold and novel solution that state lawmakers approved in July. The state would earmark $62 million of its $1.4 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money to provide grants to Black residents, business owners and community organizations enduring pandemic-related hardships. ....