Unheard Voices of the Pandemic

Amplifying & Centering Marginalized Voices

In March 2020, COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, and we—like many in the world—found our workplace, projects, and plans turned upside down. We dealt daily with uncertainty. At VOW, our work—amplifying and centering the stories of historically marginalized and oppressed people and groups through oral history—is deeply rooted in holding space for interviewees, whom we call narrators, and connecting through in-person listening. We asked ourselves: How do we continue this vital work? Is oral history storytelling under these new conditions even possible?

But the need to respond to the pandemic and its effects was clear. In the initial rush of media coverage, COVID-19 was characterized as a widespread crisis, altering life for all in the same ways: a “great equalizer.” We knew, however, that the pandemic was disproportionately affecting our narrator communities—people impacted by migration, displacement, the criminal justice system, and other intersecting injustices.

At VOW, we pride ourselves on working with our narrators and editors on long-form, deeply felt, and meticulously edited and researched anthologies. Usually we work on these projects for years before publication. But the pandemic and the accompanying crises around unemployment, housing and food insecurity, and inadequate health care clearly called for something else—a more urgent, collective response.

We called on our past narrators, editors, grassroots partners, and community members to engage in a process with VOW to gather the stories of what was happening in our communities, to begin to uncover and learn together about the many ways that the pandemic was magnifying already existing inequities and acting as yet another vector for the spread of injustice.

The response was tremendous. Narrators were eager to tell their stories, to be heard, to illuminate some of the hard truths about the pan-

demic. We listened and held space for them— through computer screens and emails, video chats and phone calls—their voices persisting even when WiFi and cell reception crackled.

Voice of Witness launched this initiative online through our media partners at Salon, the Guardian, Prism, and the Nation. Links to the full series can be found at https://voiceofwitness. org/unheard-voices-of-the-pandemic/. We’re also excited to announce that we’ll be compiling this work in an “unofficial” VOW book, to be released this summer.

The pieces included in this collection are from interviews conducted between April 2020 and March 2021. Here are a few excerpts from the series.

Text: Dao X. Tran, Managing Editor, Ela Banerjee, Community Partnership Coordinator, Rebecca McCarthy, Editorial Assistant, and Annaick Miller, Communications and Outreach Manager at Voice of Witness

Illustrations: Christine Shields and Jose Cruz

Shearod

Currently incarcerated at Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan, Shearod speaks to the drastic changes in prison life since the COVID-19 lockdown, where it’s impossible to social distance, recreation and programming have been halted, and harsh conditions have been imposed. Shearod’s narrative can be read at Salon.com.

Illustration: Christine Shields

“I don’t think that the state government has given the crisis in the prison system anywhere near what decency would require, but I can say that regardless of the value that society puts on our lives, we have been sources of support and assistance to each other. And that in itself is evidence of the rich human potential that lies behind the walls of prisons all over America.”

Oscar

A second grade teacher in a farmworker community in California, Oscar speaks about the challenges he's faced in reaching his students, many of whom don’t have stable internet or housing situations. Oscar’s narrative can be read in PrismReports.org.

“We have a list of students we haven’t been able to communicate with at all. Not once. It’s not an enormous list, but there were about 15 students out of 145 total second graders that we don’t know what happened to them and their families.”

Farida

A nurse and community organizer in Los Angeles, Farida speaks about being an essential worker in underfunded, unnecessarily risky conditions as the pandemic unfolded. Farida’s narrative can be read at PrismReports.org.

“You realize that issues of health and wellness are not well understood—that social and political conditions create poverty and illness. This is what propelled me to become an organizer. I started to see how state violence maintains conditions of ill health.”

Roberto

An undocumented farmworker for more than two decades in California’s Eastern Coachella Valley, Roberto harvests eggplant for $13/hour in over 100 degree temperatures. Roberto takes pride in feeding the nation and knows his work has always been “essential,” but COVID19 has made alreadydifficult working conditions in the fields even harder. Roberto’s narrative can be read at the Guardian.

“In the media, they’re now Illustration: Jose Cruz calling us “essential workers.” But that’s what we’ve always been. We think of doctors, firefighters and police as important. People who never saw us before now see that we also have value. The coronavirus has brought us both good and bad opportunities. It has hurt us, and it has also made many people realize something they didn’t realize before: that they need us.”

What issues are you seeing that could benefit from a rapid-response project like Unheard Voices of the Pandemic? Please contact Colleen Hammond, colleen@ voiceofwitness.com, to share your ideas or request a copy of the Unheard Voices of the Pandemic booklet.