EQUITY & INCLUSION
NAACP Holding a Critical Role In Fighting COVID Misinformation
By Sara Wildberger
of re-envisioning and reinvigoration since he took office in 2017. In addition to cam- paigns in other areas, the NAACP under his leadership has addressed health issues and disparities, including through the 2020 We are Done Dying Campaign, exposing inequities embedded into the American health care system and the country at large. As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged,
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he has elevated the Association's visibility and voice, calling for a national response to the disparate impact of COVID-19 on Afri- can Americans and other people of color. In this email interview, edited for length, he ad- dresses the Association’s COVID. KNOW MORE campaign, a direct outreach effort, using tools ranging from research to social media, to present facts and fight misinfor- mation on the virus and vaccination.
Q. How did the NAACP begin this campaign? A. We launched the COVID. KNOW MORE campaign this year to ensure that our communities continue to stay informed and get the facts they need to make best de-
resident and CEO of the NAACP Derrick Johnson has helped guide the Association through a period
cisions for their families and communities. Our intent with this initiative was to provide Black Americans the most comprehensive suite of relevant information and resources on COVID-19 available, curated specifi- cally for them, to help them safely navigate back to normalcy—but this initiative is only a continuation of our work in this space. Through our pioneering COVID Un-
masked virtual town hall series, local mask distributions, and other COVID education efforts, the NAACP has been dedicated to fighting this pandemic from the outset. Additionally, accurate information about
COVID-19 and the vaccines is critical be- cause the human cost of misinformation can be so high. The African American com- munity needs to pay close attention to the most reliable, trusted resources, so we’re not doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past, moving forward.
Q. What are the roles of some of the partners in the campaign? Were people ready to help? A. Corporate partners have been on board and active with us since the beginning. Among the partners who were engaged in facilitating the rollout of COVID. KNOW
Equity & Inclusion
Derrick Johnson President and CEO NAACP
MORE are J.P. Morgan Chase, and inter- national rideshare operator Lyft. Lyft has launched a Universal Vaccine Ac-
cess initiative in collaboration with us, with the goal of providing a total of 60 million rides to help get people vaccinated. Lyft users can easily secure transportation to and from their vaccine appointments by requesting a promo code, and then adding that code to the Rewards section of their Lyft app before requesting a ride to the location.
Q. What are some reasons an information campaign specifically serving Black Americans is vital to the effort to stop the spread of COVID? A. Simply because the numbers don’t lie. The most devastating impacts of COVID-19 are found in many of our most
Our intent with this initiative was to provide Black Americans the most comprehensive suite of relevant information and resources on COVID-19 available, curated specifically for them, to help them safely navigate back to normalcy—but this initiative is only a continuation of our work in this space. Through our pioneering COVID Unmasked virtual town hall series, local mask distributions, and other COVID education efforts, the NAACP has been dedicated to fighting this pandemic from the outset.
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