 | | People waiting for empty oxygen cylinders to be refilled in Delhi last month.Atul Loke for The New York Times |
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As California moves toward reopening, another crisis is unfolding halfway across the globe. India recorded about 410,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday, a new global high, and 3,980 deaths, the highest national daily death toll in any country outside of the United States. Experts believe the true number of cases and deaths is much higher. |
"I don't know an Indian-American family in this country who hasn't been affected in terms of knowing someone who has either died or been very, very sick," Representative Ro Khanna, the congressman for California's 17th district, said in a phone interview this week. "The scale of this is unimaginable. It's not just affecting poor people or people in villages, it's affecting the rich, it's affecting the middle class, it's affecting everyone." |
Khanna credits the work of legislators, entrepreneurs and everyone who has been raising awareness for moving the Biden administration to act on making vaccines more available to India and the rest of the world. First came the release of millions of unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses. Then on Tuesday, the administration came out in favor of waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines. The move would allow countries such as India to boost production and increase vaccine access. |
"It's really been heartening to see the Indian-American community come together and put aside any difference of politics or religion, and really just say: How do we help in this humanitarian situation?" Khanna said. The congressman said he had been in touch with constituents in Silicon Valley, hearing their concerns and pushing the private sector to help. |
When the crisis in India began, Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, pledged $10 million. Google has also pledged $18 million to provide oxygen and other supplies, while its founder, Sundar Pichai, has personally pledged $700,000 toward relief efforts. |
Khanna emphasized, however, that the aid isn't just coming from big corporations. "I've heard stories of ordinary citizens raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to get oxygen there, to help get equipment there, to get medical beds there," he said. "It's really just touching everybody." |
Several community organizations across California have also stepped up to help vulnerable and marginalized groups. Parivar Bay Area is partnering with local grass-roots organizations in India to support basic necessities for transgender people affected by the crisis. An initial GoFundMe page raised $10,000 in 48 hours. Anjali Rimi, who started Parivar in 2018 and identifies as trans, said the crisis hit home for her — her parents were hospitalized in India because of Covid-19 last year. |
In the end, Khanna said he had been moved by the way the Indian-American community, many of whom are immigrants far from their own families, has embraced and supported one another during this time. "I think this will be a defining moment for the Indian-American identity, bringing us closer as a community," he said. "I'm just very proud." |
Here's what else to know today |
 | | A construction worker measured the amount of water present in a trench while dewatering Controlled Thermal Resources's drill site about a mile out from the Salton Sea's coast in February.Gabriella Angotti-Jones for The New York Times |
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Compiled by Jonathan Wolfe |
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 | | Rozette Rago for The New York Times |
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The lotus flower, blooming out of muddy waters, has long been a symbol of rising above suffering. Dozens of Buddhist monastics hope the flower can signify healing amid the trauma of racial violence in the United States. On Tuesday, they came together for a national mourning ceremony in Los Angeles where they lit candles and honored ancestors. They also used thin paintbrushes to fill the fractures of a ceramic lotus with liquid gold leaf, following the Japanese artistic practice of kintsugi. |
"Our liberation is actually not about transcending or distancing ourselves from trauma or pain and suffering, but it is to acknowledge how we can transform ourselves, our communities, our nation, our world, from all that pain," said Duncan Ryuken Williams, a Soto Zen Buddhist priest and the chair of the University of Southern California's School of Religion. |
Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, graduated from U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter. |
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. |
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