From classrooms to farm fields, the pandemic is having a disproportionate effect on Latinos.
Now two documentaries – one streaming, the other on PBS – look at that. They are:
– “Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis,” at 9 p.m. ET Sunday (July 19) on CBSN, the digital news service run by CBS. It’s also available any time at www.cbsnews.com/pandemia.
– “Frontline: COVID’S Hidden Toll” (shown here) at 10 p.m. Tuesday (July 21) on PBS.
The CBS report ranges from the immediate threat – immigration detainees facing virus exposure – to the long-range one posed by a gap in online education.
A study showed that only 57 percent of Latino adults have a computer, compared to 82 percent of whites. Schools try to give out computers, but run short … and not everyone has internet access. Some students end up in McDonald’s, at libraries or in parking lots, to connect to classes.
The interviews range from politicians (Marco Rubio, Catalina Cruz) to celebrities (Eva Longoria, Oscar De la Hoya, Rita Moreno, Rosie Perez, Wilmer Valderrama) to Dolores Huerta, 90, who led the early farmworkers’ strike with Cesar Chavez. She calls the situation “devastating.”
The PBS report focuses on the specifics of farmworkers. It follows one worker with underlying health problems (diabetes and recovering from cancer) who crams inro a van with 14 other workers, to get to a field where they work side-by-side.