ABC7's Leslie Sykes hosts virtual town hall with Black Women Leaders of Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- ABC7's Leslie Sykes hosted a virtual town hall on Friday with the Black Women Leaders of Los Angeles.

The coalition of women is composed of business owners, CEOs and community leaders committed to the health, wellness, safety, empowerment and education of Black women, children and families in the city.

Wendy Gladney with Forgiving for Living, Kandee Lewis of Positive Results Center, Janet Kelly of Sanctuary of Hope and Janette Robinson Flint with Black Women for Wellness all joined in the conversation.

They talked about the work they do to uplift those communities, including actions to address the racial disparities and inequities on a local and state policy level.

"What 2020 and this pandemic has also highlighted is how implicit bias, how systematic racism has exacerbated who this pandemic is impacting. How medical decisions are made, how medical resources are distributed so there are some legislation and policies that we've been working on that addresses systemic racism," Robinson Flint said.

She added her organization has been in conversation with Gov. Gavin Newsom's office regarding what immediate actions can be taken to "look at, examine and eradicate the racism that impacts our health and well-being."

Watch the video above for the full discussion.