Senate Republicans, by rejecting the Congressional COVID-19 Stimulus Plan, are encouraging COVID-19, suppressing the economy, suppressing the vote and promoting chaos! Cashless renters are facing eviction… Cashless mini-landlords and cashless homeowners are threatened with foreclosure! Small and large businesses are closing because they have no consumers!
The Republican leadership is obviously willing to kill urban dwelling minorities and Democrats! The red state governors proved that with their “no mask- crowds welcome- get back to work” policies utilized in their urban area! This opinion was declared ridiculous when I first suggested it in March… Now the term “killer republicans” has a hat-rack!
The fact that the COVID-19 stimulus, if delivered, will also benefit poor and middle class Republican voters, is either invisible to or ignored by Senate Republicans! It appears that Senate Republicans are mean-spirited enough to sacrifice poor and middle class republican voters along with minorities and Democrats! They are willing to do it all in order to maintain their racist, inequitable, self-serving, freedom eroding power.
People are dying daily from the virus and yet, Republican leaders are still sending mixed messages regarding COVID-19 policy… Their lack of action on the stimulus plan will definitely suppress the small business economy! It will cause evictions which will disproportionately affect minorities and poor people… Evictions and foreclosures will cause address changes, which can void voter registrations and suppress votes!
Walk together children, and don’t you get weary! There is a long hot road ahead!
Echoing what’s become a slogan for Black Lives Matter protesters, a stocky security guard yelled “I can’t breathe” as he was tasered seven times during his arrest earlier this summer, resulting in his death.
George Zapantis, a 29-year-old security guard with a history of mental illness from Queens, was killed after a five-minute struggle with police on June 21. The New York Police Department has now posted a new, three-hour video showing Zapantis’ cries during his arrest. In the footage, the suspect is seen at the door of his home before growing angry and attacking police. The mass of bodies bring him to the ground as his shouts turn to squeals, and then silence.
He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital; results of an autopsy are still pending.
George Vomvolakis, an attorney representing Zapantis’ family, called the video’s release “an opportunity for the public to see with their own eyes the excessive force.”
“It doesn’t take a trained professional to realize that six people on top of somebody and tasering them repeatedly could potentially kill them,” Vomvolakis said.
THE INCIDENT
Police responded to Zapantis’ home in Queens, which he shared with his mother and sister, following a call from a neighbor. The complaint said the security guard had approached their 25-year-old son carrying a sword.
After knocking on the door, Zapantis appeared through the glass panes wearing a gladiator outfit, which included a shield and a “sword attached to his left waist,” according to police. He later reappeared at the door without the sword and helmet, moments before he charged officers shouting expletives.
George Zapantis arguing with the police officers. (Real Press)
However, the victim makes it clear in the video he is unarmed. He was reportedly tasered the first time when he barged through the screen door to apparently attack officers. While trying to detain the man, during which officers repeatedly shouted at Zapantis to stop struggling and to put his hands behind his back, the officers question whether he is OK after being tasered seven times.
“Does he have a pulse,” asked one officer.
“He’s breathing, right,” said another.
POLICE RESPONSE
A spokesperson for the NYPD says the matter is still under investigation by the department’s Force Investigation Division. “We do not draw any conclusions about whether an officer’s actions were consistent with department policy and the law until all the facts are known,” said NYPD spokesperson Carlos Nieves.
Physical confrontation between George Zapantis and police officers. (Real Press)
Three officers were identified as firing their tasers a total of six times. A fourth officer fired a colleague’s taser in “drive stun” mode—a setting intended to immobilize someone by causing pain.
Police brutality and excessive force have been in the media spotlight since George Floyd died at the hands of police in Minneapolis over Memorial Day weekend. The death of Floyd, who also told the officers arresting him that he could not breathe, sparked protests across the United States and elsewhere.
The phrase first gained notoriety following the 2014 death of Eric Garner, who said it while held by New York City police officer Daniel Pantaleo in a chokehold prohibited by the department. Pantaleo was not indicted in Garner’s death but was fired by the department in 2019.
Overall, American police kill citizens at a much higher rate than in other wealthy nations. Specifically, in the U.S., police kill 33.5 people per 10 million people, which is more than three times higher than the second-most measured country, Canada, at 9.8, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.
(Edited by Stephen Thomas Gugliociello and Matthew Hall.)
.WASHINGTON, D.C. — Is the fourth time the charm? Sen. Kamala Harris isn’t the first woman to be chosen for a vice presidential slot by a major political party. She’s the fourth. Each of those women received initial press and public support; all lost. Sen. Harris has a lot of history to overcome.
Though women make up a majority of registered voters, the record of female vice-presidential hopefuls isn’t mixed or encouraging. One lost her home state. None carried the majority of the women’s vote. None delivered a swing state for the top of the ticket. None produced a bump in the polls that lasted for more than one week.
Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for vice president by a major political party, ran alongside Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election. They lost the majority of voting women and the majority of voting Roman Catholics (Ferraro was Catholic). They lost Ferraro’s home state of New York and nearly lost her home town of Queens.
Republican Ronald Reagan carried 49 states that year. Only Minnesota went for the Democratic Party’s national candidates—and by fewer than 3,000 votes.
Republican Sarah Palin, in her bid for the vice presidency in 2008, hardly did much better than Ferraro. Barack Obama and his vice presidential nominee Joe Biden carried women voters by 14 percentage points over John McCain and Palin, the first woman Republicans chose for that post.
Palin won her home state, Alaska, which had voted reliably for Republicans in presidential contests since it was admitted to the union in 1959.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz named California businesswoman Carly Fiorina as his running mate while he fought Donald Trump for convention delegates in 2016. That late effort failed to secure him the Republican nomination or even the majority of women GOP delegates.
I’ve known Senator @KamalaHarris for a long time. She is more than prepared for the job. She’s spent her career defending our Constitution and fighting for folks who need a fair shake. This is a good day for our country. Now let’s go win this thing. pic.twitter.com/duJhFhWp6g
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 11, 2020
Examining U.S. election data from 1952 to 2016, Devine said, does not show any change in women’s turnout or voting preferences in the years with a female running mate, 1984 and 2008, compared to other presidential election-years.
Based on historical data, Sen. Harris may help Biden with women voters, but “not dramatically,” Devine said. “We find there’s no evidence that women became more likely to vote for a presidential ticket following the choice of a woman running mate.”
None of the prior defeats of women vice-presidential candidates tell us much about the 2020 presidential race, said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. “In 1984, any nominee for president or vice president would have lost—a Democratic nominee—to Ronald Reagan. Conditions were perfect for Reagan’s reelection.”
Economics matters more than female running mates, Sabato said. “In 2008, John McCain was running as the Republican nominee in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression, plus the Iraq War. It’s very hard to make the case that a Republican could have won under those conditions. It had nothing to do with Geraldine Ferraro or Sarah Palin.”
Still the Harris nomination marks a turning point, Sabato said. “I don’t think the Democrats will ever again nominate two white males,” he said. “That era is gone.”
The first woman to seriously contend for a nomination for national office was New York Democratic Rep. Shirley Chisholm, America’s first black congresswoman. She challenged Sen. George McGovern for the Democratic nomination in 1972, receiving enthusiastic support from some parts of the press.
Ultimately she failed to win a single primary. But party rules allowed her to win more than 150 votes from delegates at the Democratic National Convention that year.
Like Sen. Harris, Rep. Chisholm’s candidacy was said to signal a new era. Chisholm’s announcement of her candidacy included these lines often cited by historians: “I am not the candidate of black America, although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country, although I am a woman and equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people and my presence before you symbolizes a new era in American political history.”
“And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, Woe, Woe, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! [Revelation 8:13]. One more trumpet blast will sound. One more final woe is coming upon the earth. Repent NOW before there will be no more time to repent!
Listen, God sends warnings and redemptive judgments so that we will change our course. If His warnings are ignored and His redemptive judgments do not produce repentance and reformation, God will send a destroyer to destroy the unrepentant. If the situation is not redeemable, God will send totally destructive judgments. Do not bring harm to yourself [Jeremiah 25:4-5]. Repent NOW before there will be no more time to repent! If you do not, thus saith the Lord: ‘Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north…, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy [you] and make [you] an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from [you] the sounds of joy and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland…” [Jeremiah 25: 8-11].
Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, Repent, Repent! For as I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked: but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn! Turn from your evil ways. For why should you die? [Ezekiel 33:11]. Judgment is about to come to the earth like never before. The storm is about to break in all of its fury. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. [Luke 13:3]. You see, the “Third Woe” involves the seven last plagues [Revelation 16]. I tell you, a prudent man sees danger and takes refuge… the simple keep going and suffer for it.” [Proverbs 22:3]. Repent while there is still time! “Come out of her, lest you share in her sins, and receive of her plagues.” [Rev.18:4]. “For He swore by him who lives forever and, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be NO MORE DELAY!” [Rev.10:6]. Turn away from your sin and turn to God NOW. Desire to have nothing to do with sin! “…God is not wishing that [you] should perish, but that [you] should reach repentance.” [2Peter 3:9]. I tell you, the “Third Woe” is coming soon! Repent NOW before there will be no more time to repent!
Childhood disability initiated career path of helping people through medicine
By Timothy Cox –
BALTIMORE, MD — As the youngest of three children born to Army 2nd Lt. Calvin Smith and Betty Cross (Stratton) Smith, Sheldon Stewart Smith, aka “BuBu”who now goes by Dr. Ahmses SaRa Maat, grew up aspiring to become a military hero, much like his father, who was a WWII veteran in the African American flying regiment known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
During the early 1990s, while living in Morrow, Ga., Dr. Maat spent quality time as a respiratory therapist at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital, one of the world’s leading Level 1 emergency trauma centers. “I certainly relish my developmental years while at Grady,” said Dr. Maat.
Childhood disability empowered and unknowingly helped steer his career path
At age 61, Dr. Maat now lives in Desert Sun, California. He often reflects on how growing up with chronic asthma impacted his life as a teen and young adult, trying to avoid peer pressure.
“It was tough because kids can be mean. Along with the asthma, I also suffered skin rashes. I’d get teased by the boys, but even worse – my girlfriends would shy away, once the skin disorder took effect,” he sadly recalls. I can recall lying in bed praying to God for the ability to just breathe normally like everyone else.”
Living with asthma as a child, not only hindered Dr. Maat’s aspirations for early athletic prowess, but after high school graduation, a failed military physical exam, likewise stopped his chances to volunteer for the Air Force in efforts to follow his dad’s and older brother’s military careers. His older brother, Newt Smith II, is a retired Air Force officer. In May of 2018, a former Veterans park in Beaver Falls, Pa., was officially re-named the Lt. Calvin Smith Tuskegee Airman Veterans Park.
Void of clear-cut career-goals after graduating from Beaver Falls High School in 1977, Dr. Maat, who never considered himself a committed academician in high school, reflects on a senior-year 1.47 GPA when he needed a 1.5 average to graduate. Having learned techniques for the game of chess from his father, he challenged the high school’s woodshop teacher to a game. If he wins, he graduates high school. If he loses, he repeats another year. Apparently, his Dad’s coaching tips paid-off.
Following his early training at Community College of Beaver County (Pa.)and Community College of Allegheny County (Pa.), Dr. Maat initially worked as a respiratory therapist at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. He quickly developed star-quality studying patterns while attending both at CCBC and CCAC and during his first job as a registered respiratory therapist supervisor at Allegheny General Hospital — a stark contrast from his academic performance in high school.
Studying and practicing in Atlanta resulted in a B.S degree in respiratory care from Georgia State University and post-bachelor’s degree in perfusion technology from Northeastern University in Boston.
While studying and focusing on African spirituality and physics, he attained his Ph.D. in 2000 from the Metaphysical Institute of Higher Learning in San Bernardino, California.
Fast-forward to winter 2020, amid the coronavirus and COVID-19 outbreak, Dr. Maat finds himself in an unprecedented battlefield – on the front-lines of America’s first pandemic in 100 years as a medical professional treating patients suffering from chronic respiratory deficiencies.
With over 40 years of experience and training as a respiratory therapist, and later as a perfusionist, Dr. Maat, during a pandemic, now serves as a highly-sought-after traveling medical practitioner on the frontlines battling COVID-19 in one of the nation’s largest hotspots – Cleveland Clinic/Fort Lauderdale-Miami, Florida.
Helping stem COVID-19’s growing rates among Blacks
Dr. Ahmses working on a ventilator apparatus, while at Clevelan
Clinic, Florida
“While coronavirus patients typically display symptoms requiring oxygen support with symptoms such as chest pains, shortness of breath and muscle aches, the use of external respirators and ventilators are typical devices used to treat respiratory deficiencies,” says Dr. Maat. His perfusionist training requires expertise in administering artificial lungs, hearts and kidneys used during the replacement process of heart-lung bypass surgeries.
“My role as a perfusionist is to keep the patient alive during the replacement of organs, kidneys, lungs, hearts, during the entire operation. Where advanced cardio life-support ends, perfusion life-support begins,” explains Dr. Maat.
Amid current cases of COVID-19 cases rising throughout the United States with disproportionate numbers impacting African Americans, Dr. Maatknows and understands how valuable his knowledge, experience and overall skillsets are during this pandemic.
But the real question that must be answered is why the African American community has suffered more than any other group during the pandemic?
Dr. Maat, now 61, credits the disparaging numbers affecting people of color who generally suffer with lower immune systems. Those are the ones suffering from diabetes, hypertension and obesity. It’s also a fact that too often, black folks don’t eat lots of vegetables and have lived in environments with high toxins like lead-based paints. Although the larger cause is systemic racism and oppression, it exists all throughout the globe including America and the medical industry, unfortunately.” he said.
“Systemically, as a respiratory therapist or clinical perfusionist, I tend to see a system geared toward a certain population facing more social ills. I want to make the world a better place, doing what I do – and my non-African peers they see what’s going on, and they too, want to do the right thing,” he added.
Living in a sports-related environment was challenging
Growing up in sports-enthused Western Pa., specifically in Beaver Falls, “Like all the kids in my 15th Street neighborhood, I wanted to play football, basketball and baseball – and become the next Joe Willie Namath, our hometown hero and Super Bowl III quarterback”, says Dr. Maat.
“Hoops and football couldn’t work for me, but I enjoyed playing baseball. It didn’t demand the intense running like basketball, and it wasn’t dirty and dusty like football. I always had to concern myself with staying healthy at all times –so I always carried my inhaler,” he noted.
In retrospect, Dr. Maat targets his asthma woes with environmental impacts. He lived next door to the now-razed Armstrong Cork plant, which consistently emitted smokey fumes and white, ashy particles from its factory walls. He also lived with two cigarette-smoking parents.
By the time he reached age 12, with the influence of a childhood neighbor, Richard “Dicky” Morris, Dr. Maat started taking Karate lessons from the now infamous Beaver County School of the Oriental Arts of Self-Defense, headed by the family of Willy Wetzel and Roy Wetzel, one of the nation’s first Karate instructional schools, located in Beaver Falls and later, Rochester. In March of 1975, the school closed after a much-reported family battle between son Roy and father, Willy. The older Wetzel died of strangulation, according to published reports.
Aside from the controversial homicide, Dr. Maat says his Karate and Judo experience tremendously impacted his breathing patterns and primarily helped him to overcome childhood asthma.
With a growing reputation of being incredibly skilled in martial arts throughout Beaver County, Dr. Maat was also able to leave behind unfavorable experiences of being bullied by larger upper classmates while in high school.
He likewise credits his mother and Godmother, Marian Jane Taylor, for tending to his crisis situations as a youngster – and later ensuring that he was proficient at self-care, even at a young age. “I was always a mama’s boy,” he admitted. “She was fully committed to my ailment; and would often take-off work early to ensure my medical needs were met – self-care is essential to my health and has always been a part of my proactive healthy lifestyle.” he recalls.
Career and Family development
Dr. Ahmses with Sheree White, a special neighborhod sisterly friend.
While living in Atlanta, he joined an anti-KKK protest march in Forsyth County, Ga. in 1987, led by the late Rev. Hosea Williams, one of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) colleagues, along with SCLC head, the Rev. Joseph Lowery.
“In the late 1980s, when South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela was released from prison – that sparked my interest in the liberation of black people all over the world and to live a more revolutionary lifestyle,” says Dr. Maat.
In explaining his name-change, he says, “It’s similar to when Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The reason for the name-change was based on my culture, I was Sheldon X in 1992 as a member of the Nation of Islam, and in October 1995, I led a medical brigade from LA to Washington, DC, to be a part of the ‘Million Man March.”
Dr. Ahmses Maat is married to Akua Two Hawk Maat, sharing a blended family including four adult children: Alexia, Malika, Mnsa and GyeNyame Maat.
Inland Empire, Calif. – IE-CEEM extends its appreciation to Walmart Inc. for a $20,000 donation to help reduce COVID-19 infection rates among African Americans in the Inland Empire through increased testing, education and outreach,
The funding will support IE-CEEM’s partnership with Riverside University Health System – Public Health to operate a COVID19 testing site at CrossWord Church in Moreno Valley, which successfully administers more than 600 tests weekly in a predominantly African American area.
In addition to its work in reducing COVID-19 infection rates in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, IE-CEEM is developing strategies in concert with its Health Systems partners to address systemic disparities in African American health outcomes. This collaboration will enable IE-CEEM to implement best practice solutions to these known, yet unresolved health challenges. Combined with the leadership support of African American churches and community-based organizations the team is confident the disproportionate impact of the virus on this population will lessen.
“IE-CEEM is dedicated to improving the health, economic/financial, and education outcomes within the African American community by redefining community prosperity and success for our current and future generations,” said IE-CEEM Founder Reggie Webb. We are committed to addressing the disparity and inequity of all areas that impact the success of the African-American community and are determined to establish equity in the pursuit of parity.”
“We are honored to support community organizations working to ensure those impacted by COVID-19 have access to the care they need,” said Walmart Senior Director of Community Relations Javier Angulo. “Organizations like the IE-CEEM are working tirelessly to meet the needs of underserved populations through their deep-rooted community partnerships and commitment to making a difference.”
To learn more about IE-CEEM, go to www.ceem.coop or visit us on social media at @ceemcoop. To join our efforts, send an email to info@ceem-ie.com.
Harris, 55, follows Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, in 1984, and Republican Sarah Palin, in 2008, as only the third woman to be chosen as the running mate on a presidential ticket.
In California, she was the first woman, and first Black woman, to serve as the state’s top law enforcement official. She is the first Black woman from California to serve in the US Senate, and second from any state, after Illinois’ Carol Moseley Braun. Harris is also the first person of Indian descent to appear on a presidential ticket.
If Biden defeats President Trump in November, Harris would become the first woman in US history to serve as vice president.
Antonio Ray Harvey | California Black Media The civil lawsuit Vanessa Bryant filed in February has yet to be litigated in a courtroom to determine who was at fault when her husband, NBA-hall-of-famer Kobe Bryant, and the couple’s 13-year-old daughter, died in a helicopter crash last January. But just as the questioning of potential jurors was scheduled to begin, Berge Zobayan, the brother of pilot Ara Zoboyan, who also died in the crash, asked for a change of venue for the trial — from Los Angeles County to neighboring Orange County. Mrs. Bryant is calling foul.?? ? Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna “GiGi” Bryant died in the tragic helicopter crash. Seven other people, counting the pilot, also passed away in the fatal accident that happened on Jan. 26 in Calabasas, a city about 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles. ? Vanessa Bryant filed a counter-motion to Berge Zobayan’s bid, in which he asks for the trial relocation, citing the immense popularity of the former Lakers’ star in Los Angeles County. ? “Defendant cannot show that there is any county to which this case may be transferred where the basis for his objection does not exist,” the filing said. “Defendant fails to acknowledge the extent to which Kobe Bryant’s legacy penetrates American culture; there is no county line at which Kobe Bryant’s celebrity suddenly evaporates.” Mrs. Bryant also points out that her family has lived in Orange County for 20 years. ? The deceased Zobayan was the pilot of an Island Express-operated aircraft owned by Island Express Holdings Corp., which is named in the lawsuit. Zobayan allegedly took flight in extreme foggy weather, which investigators say was a factor in the accident. ? The helicopter, a Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky S-76B, was traveling from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to Camarillo Airport in Ventura County. The helicopter hit a hillside in Los Angeles County before crashing and bursting into flames. ? Neither a flight data recorder nor a cockpit voice recorder was installed in the aircraft. But Berge Zobayan said Vanessa Bryant is not entitled to compensation, putting the onus on Kobe Bryant, and arguing that the basketball player knew, and agreed to, the risks of traveling by helicopter.? ? Berge Zobayan’s attorneys argue that damages were?“directly caused in full, or in part, by the negligence or fault” of Kobe Bryant. It’s been long reported that Bryant chartered helicopter flights back and forth to games and practice – from near his home in Newport Coast to the Staples Center 51 miles away in El Segundo, where the Lakers played. The day of the crash, Bryant was traveling with his daughter and friends to Thousand Oaks to attend a basketball game at his Mamba Sports Academy. ? “The shock of the accident affected all staff, and management decided that service would be suspended until such time as it was deemed appropriate for staff and customers,” Island Express said in a written statement after the crash. ? Zobayan’s position for a venue change is due to Kobe Bryant’s “personification” of the city of Los Angeles, Zobayan says, maintaining that it would be difficult to seat an unbiased jury of 12 persons. ? There are no special skills or legal knowledge needed to become a juror in California. The state of California only asks that jurors have an open mind, be able to work with prospective peers to make judicial decisions and be impartial. ? “In other words, your decisions must not be influenced by personal feelings and bias,” states California’s “Court and Community: Information and Instructions for Responding to Your Jury Summons,” brochure.? ? “Jury service is the responsibility of all qualified citizens, but also an opportunity for us to participate directly in our system of justice and contribute to our communities,” Hon. Judge Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Chief Justice of California, states in the brochure.? ? Wherever the Bryant v. Island Express Helicopters et al. case ends up taking place, Vanessa Bryant will allege that the pilot, in a manner not in accordance with accepted standards, flew the aircraft under “instrument flight rules,” the court filing states. ? Island Express Helicopters was only regulated to fly under “visual flight rules,” the plaintiffs argue.?Those regulations restrict pilots to only operating an aircraft when they can clearly see ahead of them in flight. ? “Plaintiffs are confident that the voir dire process will yield twelve citizens from Los Angeles County who — when called upon to serve — will uphold their oaths and render a verdict, ‘according only to the evidence presented [and] the instructions of the court,’” Vanessa Bryant’s court filing states. ? The next hearing in the case will be held at Los Angeles Superior Court on August 19.
COVID-19 has gripped national headlines for months. But long before the U.S. outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the country was battling another deadly epidemic: diabetes.
One of the leading causes of death in the United States, the disease claims the lives of more than 83,000 Americans each year. And — much like the COVID-19 — diabetes disproportionately impacts people of color.
That’s why it’s so encouraging that the Trump administration will soon make it easier for millions of diabetic Americans to manage their health. A newly announced proposal would cap the amount of money that Medicare beneficiaries pay out-of-pocket for insulin at $35.
That reform will go a long way towards getting older patients with diabetes the medicines they need to stay healthy — a fact that’s certainly worth celebrating. But it’s only one step toward tackling a health crisis that shows no signs of relenting.
Diabetes doesn’t affect all groups equally. Black Americans are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than whites. Black women are particularly vulnerable — nearly 13 percent of Black women over 18 have the disease, compared with just 7.5 percent of white women.
For many of these patients, staying alive requires rigorous adherence to a medication regimen, including regular injections of insulin.
Unfortunately, these medicines can prove prohibitively expensive. In one recent survey, a quarter of diabetic patients reported using less than the prescribed amount of insulin because of the medicine’s cost.
The persistent wealth and income gap between Americans of color and white Americans means that these financial burdens pose a unique challenge for black patients. Especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the inability to afford insulin has only deepened racial inequities that have plagued our nation for decades.
After all, those with diabetes who are unable to manage their disease effectively — a group in which African Americans are overrepresented — are at heightened risk of severe complications from COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control, black Americans account for 23 percent of deaths from the novel coronavirus, despite making up just 13 percent of the population.
Reforms that enable patients of color to better manage their diabetes could vastly reduce such healthcare disparities. We hope that’s precisely what the administration’s newly announced proposal will do.
Under this reform, more than 1,750 Medicare prescription drug plans will cap out-of-pocket costs for a variety of insulin products at $35 a month. That change will take effect next year. This will bring down pharmacy costs for the millions of Medicare seniors with diabetes — including black Americans.
But given the scope of the challenges facing diabetic patients, this reform still represents a modest improvement over the status quo. For systemic change, patients need policies that target the real drivers of high insulin costs.
That begins with the opaque system that brings medicines to pharmacies. Every year, manufacturers provide over $100 billion in rebates and other price reductions on brand name drugs. But supply chain middlemen have pocketed these savings instead of passing them on to patients at the point of sale.
Other drivers abound. Policymakers need to do everything they can to help less advantaged patients afford insulin. And on that measure, the administration’s new Medicare proposal is one step in the right direction.
African American stakeholders are ramping up their outreach to undercounted census tracts where Black Californians live after the U.S. Census Bureau announced this week that it will stop the national count at the end of September. The state too is intensifying its last-ditch initiatives to achieve an accurate count of all Californians as enumeration goes into its final stretches. Federal legislation that would have extended it through October has stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Black Lives Matter is shouted, printed, painted and posted everywhere in today’s racial-and-social-justice-aware political climate, but those lives may be threatened by low participation in the U.S. 2020 Census. At risk for Black families in California, who live in the hardest-to-count census tracts of the state in disproportionate numbers, are federal resources for schools, housing, health care, employment, transportation and public policy initiatives that target them.
Carmen Taylor Jones, 2020 Census Director at the Los Angeles-based Black Women for Wellness advocacy group, said it is more than being simply counted, but it’s a call to action.
“It (the census) is the keeper of houses, and they are the holder of genealogy records,” said Jones, former 2010 Census Bureau Southern California Area Regional Manager. She said her new slogan for the 2020 Census is “document your existence,” by completing the decennial census.
This week, the California Complete Count Census 2020 office has organized several public awareness activities under the banner of “Get Out the Count Week.” The events, which include a press briefing, a “Virtual Day of Action” and an online pep rally of “Social Media Ambassadors,” are geared toward reaching Californians who have still not completed their forms.
The threat of losing a seat in congress is heard often, but it has never happened in California, since population losses are typically tempered by nearly as many people moving to the state or relocating within it.
As of July 13, California’s response rate was 63.2 %, according to the Census Bureau’s interactive response map. Per the California Complete Count Committee, an estimated 850,644 households have not responded, which equates to an estimated population of over 4.2 million.
Further, the California Complete Count Committee indicated, the average Self-Response Rate as of June 4 was 61.6 % for Black/African American, 59.1 % for Hispanic/Latino, and 61.4 % for American Indian and Alaska Native.
The National Urban League indicated in its State of 2020 Census Report, however, that favorable state response rates that meet or surpass the national 2020 Census rate provide little indication of how well or poorly predominantly or heavily populated Black communities are responding to the 2020 Census. It recommends closer analysis to ensure targeted outreach lifts participation in low-response-rate Black communities.
“If we are not counted, then we amplify our problems as opposed to solving our problems,” said Janette Robinson Flint, executive director of Black Women for Wellness.
Organizations like Black Women for Wellness knew the COVID-19 pandemic made areas considered hard-to-count only harder to reach. This organization and others in California are part of a group called “The Black Hub” that worked with vulnerable communities across the state.
The State of California gave $187 million for the Census campaign to push outreach efforts to educate of the importance of being counted this year. These efforts included support to The Black Hub along with other institutions.
Flint told California Black Media that outreach on low voting turnouts for her organization began in 2000 with constant voter education campaigns. Later in 2012, it developed VREAM (Voting Rules Everything Around Me) to address voter suppression in California. The decision to participate in the 2010 and 2020 censuses to increase Black counts was an obvious next step, she continued.
The group’s outreach tactic, tagged the 200 Grand Campaign, trained 15 student interns to phone bank for five-and-a-half weeks. Jones requested 200,000 contact phone numbers in 45 hard-to-count tracts from the California Community Foundation.
Seventy-five percent of the 200,000 phone calls affirmed a commitment to participate in the 2020 Census, according to Jones.
“That is the single largest outreach to date in L.A. County,” she said. “In addition, the students’ text campaign reached 35,000 contacts with a response rate close to 90 percent.”
Student interns like Deshawn Moore worked from home and used their own phones due to Black Women for Wellness’ COVID-19 protocols to keep everyone safe. “I learned a lot in training about voting and the census. One time when I was on the bus, I asked someone if they have taken the census. They said no. I told them about it and how to do it,” Moore said.
When asked if he would volunteer again with Black Women for Wellness, he responded, “Yes I would.”
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