Healing words: How Meera Varma learned the language of mental health

By Madeline Adamo

In English, her first language, Meera Varma has found the words to advocate for mental health at the White House, at school board meetings in her hometown of Burbank, on UCLA’s campus and as a youth ambassador for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way foundation.

Her words have had an impact. They led Burbank schools to print the number of a suicide prevention hotline on all grade 6–12 student ID cards and to Varma, 22, being named to the board of the Friends of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, where she advises members on new mental health education programs for youth.

But reaching members of her local Indian community, including older members of her family, was always a challenge for Varma, especially in high school. Because of the language barrier, she couldn’t properly explain the daily anxiety attacks she was having in class or, later, her thoughts of suicide. Google Translate provided little help.

“There wasn’t even a word for ‘stigma’ in Hindi, so I didn’t have those conversations growing up,” said Varma, who earned her bachelor’s in psychology at UCLA in 2022 and is now pursuing graduate studies in psychology on campus. “I was experiencing a lot of mental health challenges, but I didn’t have any words to express it.”

She would eventually overcome that hurdle, but it wasn’t before she n Mental Health, see page 10

Big business must stop taking big tobacco money

By Dr. Phillip Gardiner

It’s hard to believe that with the amount of damage that the tobacco industry has inflicted on the Black community, that there are still Black organizations accepting their funding. By doing so, these Black organizations enable the tobacco industry to portray themselves as allies to our community. They help silence our voices and efforts aimed at encouraging policymakers to take specific steps to protect our people, thus becoming complicit in our death and disease.

The problem with accepting these funds is the tobacco industry has a history of targeting and exploiting vulnerable communities, especially Black communities, through predatory advertising and marketing tactics. Our people must be aware that accepting money from the tobacco industry contributes to the ongoing exploitation of our people through their predatory practices of marketing menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.

The African American Control Tobacco Council is calling on Black organizations to be united in our fight against Big Tobacco and help save

Black lives. Tobacco companies are actively opposing public health measures aimed at protecting Black Americans from the harm caused by their products.

The Backstory

A 1953 study by Roper, B.W. found that only 5 percent of African Americans smoked menthol cigarettes. A 1968 poll of People’s Cigarette Smoking Habits and Attitudes by Philip Morris showed that menthol use among Blacks had almost tripled to 14 percent. A report by Brown and Williamson in 1978 found that it had tripled again to 42 percent. By the 2000’s, over 80 percent of Black smokers used menthol cigarettes.

Today, 85 percent of Black adults and 94 percent of Black youth who smoke are using menthol products. These striking statistics arise from the success of the industry’s predatory marketing of these products in our community, where there are more advertisements, and most disturbingly, menthol cigarettes are cheaper compared to other communities. In 2022, the use of cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos was highest among Black youth. These practices, coupled with buying n Tobacco, see page 10

WOMEN’S

Continued from page 1 the lowest in the nation equally the wage gap in Mississippi. California falls short of the national rate at .63 cents.”

Panelists at the event included Los Angeles City Councilmember Heather Hutt (CD10); Yvonne Wheeler, President, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, President and CEO, Center by Lendistry; and Denise Pines, Co-Founder and CEO, Tea Botanics and Women in the Room Productions. Moderators were Griffin and Regina Wilson, Executive Director, California Black Media.

In Historic Los Angeles Ceremony, Malia M. Cohen Sworn in as Top State Accountant

It was a history-making moment as Malia M. Cohen was inaugurated the 33rd California State Controller at Los Angeles City Hall on Feb. 23. During the swearing-in, she was flanked by her husband Warren Pulley while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass administered the oath.

As California’s chief fiscal officer and top accountant, the State Controller’s office is an inde-pendent watchdog overseeing the disbursement of state and local funds, including one of the nation’s largest public pension funds.

Cohen, a San Francisco native will be the first Black person, and second woman Controller, as the state continues to make an intentional effort to break gender and racial barriers. Two of the top four largest cities, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are led by Black women Mayors, Karen Bass and London Breed respectively, and the state also elected its first Black in Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, who previously served under an appointment by Gov. Newsom.

“Mayor Bass and Congresswoman Lee: I know that you know all too well, that no matter the campaign budget difference, no matter how much they outspend you, leadership can’t be bought,” Cohen said in her inaugural speech.

California Black Freedom Fund Hosts Panel Discussions in Oakland

On Feb. 28 in Oakland, the California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF) hosted an event titled “Strengthening Democracy and Building Black Futures” followed by a reception for guests who attended.

The event included two panel discussions centered around the need for philanthropy to commit resources to building and sustaining a just, racially diverse, equitable and inclusive civil society.

“Civil society is the basis upon which you have a democracy, and civil society needs to be in-formed. It needs to be about achieving something. It needs to reflect the broader society,” said Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder in Residence, Policy Link, who presented during one of the panel discussions.

CBFF is a “five-year, $100 million initiative to ensure that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and resources they need to eradicate sys-temic and institutional racism,” according to the organization’s website.

In April 2022, CBFF named Marc Philpart its Executive Director, a leader with broad experience in social advocacy working with grassroots and community organizations.

Panelists at the event included Blackwell; author Steve Phillips (Brown Is the New White); Lateefah Simon (president of the Meadow Fund); James Herard (Executive Director of Lift Up Contra Costa); Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker (District 1 Antioch City Council).