Viewpoint Michigan Chronicle
A Real Times Media Newspaper
September 4-10, 2019 | Page A-4
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Pediatricians Say Racism is Devastating to Black Children - Let’s Get to the Root Cause By Enola Aird, Esq. Founder & President, Community Healing Network
It’s amazing how often the news media give big play to an academic report that tells us something Black mothers already knew. Another example of the old wisdom nothing is real until White people discover or acknowledge it. Does that seem harsh? Consider the splashy coverage given to a recent policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) entitled The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health. The AAP’s statement warned that the health dangers posed to children by racism “have become acute” and that racism, including racism experienced by the mother, “can have devastating longterm effects on children’s health.” It’s received plenty of favorable news coverage.
Do Americans believe the polls? Are the Democrats leading or is President Trump?
By Roger Caldwell NNPA Newswire Contributor
There are more than 20 Democratic candidates running for President of the United States, and if you listen to them talk, they all believe they can win the nomination. Everyone knows that most of these candidates know they can’t win, but they can raise money. No individual or agency can keep up with how they spend the money, and the amount is in the billions.
Great Again” is essentially a code slogan that means “Make America White Again,” and it is working under Trump’s administration. Most Americans are not looking for a minister to be the president, and most are comfortable if he does not tell the truth and breaks some rules. Many politicians are lawyers and they go to school to learn how to bend, stretch, and change the laws, and there is nothing wrong with lying as long as you don’t get caught. President Trump has changed the rules, because he does not care if he is caught lying. In fact, the President will say one thing one day and say something totally different the next day.
This may not Roger Caldwell make much sense, but in the first debate spanned 2 nights with 20 candidates up on the stage.
Our president believes the system is set up for White men to rule, and when you are caught with your hand in the cookie jar, most of the time money has a way of fixing problems.
President Donald Trump and the Republicans are laughing at this spectacle and the polls say the majority of leading Democratic candidates would win the election if it were held today. Quinnipiac University’s polls have been deemed “fake news” by the President.
The Mass Media in America has awesome power and it can turn a criminal to a saint, and a saint into a criminal. Americans are lazy, and they wait for the news to give them information and it does not matter if it is right or wrong.
“The Fake News has never been more dishonest than it is today. Thank goodness we can fight back on Social Media. Their new weapon of choice is Fake Polling. Sometimes referred to as Suppression Polls and they suppress the numbers. Had it in 2016, but this is worse,” says President Trump in a Tweet. Many Americans say the President is wrong, but the Quinnipiac University poll numbers do appear to be incorrect, because 60% of White people support President Trump and that number could be higher. President Trump is always talking about how much he loves America, and it appears that most White Americans love him right back. White Americans have been searching and looking for a savior, and President Trump is someone they can believe in. Almost their entire life, White folks have been looking for an individual they can put their trust in, and President Trump is their man. “Make America
According to the Quinnipiac University polls, Mr. Trump trailed Mr. Biden – the clear frontrunner thus far in the Democratic primaries – by a whopping 13 per cent, while Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and others also hold strong advantages. Trump says these are made up numbers that don’t exist. In 2016, the poll numbers were wrong and many of the political experts don’t believe President Donald Trump is 13 per cent behind the Democrats in the numbers in 2019. White people love President Trump and when he speaks the place is sold out. The economy is good, and the president can toot his own horn. The Democrats are all over the place, and the Republicans are in line and following their leader. It is hard to beat Trump especially since the economy is good. And don’t underestimate the love affair between the President and White America.
Jamestown to Jamestown:
Commemorating 400 Years of the African Diaspora Experience By Derrick Johnson NAACP President and CEO
History commonly and most often points to late August in the year 1619 when some “20 and odd Negroes” originating from Angola arrived in the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia as the first documented enslaved Africans to land in what is now the United States. This nation and its wealth was built through forced labor and the very existence of Black men and women. It’s truly ironic that as this country celebrates 400 years of democraDerrick Johnson cy, the Black community is still fighting for equal rights, justice and freedom. The century that followed emancipation saw the creation of policies that discriminated against black people and largely excluded them from wealth building, creating an inherited disadvantage for future generations. This is why the idea of reparations, brought forth during the Civil War era, has continued to be a topic of grave concern for the NAACP. On a daily basis, we grapple with domestic terrorism and state sanctioned violence in the guise of white supremacy — all under the watch of one of the most racist administrations since the Jim Crow era. Along with his xenophobic policies, President Donald Trump is do-
ing all he can to punish immigrants and alienate Black Americans, using hateful tweets and chants of “Send her back,” as a rallying cry for his base. At NAACP’s annual convention, our delegates voted unanimously to call on the House to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump. We can’t and won’t whitewash or glorify this experience — but it has made us stronger and more resilient than ever. We know from the incredible Black voter turnout in the midterm elections that African-Americans are not only the most critical voting bloc, but the most powerful when we are encouraged to participate actively in our Democracy. Last month, the NAACP, embarked on a historic and spiritual journal to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. More than 200 African-Americans paid homage to the strength, power and resilience of our people. In our journey from Jamestown, Virginia to Ghana, we not only retraced the footsteps of our ancestors through the slave dungeons and along the shores where the enslaved had their last bath before their trek to the western world – we also immersed ourselves in the vibrant culture and join leading government and business leaders to learn more about business, development and investment in Ghana. Through this experience, we hope to actualize the healing and collective unity so many generations have worked to achieve in ways which bring power to our communities in America, Africa and throughout our Diaspora.
But with all due respect, every Black mother in America has known this for as long as there have been Black mothers in America. And we didn’t need an academic statement to tell us. Every precious baby to whom we have given birth over the course of the last 600 years has come into a world that profoundly devalues Black life. What may be new to us is this devastating detail contained in the report: “The stress generated by experiences of racism may start through maternal exposures while in utero and continue after birth with the potential to create toxic stress. This transforms how the brain and body respond to stress, resulting in short- and long-term health impacts on achievement and mental and physical health. We see the manifestations of this stress as preterm births and low birth weights in newborns to subsequent development of heart disease, diabetes and depression as children become adults.” This should set off alarm bells throughout the Black community, particularly for Black mothers. We urgently need to find a way to protect the health and wellbeing of our beloved children in light of this deepening health crisis, the recent mass shootings in which children were among the victims-and the resurgence of White supremacy. Let’s begin with the AAP’s entirely accurate description of racism as “a socially transmitted disease passed down through generations leading to the inequities observed in our population today.” Exactly right. Here in the United States and around the world, Black chil-
dren are seen as “less than” -- less beautiful, less lovable, less capable, less intelligent, less worthy and less valuable. The AAP has made a range of reasonable recommendations using the usual language from our culture’s standard dictionary on racism, including “racial equality,” “racial equity,” “institutional structures,” and “implicit and explicit biases.” They point to the need for strategies to “optimize clinical care, workforce development, professional education, systems engagement and research in a manner designed to reduce the health effects of structural, personally mediated, and internalized racism, and improve the health and well-being of all children.” These are all good ideas, but we’ve heard some version of them before. What’s missing is a diagnosis and a cure that get to the root of the problem. So what can we, Black people, do to open the door to fresh recommendations that will yield something new and much better for our children? We can pinpoint the root cause of all the harms the AAP describes. It is the myth of Black inferiority. That myth -- or as I prefer to call it, the lie -- of Black inferiority, was devised centuries ago to justify the enslavement of African people. It dehumanized Black people, and placed us and our children at the bottom rung of humanity. Do you wonder why, with all the constitutional amendments and legislation and court decisions aimed at promoting racial equality, the same problems persist- and seem to be getting worse? It’s because the lie continues to negatively affect the world’s perceptions of Black children and Black children’s perceptions of themselves. The lie is at the root of the glaring disparities between Black and White children in health, safety, education, employment, wealth, mass incarceration, and nearly every other area of life. It is the reason why our children’s lives are devalued. It is the reason why doing anything while Black can be dangerous, and even deadly. The lie of Black inferiority is at the root of countless lost dreams, lost hopes, and lost lives. As a Black mother, I say that unless we, Black people, insist that pediatricians and anyone else concerned about the well being of Black children have the insight and courage to name and aggressively address that root cause, our children will continue to be devastated.
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United States District Court Eastern District of Michigan
POWER ACT*
Panel Presentation and Discussion Please join us for THE 2019 POWER ACT PANEL PRESENTATION and DISCUSSION to share information and encourage pro bono representation for victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and stalking in Metro Detroit and surrounding counties. Participants will include representatives from Interim House, Lakeshore Legal Aid and members of the judicial community.
Wayne County Community College District 1001 W. Fort Street, Room 236 Detroit, MI Wednesday, September 4, 2019 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm *The POWER ACT (Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent Act of 2018, P.L. 115-237) requires judicial districts within the federal judiciary to hold an annual event to encourage the legal community to provide pro bono services to survivors of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.