Issue # 531
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U.S.extends COVID-19 public health emergency - what it means for travel AP PHOTO BY DAVID ZALUBOWSKI
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July 18-24 2022 Issue 531
Guest Commentary by Ben Jealous
Roe v. Wade overturned: Start now to take back the Supreme Court Did you ever wonder whether elections really matter? Well, the Trump Supreme Court majority has answered that question for good. Or, more accurately, they have answered it for bad. In the term that has just ended, the new far right-wing majority on the Supreme Court went on a rampage. They have torn up decades of legal precedent to diminish Americans’ rights and legal protections. To justify the results they wanted, they lied in their rulings the way some of them lied to get on the court. It has been a shameful display of power politics disguised as judging. Not surprisingly, the most attention has been paid to the Court majority overturning the 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision. A constitutional right that has made a huge difference in the lives of generations of women was wiped away. The impact will be devastating and deadly. Millions of individuals and couples dealing with unwanted pregnancies, the trauma of rape or incest, life-threatening pregnancy complications, or even a miscarriage that some intrusive government official decides is suspicious, will have their options severely limited or eliminated entirely. We know that those restrictions and their consequences will fall most harshly on already vulnerable people, including Black people, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and lowincome people. Already in Missouri, a major health care system will no longer treat rape victims with emergency contraception because the state abortion ban puts medical care providers at legal risk. Anti-abortion state legislators seem to be in competition to see who can pass the most extreme, intrusive, and controlling laws. Some are even trying to limit people’s right to travel from one state to another, targeting anyone who helps a person from a state that bans abortion get care in a state that permits it. It reminds me of the old fugitive slave laws that forced free states to help slave states deny people their freedom. Unfortunately, overturning Roe is just one of the harmful decisions handed down by the Trump Court.
permit to carry concealed firearms. Communities that are already suffering from the effects of gun crime are likely to experience even greater violence now that the court has robbed public officials of options and given the extremist pro-gun political agenda the power of law. The court also further dismantled the separation of church and state, which protects religious freedom and preserves equality under law for people regardless of their religious beliefs. The Trump court took a wrecking ball to this pillar of American society. It is forcing states to divert tax dollars to religious schools, like some Southern states did when they funded white evangelical segregationist academies that emerged in resistance to the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision outlawing racially segregated public schools. This court has made it easier for public officials, like teachers, to coerce students into prayer or other religious practices. This is a very clear threat to anyone whose faith is different from the one dominant in their community or state. In other words, the U.S. Supreme Court, which we counted on for generations to uphold civil rights and tear down obstacles to equality, is now acting as an arm of the increasingly aggressive far-right political movement. How did we get here? Simple. Thanks to the anti-democratic Electoral College, Donald Trump was elected in 2016 even though almost 3 million more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell prevented the Senate from even considering President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination so that Trump could fill it instead—and then rushed Trump’s third justice onto the court even as voters were casting ballots to remove Trump from office. Behind Trump and McConnell was a massively funded, decades-long campaign to build the political power to take control of the judiciary.
The Court intervened in voting rights cases to protect gerrymandering designed to limit Black voters’ access to political power. This comes on top of other rulings gutting the Voting Rights Act.
In other words, winning the presidency and controlling the Senate gave the far right the power to force its harmful agenda on the American public long after voters rejected Trump. Taking the Court back from the extremists who now control it will be a long-term project. It starts with this year’s elections.
The Trump Court went after sensible regulation of guns. The far-right justices overturned a New York law more than 100 years old that required people to show a good cause to get a
Ben Jealous serves as president of People for the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. He wrote this for the Oakland Post where it first appeared.
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Upcoming summit aims to destigmatize mental health issues in African community By Panashe Matemba-Mutasa Mshale The annual African Mental Health Summit will return to the Twin Cities on July 22 for the 8th year since it was founded to initiate conversations about mental health in the African community. The theme of this year’s summit is “Transformation. Restoration. Recovery: Necessity of All of Humanity Working Together,” and aims to address issues of stigmatization of mental illness in the African immigrant community. “We are working with people to help them not view mental illness so negatively,” said Dr. Richard Oni, founder of the African Mental Health Summit. Unlike last year, when the conference was conducted virtually due to the pandemic, this year attendees will be able to interact in person at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul. Issues of mental health are as prevalent in Africa and its Diaspora as they are in the rest of the world, but illness has traditionally been seen as taboo, and often attributed to witchcraft and evil spirits, according to numerous studies. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that most African countries spend less than 1% of their budget on mental health issues, according to the Borgen Project, a nonprofit organization that fights poverty in several countries around the globe.
The African Mental Health Summit is part of increasing efforts to raise awareness of and address misconception about mental health in African communities. The summit brings together researchers, policymakers, mental health service providers and other professionals with an interest in African mental health to discuss solutions to destigmatize mental illness. The program also focuses on linking African immigrants with the resources they need to manage any mental illness they may be struggling with. Oni said that people struggling with mental health issues in Africa are often treated as outcasts, and that as many immigrate overseas to countries like the United States, they bring those negative attitudes with them. “Back home, they call you crazy,” he said. Oni also talked about a unique cultural phenomenon that exists in many African countries that he calls, the “Gossip Syndrome.” The term refers to the apparent tendency of people in African communities to gossip about individuals with seemingly unfavorable traits. “People worry about what others will say about them, so they avoid seeking therapy,” Oni said. “We are here trying to show that there is more to the mental health discussion than craziness.” Oni’s hope for the future is a supportive
Internationally-acclaimed Nigerian-born psychologist and professor Dr. Báyò Akómoláfé will keynote the African Mental Health Summit at Metropolitan State Univerity in St. Paul, Minnesota on July 22, 2022. Photo: Courtesy Dr. Báyò Akómoláfé
African immigrant community dedicated to helping its members seek treatment and work through their problems. He believes that many in the African community are quick to label mental illness as a character flaw. He argued that because mental illness is a treatable disease, like cancer, that it should be treated as such. “Without mental health, there is no health,” Oni said.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Dr. Báyò Akómoláfé, an internationallyacclaimed Nigerian-born psychologist and professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute, a California school that offers graduate degrees in psychology. More info about the conference can be found at www.8thafricanmhs.com.
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July 18-24 2022 Issue 531
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United States extends COVID-19 public emergency - what it means for travel By Richa Thomaselli Associated Press The Biden Administration has decided to extend the public emergency in the United States for another three months until at least October 13. Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, made the announcement on Friday, July 15. The decision came in the wake of a rise in positive cases of the BA.5 variant of the COVID-19 virus. “The Public Health Emergency declaration continues to provide us with tools and authorities needed to respond to the highly transmissible COVID-19 subvariants that are currently circulating around the country,” a Biden administration official told CNN. “The PHE provides essential capabilities and flexibilities to hospitals to better care for patients, particularly if we were to see a significant increase in hospitalizations in the coming weeks.” In some respects, it sounds like the Public Health Emergency extension is a formality that allows the government to have more leeway in implementing further measures. “Without the PHE in place, we would be limited in our ability to provide broad and
equitable access to lifesaving treatments through our Test to Treat initiative, for example, which relies on flexibility for telehealth and operations,” the official told CNN. “Not renewing the PHE would leave us with fewer tools to respond and mean more Americans would get severely ill and end up in the hospital.”
But whether this new iteration of the virus plays havoc with the travel sector again, as it did for virtually all of 2020 and much of 2021, remains to be seen. “From what I can tell here, nobody is really listening to this President and
administration,” Tyson Wharton, of Sioux Empire Travel, told TravelPulse. Wharton said it’s likely that most people have had their fill over COVID19 after more than two years. Travel on Pg. 6
If Your COVID-19 Test is Positive Whether you’re vaccinated or not: • Isolate for at least 5 days after your positive test (if you don’t have symptoms) or after the day your symptoms first appeared. • Wear a mask around other people until day 10.
Cancel or reschedule your flight. • If you reschedule, do not travel until a full 10 days after your positive test (if you don’t have symptoms) or after the day your symptoms first appeared.
CS329783-A
Day 0 is 1st day of symptoms or day positive test was taken.
Thanks for doing your part to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
t Do no ule sched l before v tra e 1 day 1
www.cdc.gov/covid19travel
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July 18-24 2022 Issue 531
Unite to Fuel Change We live in a world where divisions and poverty affect everyone but when we unite as changemakers we can create a community where all people thrive.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
VISIT GTCUW.ORG TO LEARN MORE
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July 18-24 2022 Issue 531
Travel from Pg. 4 “I doubt half the people even know about (the extension of the public health emergency),” he said “So I don’t think that will make a difference for my clients’ travel plans. What is really slowing things down is the inflation pricing. I have seen more people put off travel because of $1,000 cabin tickets than are worried about COVID.” High prices are seemingly everywhere, but according to Allianz Partners USA’s 14th Annual Vacation Confidence Index, a sizeable amount of people are still planning on traveling despite the soaring costs. COVID-19 may not be the biggest concern among travelers these days, but it’s still something on the list of worries for many travelers out there. Some cities, like Los Angeles, are even contemplating bringing back indoor mask mandates. Extending the public emergency may not have a massive impact on travel here in 2022, but it does show that COVID-19 will continue to play a role in decision-making, even if it is a small one. Will it set the travel industry back even further? That remains to be seen, but for now, it doesn’t appear it will significantly hinder the industry’s path to recovery. If testing requirements to enter the country or mask mandates on public transportation return, then the industry is more likely to see a step backward in its efforts to recover. The Biden Administration has decided to extend the public emergency in the United States for another three months until at least October 13. Photo: Courtesy CDC
Mshale - The African Community Newspaper
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July 18-24 2022 Issue 531
Art & Entertainment
Neptune Frost: A landmark in African film that breaks new ground By Banning Eyre Afropop Saul Williams’ and Anisia Uzeyman’s Neptune Frost breaks new ground in the rich terrain of African film. To call it a post-apocalyptic, Afrofuturist, gender-bending musical—while true— raises more questions than it answers. A better place to start might be to say it is a profound meditation on the past, present and future of a very specific and very troubled nation: Rwanda. (Afropop’s Ben Richmond interviewed Williams in 2019 as he was heading to Rwanda to begin filming, and it’s clear from that interview that the filmmaker knew exactly where he was headed.) The mining of coltan—“technology” in the parlance of the film—is portrayed as a form of indentured servitude for ruined and impoverished survivors of the Rwandan civil war (1990-94), a conflict that claimed the lives of as many as one million, mostly Tutsi citizens. None of these specifics, nor any overt references to ethnicity are included in the film. This is a story about transcending history, not recapping it. We do see student unrest, official cruelty, and many scenes of Rwanda’s and Burundi’s stunning, mountainous geography, which was bloodied by the violence of a time
simply referred to as “the war.” But for all the indicators of this region’s recent history, the film is defiantly universal in its concerns with capitalist exploitation, marginalization and the healing powers of spirituality, poetry and music. Having seen Neptune Frost just once— and planning to watch again—I hesitate to describe the plot, which is complex and mysterious. It deals with blurring and breaking dualities, particularly gender dualities, which might be taken as a metaphor for ethnicity. It also deals with community, albeit a community on the run. The collective of misfits in the film’s dreamlike parallel universe sing and dance together, celebrate, nurture and heal one another, and face impending doom with inspiring solidarity. All of this, to say nothing of the film’s spectacular visuals speckled with phosphorous hues, digital overlays and an array of sculpted hairstyles that have to be seen to be believed. Earthly and technological realities blur and blend, as the film’s intricately twined storylines unfold within a pleasing flow that constantly entrances even when much is left to the imagination. The music ranges from thundering barrelshaped royal drums booming from the pit of a coltan mine; to techno-surrealist
His first football season, Isaiah told us, ‘Wear a jersey with my name on it. I want everyone to know you’re here for me.’ Darnell and Denna, adopted 16-year-old Isaiah LEARN ABOUT ADOPTING A TEEN YO U C A N ’ T I M AG I N E T H E R E WA R D
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rap, poignant; unaccompanied walking songs; roaring garage rock, and from the key character Matalusa (also Martyr Loser, played by Kaya Free); a defiant number with the refrain “F%$# You Google.” The simultaneous embrace and rejection of our technological
age is wildly provocative. Such a bold, uncompromising film may be challenged to find a mass audience, but Neptune Frost is a landmark, and a must-see for lovers of films by and about Africans.
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You
+ Fair Housing
July 18-24 2022 Issue 531
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A Better Community
The solution to housing discrimination starts with you. If you have been trying to buy or rent a house or apartment and you believe your rights have been violated, contact HUD or your local fair housing center. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing discrimination because of race, color, sex, religion, national origin, familial status or disability.
Fair Housing Is Your Right. Use It. Visit www.hud.gov/fairhousing or call the HUD Hotline 1-800-669-9777 (English/Español) 1-800-927-9275 (TTY)
SCAN HERE FOR MORE INFO A public service message from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in partnership with the National Fair Housing Alliance. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability. For more information, visit www.hud.gov/fairhousing.