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News Observer Bakersfield
Volume 47 Number 16
Serving Kern County for Over 47 Years
Observer Group Newspapers of Southern California
Black Nurse First to Receive Vaccine
Meet the first American recipient of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent Queens, New York — Critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay received the first dose of the two-shot vaccine at about 9:20 a.m. EST on Monday, December 14. Medical officials administered the dose on camera as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others watched on a livestream. “The person who is going to take the first vaccine in the state of New York, maybe the first vaccine shot in the United States,” Cuomo said of Lindsay as she sat in a chair ahead of receiving the historic jab. “This vaccine is exciting because I believe this is the weapon that will end the war,” the governor said. “It is the beginning of the last chapter of the book, but now we just have to do it. The vaccine doesn’t work if it’s in the vial. We’re here to watch you take the first shot.” Lindsay, who works at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, proclaimed, “I feel great,” after receiving the injection from Dr. Michelle Chester, the director of employee health services at Northwell Health. Cuomo remarked to Lindsay, “You didn’t flinch.” Lindsay said she hopes to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe. “I feel hopeful today, relieved. I feel like healing is coming,” Lindsay exclaimed. Pfizer’s vaccine was expected to arrive via Federal Express and UPS freight and ground transportation at 145 locations across all 50 states in the U.S. Monday morning. The vaccine was authorized for emergency use in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration. It’s estimated that about 2.9 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine will be distributed this week in the first vaccine rollout phase. High-risk populations like healthcare workers and nursing home staff and residents in the U.S. will be prioritized to receive the landmark vaccine. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. We’re in a pandemic, so we all need to do our part to put an end to the pandemic,” Lindsay said.
Critical care nurse Sandra Lindsay received the first dose of the two-shot vaccine at about 9:20 a.m. EST on Monday, December 14.
Even without the issues brought about by COVID-19, racism and the election, we still faced ongoing interpersonal conflicts, financial pressures as well as disappointments and expectations regarding family. Now in the midst of the holiday season, at the close of this tumultuous year, there are the added pressures of trying to figure out how to balance safety measures and a shaky economy with organizing – or at least reimagining -- holiday celebrations and giving gifts under these unprecedented circumstances. Most of us are experiencing some version or a combination of these stresses in our lives. Here are some tips to help your through this holiday season. 1. Be courageous and set realistic expectations. Exercise restraint and discipline this holiday season rather than going through extraordinary efforts to recreate childhood memories (what we used to do). Don’t stretch your budgets thin buying things you don’t need or can’t afford. Don’t pay to access experiences that are beyond your budget and don’t empty the coffers creating situations that are beyond your means. Focus this year instead on
creating less stress by only accomplishing what is possible. Don’t go overboard trying to achieve the impossible. 2. Control of your thoughts and emotions. There are so many things in life that we cannot change -- from being exposed to COVID to the drama of family and friends. But we can change and control the way we think and the way we feel. Turn lemons into lemonade; see the cup half-full rather than half-empty. Try to maintain an attitude of gratitude. 3. Develop a self-care plan. Okay, this might sound challenging, but it’s really not. Make a schedule with set time frames to wake up and sleep. Eat healthy at least once a day, spend 20 minutes outdoors, meditate, figure out a time to laugh and do something for just you. Keep your plan simple so you can succeed. 4. Be honest about your feelings. During these times, it is really important to be able to know HOW you feel about this time of the year and the people and events that are attached to the season. You may feel sadness or grief due to losses such as deaths, distance from family, or Continued on page A2
Blacks Distrust Covid-19 Vaccine Steven Vargas California Black Media Now that both Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized by the FDA and are beginning to roll out, hesitancy is growing among Americans about receiving them. According to a recent survey by COVID Collaborative, a bipartisan organization that provides recommendations to governors on their COVID response, only 14 % of Black Americans believe the vaccine will be safe. Only 18 % think it will be effective in preventing the coronavirus. Black Lives Matter L.A. addressed the uncertainty regarding the vaccine in their most recent installment of “This Is Not a Drill, “Why Black Folks Are Wary of Coronavirus Vaccines,” on Dec. 17. The virtual forum brought together medical professionals and activists to discuss the pros and cons of the vaccine. They also addressed the deep-rooted fear in the Black community about having to receive it – especially if the government or employers mandate it. Dr. Gina Guillaume, Community Medicine Fellow at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, opened the session by explaining that much of the fear around the vaccine comes from the long history of medical malpractice against the Black community. “I took the Hippocratic Oath to serve and to protect my patients, to prevent disease, but unfortunately, that Hippocratic Oath was not offered to a lot of African Americans for centuries,” Guillaume said. “Instead, they have been giving involuntary treatment, painful treatments, harmful more than beneficial treatments in the past. And it has caused a lot of distrust.” Guillaume said the distrust is warranted but also puts lives at risk. By Thursday Dec. 17, intensive care unit capacities in Southern California reached 0% capacity. According to LA Public Health, there were 16,500 new cases and 96 new deaths in Los Angeles County on Dec. 18. That number has continued to grow with new recordbreaking numbers reached, almost daily. Guillaume stressed the importance of the vaccine at this critical time of the pandemic. “My fear is: if we as a community do not get vaccinated,
Merry Christmas
South Alabama Civil War Battlefield Being Preserved
Nine Ways to Leave the Blues Behind
Lenore A. Tate, PhD, is a Licensed Psychologist/ Professional Consultant based in Sacramento. (Courtesy Photo)
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
From the Staff of the Bakersfield News Observer
Tis The Season to Destress: Dr. Lenore Tate Special to California Black Media At the beginning of this year, many of us would have never imagined that 2020 would have brought us the COVID-19 global pandemic, caustic conversations about race and racism, violent murders, children learning remotely, working from home, social isolation and widespread job loss. This year, more than ever before in our lives, we experienced stressful times because there were so many issues and events that were out of our control and happening all at once.
Free!
SPANISH FORT, Ala. (AP) – A south Alabama battlefield where thousands of Black Union troops help defeat Confederate forces in the final days of the Civil War is being protected with a $300,000 grant, preservation groups announced. While the state already owns about 40% of the 2,000acre battlefield around Fort Blakeley, located near Spanish Fort north of Mobile Bay, the money will allow for the preservation of about 60 additional acres where some of the most significant action occurred, according to a joint announcement by The Conservation Fund, the American Battlefield Trust and the University of South Alabama. Union soldiers, including 5,000 members of the U.S. Colored Troops, overran the Confederate fort at the site on April 9, 1865, the same day Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Court House. The heavy concentration of Black troops was among the most in any battle of the war, the announcement said. The site being protected is “one of the last critical pieces of the war’s most poignant battles,” Mobile-area writer and naturalist bill Finch said in the statement. “The result is one of the region’s largest, best-preserved and most significant Civil War parks,” Finch said. A National Park Service grant of $293,000 will be used for long-term protection of the land, which is located in the environmentally sensitive Mobile-Tensaw Delta and owned by The Conservation Fund. The area is just a few miles from the resting place of the Clotilda, the ship that was scuttled after bringing the final shipload of African captives to the United States as slaves before the war.
Video Allowed in Trial of Officers Charged in Floyd Killing MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A judge upheld his decision to livestream the trial of four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd. Judge Peter Cahill said in his order Friday that he would allow video coverage due to immense global interest in the case and limited courthouse space, the Star Tribune reported. Trial is scheduled for March. Cahill dismissed concerns by state prosecutors, who argued last month that recording audio and visuals of the trial would violate court rules and scare away potential witnesses. Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office, which is leading the prosecution, asked that Cahill rescind his previous ruling or consider narrowing the scope of outside access. Cahill declined to modify his original ruling, writing that although he had granted more extensive video coverage than allowed in court rules, he is permitted to modify the rules “in any case to prevent manifest injustice.” A coalition of media organizations, including The Associated Press, has requested camera access, arguing that cameras would increase transparency, especially during the pandemic. Floyd, a Black man in handcuffs, died May 25 after Derek Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after Floyd said he couldn’t breathe. Chauvin faces second-degree unintentional murder and manslaughter charges. Lane, J. Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. All four officers were fired.
Sales Top 3 Million for Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land”
Dr. Gina Guillaume (Courtesy Photo)
BLM-Los Angeles co-founder Melina Abdullah (Courtesy Photo)
that the gap that we have -- the disparities will continue to widen,” she said. “Then the risk of not getting the vaccine might be greater because of all of the complications and the surges that we are seeing.” The way the coronavirus has disproportionately affected Black and other ethnic minorities helps to fuel the
urgency and anxiety about making sure those communities have access to preventive treatments. Blacks are 1.4 times more likely to get infected and 3.7 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to Whites, according to the CDC. However, the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 are Continued on page A2
By HILLEL ITALIE AP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) – Just a month after publication, Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” is well on its way to becoming the best-selling presidential memoir in modern times. Crown announced Wednesday that sales have topped 3.3 million copies in the U.S. and Canada, within range of Bill Clinton’s “My Life” and George W. Bush’s “Decision Points,” both of which have sold between 3.5 million and 4 million. “Personal Memoirs of Ulysses Grant” sold hundreds of thousands of copies when published in the 1880s, and remains in print, but there are no precise records of its total sales. “A Promised Land,” the first of two planned volumes, covers Obama’s election in 2008 and much of his first term. No release date has been set for the second book. Previous works, written before he became president, include the million sellers “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” Obama still has to catch up to his wife, Michelle Obama, whose “Becoming” has sold more than 8 million copies in North America since coming out in 2018.