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August 27 - September 2, 2020
VOL. 69, No. 35
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Local push on to make Memphis count in the Census by Jennifer L. Sharp Special to The New Tri-State Defender
With a Sept. 30 deadline looming, local officials are making an all-out push to get as many households as possible to complete 2020 Census forms. The City of Memphis has jumped into the effort big time to make sure communities of color, which traditionally have been undercounted, are accounted for as accurately as
possible. The Census Bureau also is aiding in the effort by having Census takers visit homes that have not yet responded to the 2020 Census. For a city, whose African-American population is 64.2 percent, according to 2019 U.S. Census estimates, an accurate count is crucial. That is important for a number of reasons, including the fact that an accurate population count translates into more federal and state resources
COVID-19 still hits AfricanAmericans hard by Dr. Sybil C. Mitchell flowing back into local communities. Historically, there has been reluctance within the African American and Hispanic communities regarding the Census. For example, many feel the Census funding will not benefit their communities and will wind up being spent in other areas of the city. Also, many from the Hispanic community are afraid that completing the form will lead to being deported.
With that backdrop, the city created a campaign titled 901 Counts to encourage Shelby County residents to take the Census and to clear up any misconceptions about the 2020 Census. The initiative was planned and implemented by the Complete Count Committee, a cross-sector group that has made a commitment to “getting out the count” and focusing on traSEE CENSUS ON PAGE 2
Trailblazing optometrist savors the joy of living
By self-description, Dr. Betty Harville has always been a joyful person who looks for the best in others and usually finds it. On Tuesday at the Southern College of Optometry, others showed that they easily found joy in her. (Photo: Gary S. Whitlow/GSW Enterprises)
Dr. Betty Harville retires from Southern College of Optometry by Florence M. Howard Special to The New Tri-State Defender
The expression for joy of living in French is joie de vivre. It is the life philosophy and commitment of Dr. Betty Harville, a trailblazing eye doctor who grooved a trail across the country for others to follow in the field of optometry. For the last 36 years, Dr. Harville taught courses such as
Clinical Communications and Patient Care at Southern College of Optometry (SCO) to the joy of her students and colleagues as she acted out patient scenarios that students would encounter during their careers. Dr. Harville is retiring and on Tuesday (Aug. 25th) she was recognized in a special program held in the school auditorium. Born in Fayette County (Tenn.), Harville was the only Black student in the 1983 grad-
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uating class at Indiana University School of Optometry, the first Black woman optometrist in the State of Tennessee, and the first Black woman in the United States to become a full-time optometry school professor. Magna cum laude graduate of UT Martin, she is the 1975 valedictorian of Fayette-Ware High School in Somerville. Speakers at Tuesday’s celebration included SCO President Dr. Lewis Reich, colleagues, special guests, and friends – both from the audience and via a video chat hosted by Dr. Janette Pepper. Her colleague, Dr. Bart Camp-
bell, told Dr. Harville, “The things that you have done will live on with your students.” Two of her former students, Drs. Mark Kapperman and Conner Kapperman, his son, appeared on live broadcast from Chattanooga to honor her with a $1000 annual SCO scholarship in her name. Conner recounted that the fun-loving Dr. Harville would “go into character” acting out various personality types that her students would meet during their career. Appreciative of the forewarning, he said with a SEE HARVILLE ON PAGE 2
Special to The New Tri-State Defender
From the onset of COVID-19, troubling racial inequities emerged as city and state health departments logged a deadlier impact on communities of color. While the rate of new case numbers are decreasing locally, the deaths are still mostly African Americans. “One of three things happen when a person contracts COVID-19,” said Dr. Bruce Randolph, medical director of Shelby County Health Department. “They are stricken with prolonged illness, they get better in two weeks, or they die. Unfortunately, those who die are majority African American – right at 60 percent.” For context, Randolph notes that Shelby County is 54 percent African American. “So the death of African Americans with coronavirus is six points over the AfricanA m e r i c a n population. We want to see the number of deaths decrease, Dr. Bruce period, but that Randolph percentage is only a few points off.” People are being fairly compliant with the mask mandate, and coronavirus spread numbers were expected to decrease, Randolph said. Still, Shelby County’s death toll among African Americans follows the national trend of cities and states with large concentrations of African Americans. According to The Commonwealth Fund, other cities and counties with a high African-American population also log a disproportionate number of deaths. Chicago, for instance, has an African-American population of 30 percent. The city’s COVID-19 deaths of African Americans peaked at 68 percent. The study also looked at 681 American counties with a high concentration of African Americans. Those communities – by the end of April – had 422,184 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 27,354 deaths, compared to 378,667 cases and 16,203 deaths in counties with a low concentration of African Americans. The 681 “predominantly black” counties accounted for only about a third of the U.S. population, but 53 percent of COVID-19 cases, and 63 percent of the deaths nationally. “Disparity in terms of outcome are not so much genetic or biological,” said Randolph, “but social, economic and political disparities for years are the cause.” Poor people in every health crisis and epidemic have always had higher death rates, according to Randolph. SEE COVID-19 ON PAGE 2