September 27, 2020
HOUSTON EDITION
A RACIAL PANDEMIC A pandemic is defined as “an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people.” It is generally referring to a “medical disease,” like cholera, the bubonic plague, smallpox, and influenza from the past, or our current COVID-19/ coronavirus crisis, but there is a certain disease that is spreading like a virus across the country -- in fact the world -- and there is no medical vaccine or cure for it. The disease is RACISM, and it is infecting and affecting our households, our lives and our souls. A RACIAL PANDEMIC
has swept the globe, and primarily in America, Blacks are being hunted and targeted by police, white Supremacists and even their own neighbors and “Everyday Joes” who are no longer cloaked in disguise, but are boldly letting the world know that Black people are prey for no other reason than the color of their skin. We could say that police brutality is at an all-time high, but that is honestly not true. Police brutality against Blacks has ALWAYS been high, we just could not prove it then as much as we can now, thanks to technology with cellphone videos and social media. Now, the brutality is on
display for the world to see, even though many politicians and judges still turn a blind eye to it, refusing to hold those accountable in the deaths of Blacks. We scold those who protest and burn down buildings, not realizing that many are simply “sick and tired of being sick and tired” after seeing one racist officer after another get a slap on the wrist after intentionally killing Blacks with no consequences. The officers who beat Rodney King got away with it, George Zimmerman walked free after stalking and killing Trayvon Martin, and the list goes on and on. Dr. Sandra L. Shullman,
PhD, president of the American Psychological Association, wrote about the mental health consequences related to the recent high-profile violent events targeting African Americans. “George Floyd, dead after a police officer knelt on his neck. Ahmaud Arbery, fatally shot while on a jog. Breonna Taylor, shot to death by police raiding her home. Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin — the list is far too long and ever growing,” Shullman said. “If you’re black in America — and especially if you are a black male – it’s not safe to go birding in
Racial Pandemic cont’d page 3
Vol. 25, Issue 35
EARLY VOTING MATTERS
WANTON ENDANGERMENT??? “So a Black woman’s life ain’t worth nothing?” asked African-American News&Issues publisher Roy Douglas Malonson. His question is the same as many others after Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced this week that two officers were justified in the Breonna Taylor shooting, and only one -- former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison --would be charged with “first degree wanton endangerment,” but not for Taylor’s death. And many of us are left to wonder... what is wanton endangerment? Apersonisguiltyof wanton endangerment in the
first degree when, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to another person. Hankison is accused of allegedly firing blindly through a door and window in Taylor’s building, which officials say, could have possibly harmed others. The former’s detective’s bond was set at $15,000. The other two officers -- Sgt. John Mattingly Wanton Endangerment cont’d page 8