BLAC Detroit Magazine May 2020

BLACdetroit.com

Black Life, Arts & Culture

MAY 2020 / COMPLIMENTARY

I SURVIVED They tested positive for COVID-19 but they’re still standing – and sharing their stories

HEALTH ADVICE FROM ASCENSION MICHIGAN

How do uterine fibroids impact women?

Omar Zwain, M.D.

H

ave you experienced extreme pain during menstruation? You could be suffering from a condition known as uterine fibroids, which according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), develop in 80 to 90% of African American women by age 50 and oftentimes cause more severe symptoms for Black women than Caucasian women.

The cause of fibroids isn’t well understood. Some of the known risk factors include obesity and early onset puberty.

Are uterine fibroids an inherited disorder? “Fibroid disease is not a genetically inherited disorder” says Omar Zwain, M.D., a specialist in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery and a board-certified in obstetrics & gynecology with Ascension Medical Group. “Fibroids are

not like sickle cell disease where we see a genetic link.”

Uterine fibroids are firm, dense benign tumors that are made of smooth muscle cells that develop in the uterus, Dr. Zwain explains. “Fibroids are not cancer,” he says.

Often, fibroids are found during a routine yearly pelvic exam. Heavy menstrual bleeding, prolonged periods, bleeding between periods, pelvic pain and back pain are symptoms to look out for.

“Due to the increased size of the uterus, some women may experience increased urination,” Dr. Zwain adds. In some cases, however, there are no symptoms.

“Sometimes, fibroids are an incidental finding on an ultrasound,” Dr. Zwain says. “If you are having normal cycles and no heavy bleeding, there’s no need to panic.

But, we don’t want to forget about

these fibroids.”

In some cases, women may experience infertility. Dr. Zwain says that many patients will ask, “What did I do wrong?” when fibroids are discovered. A common question he hears from women is whether what you eat played a role in forming fibroids.

“Diet is not a factor,” he says. “Fibroids are not like obesity or heart disease where eating certain foods cause the problem.”

If treatment is necessary for fibroids Dr. Zwain says it may include medication to help stop the growth of the fibroids or decrease the size of the fibroid, or in some cases, surgery to remove the fibroids.

Ascension Providence Hospital has opened the first multi-disciplinary fibroid center in metro Detroit to help women with this condition.

“We have a team of board-certi-

fied, fellowship-trained specialists in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, interventional radiology and hematology at the center,” he says.

Yearly pelvic exams are important, especially if you know that you have fibroids. Your doctor needs to be informed if you notice heavier and longer periods with clots over time, he says.

Increased pain and increased problems with your menstrual cycle also need to be brought to your doctor’s attention. Your doctor can determine if your fibroids have increased in size since the last exam.

“There’s no need to panic if fibroids are found, but you need to remain vigilant,” he says. “Not all fibroids will need treatment, but you do need to keep an eye on it.”

GET MORE HEALTH INFORMATION AND FIND A DOCTOR NEAR YOU BY VISITING ASCENSION.ORG/MICHIGAN OR CALLING 866-501-DOCS (3627)

MAY 2020

INSIDE 4 5

Online at BLACdetroit.com Letter from BLAC's new publisher

FEATURES 18

TALES OF TRIUMPH Local COVID-19 survivors share their stories

22

A DIFFERENT VIRUS With systematic racism as the carrier, of course COVID-19 hit us harder

DEPARTMENTS 8

DISCOVER Gifts for mom, newly released books by Black authors, and nonprofits and orgs support the community

12

POV How one woman's daughter helped her learn to love her natural hair

14

DETROIT PROPER There's no adversary against mother wit

24

ACCESS DETROIT Nope

25

SEEN Checking in with stay-at-home selfies

SPONSORED 6

22

16 2

SHERELLE HOGAN, FOUNDER AND CEO, PURE HEART FOUNDATION CARING FOR THE COMMUNITY IN UNCERTAIN TIMES HOW DO UTERINE FIBROIDS IMPACT WOMEN?

D LIFE

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Online in May Visit BLACdetroit.com for web exclusives and to stay up on what’s happening in Black Detroit

Small Business Bailout Five ways small businesses can weather the coronavirus storm

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EVERY CHILD deserves a

HEALTHY Breakfast or Lunch Every Day

To make sure YOUR SCHOOL gets money for meals to YOUR KIDS, you must complete the 2020 CENSUS this spring.

The 2020 CENSUS is quick and EASY to fill out. Use it to count EVERYONE in your home. And by law, it is 100% CONFIDENTIAL For more information go to www.mivoicecounts.org

4 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

A New Journey CEO / PUBLISHER Billy Strawter Jr. SENIOR EDITOR Paris Giles CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kelly Buren SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Lindsey Lawson

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”

PHOTOGRAPHER Lauren Jeziorski DISTRIBUTION COORDINATOR Meaghan Smith COPY EDITOR Kim Kovelle CONTRIBUTORS Desiree Cooper, Arianna Smith PRINTER Calev Systems Miami Springs, Florida

CONTACT US 6200 2ND AVE. DETROIT, MI 48202 313-312-1611 PUBLISHER: publisher@BLACdetroit.com SALES: advertise@BLACdetroit.com DESIGN: design@BLACdetroit.com EDITORIAL: editor@BLACdetroit.com CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS: calendar@BLACdetroit.com DISTRIBUTION: distribution@BLACdetroit.com BLAC Detroit magazine is published 12 times a

– Maya Angelou

I

’m Billy Strawter Jr., the new owner and publisher of BLAC Detroit magazine.

Opening this issue with a quote that speaks to the vision of BLAC seems fitting for a brand that has celebrated Black life, arts and culture for people of color in metro Detroit for over 20 years. I have long admired BLAC and its unique place in the local media landscape.

When I moved to the area 25 years ago, I fell in love with this city and the people. In that time, many things have changed. Not all of these changes have been positive, yet much has moved our city forward. BLAC has been a witness to this progress and the faith, hope and resilience of Detroit’s people. When we talk about Detroit, we must remember that this city is a collection of our individual experiences and stories. Detroit is full of history and people worth celebrating. As I come into my role as publisher, my goal is to continue to shine a bright light on the stories and the people important to us.

Now more than ever, as we collectively find ourselves fighting for survival, there is a need to document and share information and stories that make a difference to our community. BLAC is the place to celebrate our neighborhoods, to remember our past and work towards a better future through the sharing of ideas. Over time, we will be making incremental changes to both the print and digital platforms for BLAC. As we do we welcome your input and feedback on what you are seeing, reading and, most importantly, how you feel about it. I understand how loved BLAC is by all of us and the connection and power that it has. I am excited to build upon this incredible foundation.

We will be deepening our roots into our community and telling more stories about the people, businesses and organizations that make us who we are – an amazing people living in an amazing city. This mission reminds me of a quote from Marlowe Stoudamire, a great Detroiter who we sadly lost to COVID-19.

Marlowe once said, “The national pundits and media … do what they do. Our job is to make sure it’s not the only narrative. It’s everybody’s story. Not new Detroit and old Detroit, but our Detroit.”

BLAC is dedicated to “our Detroit” – now more than ever. It is a magazine for us, by us. I’m looking forward to leading BLAC on this new journey. I hope you will join me.

year. ©2020 by BLAC Detroit. All rights reserved.

Any reproduction in whole or in part without the express written consent of BLAC magazine is prohibited.

Billy

A year-long series featuring Detroiters who are driving positive change in their communities.

Driving Community Sponsored by Ford Motor Company Fund

Sherelle Hogan, Founder and CEO, Pure Heart Foundation

As a child, both of this millennial’s parents were imprisoned. Now grown, she’s created an organization that provides children of the incarcerated with essential resources meant to break the cycle of generational incarceration.

O ften poor, mostly Black and brown, the children of incarcerated parents are easily forgotten.

The “hidden victims” of America’s mass incarceration problem, these children face a unique set of social and emotional challenges that, according to research cited by the Justice Department, make them, on average, six times more likely to be incarcerated themselves.

Sherelle Hogan founded the Pure 6 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

Heart Foundation in 2015 to act as anchor for these kids and provide them with necessary resources like mental health care, mentorship and academic enrichment. When Hogan was 6 years old, her mom was incarcerated, and when she was 7, her dad. “I’m almost 30 now, and looking back on my childhood, and even my adulthood, a lot of the barriers and challenges that I had to face throughout life rooted from their

incarceration,” she says. “I wanted to provide a service that I needed when I was younger.”

Along with the aforementioned, children – or “scholars” – enrolled in the Pure Heart program enjoy recreational activities and outings.

Once a month, the team takes them on field trips that are sometimes educational – and at other times, just plain old fun. “We want to expose them to different avenues

of life, and also give them a sense of normalcy,” Hogan says. They also invest heavily in the children’s mental wealth, offering cognitive therapies; behavioral, emotional and social counseling; restorative circles; meditation and one-on-one sessions. “Children of incarcerated parents experience so much trauma so making sure they’re mentally stable is our No.1 goal, and making sure they know how to navigate

their circumstances in a positive way.”

Through it all, Pure Heart works toward family reunification with the incarcerated parent through letter writing and regular photos. Hogan says, “If their child is part of an extracurricular activity, we send a photographer to shadow them to catch those moments to send to the parent just so they have a dialogue constantly, something to talk about.”

Before this happens, the team connects with the parent or caregiver on the outside to gauge the situation to be sure communication with the incarcerated parent is what’s best for the child at the time. “We don’t allow our scholars to write their parent that’s incarcerated until the parent receives a letter from us basically consenting that while their child is in the Pure Heart program, they will respond. Because we never want to break their hearts twice.”

Scholars are also able to take advantage of the Donell Johnson Scholarship Fund, named for the 15-year-old Pure Heart participant

who was killed near his Eastside home in June 2019 when a driver going about 60 mph down a residential street lost control and hit Donell’s minibike. His mother had recently been released from prison after serving nine years. “It was such a tragedy,” Hogan says, “but we used that and we gift our graduating scholars going to high school or college with miscellaneous funds” for school clothes or dorm room essentials.

Hogan’s dad committed petty crimes, and so he was in and out of prison until he was finally released when she was 10 years old; he was killed two months later. Her mother wasn’t released for good until she was 14. “Through their incarcerations I went through a lot of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. And, um … I went through a lot.” She suffered a nervous breakdown on her first day of high school. “I woke up in a hospital bed and a psychiatrist told me, he said, ‘Little girl, if you don’t find a reason to live, you will die.’ It was so harsh, but it was something that I needed to hear.”

She graduated from the University of Michigan and worked her way into corporate America, but she says, something was still missing. She quit her job and founded the Pure Heart Foundation five years ago. Read more about Hogan’s journey in her autobiography The Prisoners’ Kid, replete with illuminating statistics and coping mechanisms for children and caregivers.

“I often go into prisons and share my personal experience, and I always ask the inmates, ‘Raise your hand if you had a parent incarcerated.’ Over 90% of them raise their hands,” she says. It’s not unusual to hear about two generations having committed the same crime – or stories of fathers and sons meeting for the first time in a decade because they wound up in the same prison.

Hogan says she wants to “break that cycle.” She says, “My goal is to cease the program. I don’t want to have to be around, but I’m around because it’s a problem and we’re a solution to the problem.”

“It takes a village to raise a child – but just one person to change a community.”

Ford celebrates Pure Heart Foundation for being a significant resource that greatly impacts the lives of children of incarcerated parents. Founder and CEO Sherelle Hogan is committed to breaking the cycle of generational incarceration and stopping the school-to-prison pipeline.

At Ford Motor Company, we understand the importance of being champions and investing in our youth.

Our Ford Resource Engagement Centers (FREC) were designed to offer engaging programs for youth and the community.

Though our FREC, Ford proudly supports and hosts enrichment programs such as the Back Alley Bikes Earn-A-Bike program which offers a series of hands-on bicycle maintenance and safety lessons, and a bike upon completion of the program.

Other initiatives that Ford Motor Company is involved in include Living Arts, which offers transformative experiences in the performing, visual, literary and media arts, as well as Money Matters for Youth, a local financial literacy program. Ford believes exposure to such programs and initiatives provides youth with the skills and knowledge they need to change, develop and succeed.

Ford commends Sherelle Hogan for her purpose-driven mission.

– Pamela Alexander, director of community development for Ford Motor Company

A NEW NORMAL

For more information on Pure Heart Foundation, to donate or get involved, visit pureheartcares.org.

BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 7

D LIFE

r E a e D

DISCOVER

By Arianna Smith

8 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

a m a M

E

This

COVID quarantine is stressful for everyone, especially moms. We’re betting a thoughtful gift this Mother’s Day still has the power to make the first woman in your life smile, even if you can’t be together in person. While we all stay in and take care of each other, send mom something that’ll let her know you’re thinking of her now more than ever.

DABLS MBAD AFRICAN BEAD MUSEUM TRINKETS

Crafting enthusiasts will love the opportunity to create their own sparkling cultural masterpieces with authentic beads from the African Bead Museum. The online shop offers beads of all kinds as well as pendants, necklaces and bracelets for jewelry lovers and makers who want to create and wear Black culture.

mbad.org/beadshop

MOTHERHOOD & MIMOSAS POSTMOTHER’S DAY BRUNCH

Let’s cross our fingers and hope that we’re out of the house by the time this event rolls

around! Local Chef Shobe will (hopefully) host a post-Mother’s Day brunch at The D Loft on Saturday, Sept. 12. Tickets are presale only and include live entertainment and a soul food and seafood buffet with mimosas.

Vegetarian options will also be available.

eventbrite.com

THE WHITNEY BRUNCH BOX

If Mom is a foodie, make her day with a customized meal box from upscale Detroit eatery The Whitney. The Mother’s Day “brunch box” serves four and includes a bottle of champagne and fresh-squeezed orange juice, scones, maple glazed bacon, white cheddar frittatas and more – plus easy-to-follow instructions.

Or opt for the equally luxurious grill box, proceeds from which

E

go towards providing a special night out for first responders and essential workers. Orders available for pick up or delivery; deliveries within four to seven days.

thewhitney.com

37TH SHIELD LIBRARY OLDSCHOOL SOUND

Amazon and Spotify let us stream any book or track we want at the touch of a button, but sometimes there’s nothing like the feel of a real-deal eight track. Eastern Market’s 37th Shield Library has over 1,000 vintage records, CDs, comics and tapes ready to sell and ship out, as well as an everrotating inventory of vinyls and cassettes in every genre under the sun. Listings include the item condition.

discogs.com

NATURALICIOUS HAIR CARE

Don’t let mom’s hair care routine suffer just because of a quarantine. Gwen Jimmere’s new brand is Detroit bred and made for tight, curly, honest-to-goodness natural hair. Products utilize mom-approved ingredients like Moroccan and grapeseed oils. A gift of Naturalicious is an “I love you” to mom and her strands.

naturalicious.net

GOOD CAKES AND BAKES TREATS

One of the best Black-owned bakeries in metro Detroit is still cranking out orders and running their online store up to and through Mother’s Day, so if mom got addicted to that gooey lemon butter cake, she can still have a personal pan of it all to herself on her special day. Good Cakes and Bakes offers carryout, curbside pickup and “no-contact” home delivery for all online options.

goodcakesandbakes.com

BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 9

D LIFE

DISCOVER

By Paris Giles and Arianna Smith

A HELPING HAND

W

e may be quarantined for a few more weeks, but COVID-19 will never put a stop to our ability to rally together and support each other. Consider donating time, spare change or even just vocal support to these local nonprofits and their efforts to get everyone in Detroit through this crisis as unscathed as possible.

Michigan Black Mama’s Bail Out

Detroit Public Schools Foundation

The Michigan Black Mama’s Bail Out Coalition and the Detroit Justice Center want everyone home for Mother’s Day. They’re joining forces again in 2020 to raise funds and expedite the release of Black mothers and caregivers who are behind bars and in danger of exposure to COVID-19.

Now is not the time to let education slip through the cracks because we’re too busy with the basics. Donations to the Detroit Public Schools Foundation support transportation, food, medical and household supplies for Detroit Public Schools Community District students during this time.

fb.com/michiganblackmamasbailout

dpsfdn.org

ISAIC

The Detroit Phoenix Center

Native Detroiter Tracy Reese and her company ISAIC, the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center, are hoping to raise $25,000 in an effort to mobilize local apparel manufacturers to produce standardized protection gear in Detroit – like those masks we all know and now love.

The Detroit Phoenix Center, a local nonprofit that assists vulnerable and homeless youth, is asking for donations of essential and nonperishable supplies to designated drop-off locations or monetary gifts. Simultaneously, DPC is helping kids remotely with services like virtual therapy, meditations via Headspace and COVID-19 support workshops.

isaic.org/covid-19

The Heat and Warmth Fund THAW is asking for donations to its Front Line Energy Program meant to help vulnerable front-line workers and their families. Every dollar will be matched by the fund and goes towards paying our heroes’ utility bills and helping them keep the lights on. thawfund.org/donate

detroitphoenixcenter.org

Cass Community Social Services As always, Cass Community Social Services is accepting donations of supplies and groceries for those adversely affected by the coronavirus and Detroiters in need of assistance in general. The outreach volunteer team is currently working to distribute supplies to homeless citizens and identify COVID symptoms in those who need help.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan United Way for Southeastern Michigan has launched a Community Health Fund to partner organizations in response to the virus. They’re accepting donations for nonprofits and struggling families, as well as providing safe volunteer opportunities such as tutoring, phone therapy with seniors and meal delivery. unitedwaysem.org

casscommunity.org/donate

Pass Your Bucks Pass Your Bucks is an online initiative that acts as a collective donation board for multiple organizations that do good in Michigan, like the Ruth Ellis Center or Auntie Na’s Village. Choose a singular nonprofit to support or sign a pledge that redirects federal emergency stimulus dollars towards organizations that work with people of color, the LGBTQ community and those facing housing insecurity to assist them with COVID-19 relief. passyourbucks.com

10 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

– A.S.

THE HOUSE OF DEEP WATER M

ichigan native Jeni McFarland’s debut novel delves headfirst and unapologetically into timely themes of racism, class and sexual trauma.

Carried mainly by female characters and drawing from McFarland’s painful, personal story, the book is meant to amplify the voice of small-town America while addressing the silence that surrounds sexual assault, McFarland says, “especially in the Black community.”

Biracial Beth Dewitt has just moved from North Carolina back home to fictional River Bend, Michigan following a divorce and the loss of her job. Beth hopes to stay with her white father while she tries

LAKEWOOD: A NOVEL

A

to get her life back on track, but he’s living with 32-year-old Linda, pregnant and recently removed from a bad marriage in Texas. Linda’s mom Paula, who abandoned Linda and her sisters, has also just arrived to town. Complex connections among the trio cause emotions to bubble over and tempers to flare, fueled by scandal, grudges and unhealed wounds.

The House of Deep Water Jeni McFarland

IT’S NOT ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE

F

lso examining race and class and set in Michigan, this debut from Megan Giddings peeks inside the terrifying world of medical experimentation. When Lena Johnson’s beloved grandmother dies and the extent of her family’s debt is revealed, she drops out of college and takes a job working in a mysterious and confidential research program. Lena is told that the advancements made at Lakewood could make medical history and change the world, but the consequences for the test subjects could be devastating.

rom the beloved author of bestsellers turned ’90s Black classics like How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting to Exhale comes a new novel from Terry McMillan for the gray and sexy. Loretha Curry pooh-poohs any ominous ideas about what it means to grow old. About to be 68, Loretha has it all: a beauty empire, a gaggle of lifelong friends and a husband who still makes her weak. But when an unexpected loss turns her world upside, she must summon all her strength and resources – including those girlfriends – to keep on keeping on.

Lakewood: A Novel Megan Giddings

It’s Not All Downhill from Here Terry McMillan

CONJURE WOMEN: A NOVEL

S

et in the South and spanning generations before and after the Civil War, this first novel from Afia Atakora follows the lives of three women: Miss May Belle, a healing woman; her precocious and strong-willed daughter Rue; and their master’s daughter Varina. The secrets that bond these women, to each other and to their community, come to a head at the start of the war and with the birth of a cursed child.

Conjure Women: A Novel Afia Atakora – P.G. BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 11

D LIFE

POV

By Courtney Conover

I Hated My Curls …

Until I had a Child with Hair Like Mine

Y

ou name it, and I’ve done it in the name of preserving my blowout. I’ve sprinted across grocery store parking lots, nearly pulling a hamstring. I’ve nixed plans to take my kids to the water park. And don’t even get me started on all the times I’ve cut short an outing at the park because I could simply feel an uptick in the dew point.

One might dismiss the above as simply what women do in the name of beauty. But the lengths I have gone to make my curly hair straight are no laughing matter.

There is nothing funny about spending my entire life shunning my natural hair texture. And there’s certainly nothing pleasurable about enduring scalp burns – and the subsequent scabbing – that results from the use of chemical hair straighteners. To be clear, straight hair isn’t the enemy; it’s lovely, in fact. The problem, though, is when the pursuit of straight hair rules your life. There is a difference between straightening your hair because you want to and doing it because you believe it is necessary to be presentable, or worse yet, you know no alternative.

Consider this: I was an otherwise fully functioning adult who literally had no idea how to style or maintain my hair in its naturally curly state.

From the time I was kneehigh to a grasshopper, Sunday afternoons were spent sitting still 12 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

as my mother blow-dried and braided my hair. When I hit the teen years, I wanted my hair even straighter, so she used a hot comb, too. And, before long, that didn’t get my hair straight enough. Enter the chemical perms. As the late poet Maya Angelou so beautifully stated, “When you know better, you do better.” But there were few alternatives back then. In the ’80s and ’90s, drug stores didn’t have entire aisles dedicated to serving the natural hair community. There was no natural hair community.

YouTube didn’t exist, and no one had any idea what a hair tutorial was.

The gross irony, however, is that this entire notion was turned on its ear with the birth of my daughter, who was born with thick, dark, perfectly clumped curls. From day one, I instilled in Kennedy that her curls were beautiful – and she agreed. I prided myself in caring for – and never straightening – her curls, despite my need to incessantly straighten mine. And herein lies the problem.

When I straightened my strands during my lengthy blowout sessions, I noticed how Kennedy, then 2, studied my every move. I could see the wheels in her head beginning to churn: If you think my curls are so pretty, why do you straighten yours? The day Kennedy would call me hypocritical was heading toward me like a freight train. I decided, at age 38,

“I’ve been on this journey for nearly five years now, and I can say, unequivocally without hesitation, that going curly is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.” that I would stop straightening my hair. But imagine the horror I experienced when I washed my hair and it wouldn’t curl. Come to find, all the years of applying excessive direct heat had permanently altered my curl pattern. Instead of a “big chop” – cutting off all my hair at once – I chose to trim my hair over 17 months. On my 40th birthday, the last of my damaged ends were cut off.

I’ve been on this journey for nearly five years now, and I can say, unequivocally without hesitation, that going curly is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Here’s what I’ve learned: First, I should have done this sooner. And

secondly, the earth will not fall off its axis if my curls don’t behave the way I want them to – in fact, sometimes they’re prettier that way.

And here’s what I’m most grateful for: By teaching my daughter to love her wildly curly hair, I’ve finally learned to do the same.

Courtney Conover is a freelance writer, certified yoga instructor and curly hair enthusiast who lives in Wayne with her husband Scott, a former Detroit Lions offensive lineman, and their two children, Scotty, 8, and Kennedy, 6.

D LIFE

DETROIT PROPER HIGHLIGHTING THE PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS AND ISSUES OF BLACK DETROIT

Black Women: Holding Families Down for Generations With Chewing Gum and Mother Wit

BY DESIREE COOPER

O

n this Mother’s Day, I’m missing the wise women in my family. My grandmothers are gone, and my 86-year-old mother is disappearing behind the veil of Alzheimer’s. But now more than ever, I find myself leaning on their mother wit.

Mother wit is the ancestral wisdom of the women in our community. Researcher Camille Wilson Cooper defined it as “wisdom especially revered by African American slaves because it guided, informed and inspired oppressed African American families and communities to persevere amidst the grueling physical, social and political conditions imposed by slaveholders.”

Cooper explains that, in a world where Black women were our midwives, healers and teachers, mother wit supplanted the knowledge and services denied our community by Jim Crow.

In 1942, my grandmother Bettie and grandfather Junious were still raising two of their five children – including my mom.

Their farming community in central Virginia hadn’t recovered from the Great Depression when the United States entered World War II. The government called upon Americans to sacrifice for the war effort, but for my grandparents, more sacrifice was hard to fathom.

Jobs were scarce and health care was practically nonexistent. Bettie tried to take in more laundry.

Junious got a public works job building highways. The work kept 14 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

him away from home, working grueling hours in punishing heat, breathing in dust and fumes.

It wasn’t long before he started coughing and wouldn’t stop. One night, Bettie had a dream. Her mother came to her and told her to separate the kids from their father, feed him from separate dishes and soak everything in bleach. Bettie would often ignore her own needs, but she would never ignore her mother wit. She followed her “right mind,” and set up a regimen that separated her children from their father as much as possible.

When my grandfather’s cough didn’t improve, a visiting nurse arrived to check on him. Junious didn’t have bronchitis or a cold; it was tuberculosis. He’d contracted it at the tail end of a now-forgotten epidemic that was especially cruel to African Americans. Between 1870 and 1910, TB was the single greatest cause of death in the United States, claiming an estimated 3 to 4 million victims. As is the American way, the poor and people of color disproportionately bore the brunt of those deaths.

There was little that could be done to help Junious. An antibiotic treatment for TB wouldn’t be available until a year later, in 1943. The best treatment regimen was quarantine in a sanatorium where emphasis was put on rest and fresh air. But even that simple

option was closed to him. In those days, Virginia had three sanatoria with a total of 750 beds, 670 of those for white patients only. There was only one sanatorium that accepted Blacks. It had 80 beds and was critically understaffed due to the war. So, the health department delivered a wooden hut to my grandparents’ house, and Junious was quarantined in his own backyard like the family pet.

At 8 years old, my mother remembered being afraid to go to the outhouse because her father’s cough sounded like a monster.

At night, Junious spoke to Bettie through an open window. Often,

the rent will be paid. Some are low-paid, essential workers forced to serve others while threatening their own safety. But, in some ways, generations of mother wit have prepared us for this moment.

When experts tell us to use bleach to sanitize our homes, we cock our heads sideways and ask, “When did we stop?” Like my grandmother, mother and me, we have always put bleach in the dishwater, used pine cleaners to sanitize the kitchen, kept white vinegar on hand as a cheap disinfectant, let Comet sit on porcelain to do its magic and asked that repetitive maternal question: “Did you wash

“Listen carefully to what country people

call mother wit. In those homely sayings are couched collective wisdom of generations.” the children heard him begging her to let him in the house, but she insisted on his quarantine. Sinking in illness, humiliating isolation and despair, he eventually killed himself. Bettie was not able to save her husband’s life, but health workers assured her that the early isolation of her children probably saved theirs.

As of this writing, Black mothers once again live with their families in quarantine. Many are cut off from resources and access to food basics, uncertain about how

your hands?”

Maya Angelou is credited with saying, “Listen carefully to what country people call mother wit. In those homely sayings are couched collective wisdom of generations.”

Our mothers have always used love as a shield, and cleanliness as a sword. On this Mother’s Day, follow the common sense of the generations before us. It’s how we’ve always survived.

DESIREE COOPER IS THE AUTHOR OF KNOW THE MOTHER.

Caring Community for the

in Uncertain Times The Detroit Area Agency on Aging is dedicated to supporting seniors and those with disabilities as we continue to deal with COVID-19.

By Ronald S. Taylor, President & CEO, Detroit Area Agency on Aging

B

efore coming to Detroit 19 months ago, my work in the aging network centered on eight southeast states where I gained experience responding to natural disasters ranging from hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, ice storms, floods and even earthquakes.

None of those disasters compare to the current pandemic we are facing with COVID-19. Yet, one common theme in the response and recovery for each of these disasters, including COVID-19, has been the compassionate and coordinated responses provided to meet the local needs of individuals and communities. Services cannot stop.

I joined the Detroit Area Agency on Aging (DAAA) when CEO Paul Bridgewater retired after 38 years. During this period of time, the agency became well known for its Meals on Wheels program, its emphasis on evidence-based programs and for publishing the groundbreaking study entitled, “Dying Before Their Time.”

This report connected the premature deaths of Detroit’s African American population and other people of color to chronic health conditions and the economic and social conditions that impact health. Given the disproportionate number of deaths among African Americans from COVID-19, attention focuses again on the health care

Curbside Pickups for More Service Senior centers, City of Detroit recreation centers and places of worship expand DAAA’s reach by providing meals quickly and safely during the COVID-19 crisis.

16 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

injustices and disparities that have prevailed in the U.S. since the days of segregated hospitals.

Next month, DAAA will release Dying Before Their Time III – another wake-up call for our community. With more advocacy, information, resources and access to health care, all people age 60 and over can live longer, healthier lives.

Within DAAA, and because of COVID-19, our 40 years of delivering a robust mixture of services and programs has been somewhat altered.

This has occurred to protect the safety of our constituents and team members. Yet, we and our partners in the aging network, have stepped up to address the immediate issues and concerns of our community. This has been done by improving some of our processes, enhancing our technological capabilities, promoting collaboration with community stakeholders and most importantly, by remembering that our responses must be done with a spirit of care, compassion and servitude. With many best practices rapidly being reconsidered and revised, the DAAA team is reimagining a “new normal” and redefining its work.

• We are building new collaborations with community partners.

• We are positioned to serve our population of seniors and adults with disabilities who need us more than ever before.

• When others want to be part of the solution, we want to make it happen.

Together, we are cultivating a strong base of servant leaders. We are your Senior Solution!

A Lifeline: Home-Delivered Meals Meals continue to be delivered to more than 3,000 people. For safety reasons, a once-weekly box of frozen meals replaces daily hot meals, while still meeting nutritional guidelines.

Teamwork & Technology Upgrades Support Working from Home Software and hardware upgrades were made to enhance our ability to work remotely and efficiently, and now 95% of our employees are equipped to work from home. Calls to the office are answered in real time, and Zoom conferences connect over 120 team members.

The People We Serve Are Our Family Hundreds of calls from nutrition assessors, nurses and social workers keep us connected to those we serve. Additional employees make wellness checks daily, with special attention to those who live alone and are at greater risk.

Ronald S. Taylor, President & CEO Detroit Area Agency on Aging

More Meals with New Partnerships, Private Donations In addition to 3,000 participants in DAAA’s meal programs, 4,500 additional individuals have received either frozen meals, shelf-stable food supplies or quarantine boxes, all possible with private donations, disaster funding and Gleaner’s Food Bank.

Content brought to you by the Detroit Area Agency on Aging.

For more information, visit detroitseniorsolution.org.

For assistance by phone, call 313-446-4444.

BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 17

We Shall Overcome

BY PARIS GILES

T

he newest coronavirus has dominated our consciousness and conversations for weeks. Up against a constant barrage of don’ts and death tolls, it can be hard to find the light. To the thousands who’ve lost people they love, statistics offer little solace, but in the tumult of it all, it’s important to remember that the great majority of us would survive a coronavirus infection. Detroit has been hit especially hard, and here, four locals who were diagnosed with COVID-19 share their stories of survival. Social distancing mandates have slowed the spread, science’s greatest minds are huddled together working toward a vaccine, while our most powerful prayer warriors conjure the divine. This virus is smart – but we got this.

18 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

I

t’s early March when LaToya Henry first starts feeling … off.

Prone to allergies, the Lathrup Village resident thinks she likely has a sinus infection. “I said to myself, ‘OK, get past the presidential primary, and if you still feel bad, call your doctor,’” Henry says.

The March 10 Michigan primary came and went, Biden had mined 73 delegates and by March 22, Henry is feeling lethargic and registering a fever of 100 degrees. She calls her sister in Maryland, a nurse, who tells Henry to keep monitoring her temperature, to take some Tylenol, and if no better by morning, to call her doctor’s office.

At her allergist’s office the next day, she’s diagnosed with a severe sinus infection, which Henry says causes them to rule out COVID-19.

Her doctor tells her, typically, “You either have one or the other.”

She’s given medication, sent home and, a couple days later, her fever spikes to 102.

She calls Beaumont and they tell her they’re testing and that she can come get in line. They examine Henry and her heart rate is accelerated, so they put her on an IV drip. She’s told to operate as if she has COVID-19 but that they aren’t going to test her, because her oxygen levels are where they should be. She’s told to go home and self-quarantine, try to break the fever and drink plenty of fluids.

If she experiences any shortness of breath she’s to come back in.

“I’m concerned, but what can you do? I was there from 9:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.”

The next day, the coughing starts. Henry says, “So, now I’m lethargic, I’m developing a cough

and fighting this fever.” The following day: “It’s just horrible.” And the day after that there’s blood in her urine and stool. She calls her primary care physician and they tell her to come in right away.

Her doctor does a chest X-ray and she has pneumonia. She’s given a note to take back to Beaumont and try again to get tested, but again, she’s told her oxygen levels are fine, there will be no test and to go home. “So, now I’m frustrated because I can’t get any help.”

Back home, Henry says, “I just get worse. I can’t keep any food down, but I’m trying. I’m drinking Pedialyte, Gatorade, I’m taking vitamin C. I’m doing everything to get better, but nothing is working.” It’s not long before she’s vomiting and then there it is: the portentous shortness of breath.

She yells to her parents to call 911.

“They call and they come, and I can barely make it out of my room.

They had to pretty much help me out of the house to get me onto the stretcher.”

She’s taken to Providence and finally, on March 28, tested for COVID-19. She gives permission to the staff to share information with her sister in Maryland. “Because she’s a nurse I knew she would understand what they were saying and talking about,” Henry says.

“And if decisions needed to be made, that was fine.”

She spends about 20 hours in the ER, and then she’s moved to a room; this is the last thing she remembers for a while. As told to her later by her sister, they’re giving her oxygen but she’s not receiving it, and they’re trying to break her fever with more Tylenol

to no avail.

On March 31, Henry is intubated and placed on a ventilator where she stays until April 6. “I lost a whole week,” she says. She slowly improves and is taken off the vent, moved to the ICU for a day and then to the critical care floor where she spends three more days before being discharged.

When we speak on April 21, Henry is self-quarantining, and she still has a lingering cough but nothing like when it was at its worst. “That cough was a bodywracking cough.” She has to do physical therapy at home and she’s told that it’ll be a while before she gets her energy and strength back completely. Right now, “Things are still a little wobbly.”

Henry says she’s incredibly grateful to be alive. “I know it was God. My doctor even said, ‘We did all we could and we had to let God do the rest.’ I know there were a lot of people praying for me.” Aside from having what she says is “more weight on me than I should,” Henry is a fairly healthy 43-year-old. To the people not taking this pandemic seriously or rushing to get back to normal, she says, “I wish they could take a tour of the hospital. It’s filled with nothing but COVID patients.” She says we all need to “have faith, have hope – and stay home.”

LATOYA HENRY

BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 19

We Shall Overcome

A

s a lab technician, Rolanda Moore says, “I was on the front lines,” so when she starts having chills, finds herself intensely fatigued and spikes a fever of 102 around March 21, she has a pretty good idea of what’s happening.

The 42-year-old Detroiter calls Integrated Health Associates, who email her a questionnaire to complete about her symptoms, and then they send her a prescription to get tested for COVID-19.

She’s swabbed on March 24 and her results come back on the 26th.

As suspected, she’s positive.

She’s told to hydrate, rest and self-isolate, but over the next few days her symptoms only get worse, and now she’s losing her

ROLANDA MOORE

H

ealth care worker Carmen thinks she can attribute the symptoms that start in early April to commonplace seasonal allergies, but when she faints at home, she knows this isn’t hay fever. Because she works with physicians, it’s easy to get a prescription to get tested for COVID-19. She takes advantage of the drive-thru testing site that the Coronavirus Community Care Network enacts at the Joe Dumars Fieldhouse at the State Fairgrounds. She says the whole thing takes no more than five minutes, and she gets her results in about a week. She’s positive.

She’s told to self-quarantine and treat her cough, fever and chills as best as she’s able. Carmen is also experiencing loss of taste and fatigue. “I slept a lot.

I went to bed sleepy; I woke up

CARMEN*

20 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

sense of taste. “My breathing was very shallow and I was very fatigued,” Moore says. She calls her doctor who tells her to go to the hospital. She goes to Henry Ford’s main campus, and her oxygen levels have dropped to 81. They admit her and she’s diagnosed with pneumonia and an infection in both lungs. She spends four days in the hospital being monitored and treated with antibiotics and hydroxychloroquine, the muchbuzzed-about malaria drug.

By late April, Moore has improved significantly but she’s still experiencing shortness of breath, exacerbated by asthma. “My normal activities, just daily activities, from showering to going up and down the stairs, is very difficult because sometimes I still get out of breath really quick. My doctor told me that it’ll take a while for me to get better because I have the asthma working against me, I

have the infection and I have the pneumonia, and it’s going to take a while before I fully recover.”

It’s also her mental health that she’s concerned about, because she’s forced to recover alone away from friends and family, and forget about a walk to clear her mind.

She can barely make it to the basement to do laundry.

She’s lost friends to the disease that she beat. But she’s staying positive. “I thank God that I’m still here and alive, and I can recover at home. I’m claiming that I’m going to do better, I’m claiming that it’s gone away and that I’ll be able to be back to my normal self.”

Moore shares the text that her sister sent to the family as an update when she was admitted to the hospital. It ends with, “Let’s all continue to do our part and send prayers and love her way and she will get through this with all of our love and support.”

sleepy,” she says. But she’s been able to recover at home. “I was afraid to go to the hospital. I was hoping … the hospital was going to be my last resort. I just started to pray and treat the symptoms. I was able to stay home, and I was able to get the rest and just focus on me.”

The 48-year-old has been most concerned about her mom, who lives with her in Detroit. “She’s been doing everything right. She hasn’t been outside, she hasn’t really done anything to put herself at risk, and here I come home and expose her,” Carmen says. The pair has taken care to divide the house as much as possible, wear masks when around each other and meticulously clean common areas.

When we speak in late April, it’s her first day back to work. She’s got a cough that lingers and her strength is still at half-mast. “I’m

kind of taking it slow because my stamina is not the best. I’m like an Energizer bunny (normally). I’m on the go, I’m moving and shaking, I’m here and there, and I’m not really able to do that yet. I feel better, but my energy level is not where I’m accustomed to it being.”

Carmen wants to remind people that most who are exposed to the coronavirus recover without needing any serious medical intervention. “When you say that you have COVID-19, the first thing people think is that you go to a hospital and you’re going to die. Nobody talked about how you can stay home and manage your symptoms – it’s not a death sentence. If you don’t get to the point where it’s extreme and you can’t breathe, you just take care of yourself at home like you would do if you had a flu.” *name changed at interviewee’s request.

Q

uran Buchanan is among the 600 or so to join the National Brotherhood of Skiers’ Black ski summit in Sun Valley, Idaho, a weeklong gathering that ends March 7. He develops flu-like symptoms when he returns to Southfield, and soon discovers that others from the group are feeling ill, too. As The Wall Street Journal and other outlets report, several attendees would test positive for COVID-19 – including Buchanan.

Before his diagnosis, he continues to work that first week but

and self-quarantine, “But my breath was getting shorter and shorter, and it felt to me as if it was like altitude sickness mixed with pneumonia mixed with the flu.”

The 46-year-old can’t muster enough wind to make it to the bathroom, and all he can eat for a week straight is applesauce.

He calls ahead to Beaumont and explains his symptoms; they think it’s something else, but they allow him to come in and finally get tested. Buchanan is in back within 10 minutes, and, “This guy put a swab further up my nose than

Through it all, he’s called on the power of will and positivity, determined to “will myself to be.”

gets progressively worse each day until, by the weekend, it can’t be ignored. “My wife said I was asleep at least 22 of the 24 hours in the day. I couldn’t get myself to do anything, and then the fever started to kick in (and) the chills started to kick in.” He calls the hospital and is told to stay home

I knew I had space.” Before the results of the COVID-19 test come in he’s diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and admitted.

He’s set up in a negative pressure room overnight where a special ventilation system drops the pressure in the room so that air can flow in but potentially

contaminated air cannot escape. He’s then transferred to a private room where none of the staff enters without personal protective equipment.

It takes a fair amount of finagling for his wife, unable to visit him, to get a pair of glasses to him.

While in the hospital, Buchanan eats as raw as possible, because “live cells breed live cells,” he says. “I ordered vegetable trays, fresh lemons; all I drank was hot water. The nurses were saying, ‘You know, you’re doing well. You’re healing a lot faster than the rest of them.

Whatever it is that you’re doing, keep doing it.’”

But when his oxygen is still low for the second day, they want to intubate him. “I just dropped out and really just focused on breathing. I took every bit of energy I had in my body and just focused purely on just breathing.” Something works, and the next day his oxygen levels are improved and he continues to steady until he’s released after seven days.

Because tests are still short, he’s not tested again before he’s discharged but told to quarantine for at least another three days.

Buchanan isolated himself away from his wife, kids and motherin-law; none of them ever show any symptoms. He’s recovered but says the first week and a half was tough. “Your body is just wrecked.” Through it all, he’s called on the power of will and positivity, determined to “will myself to be.”

QURAN BUCHANAN

PARIS GILES IS BLAC DETROIT’S SENIOR EDITOR.

BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 21

Clear and Present Disparities exist all through Black America that we can blame for why COVID-19 has its foot so aggressively on our necks.

BY PARIS GILES

T

he saying goes that when white America catches a cold, Black America catches the flu. Or is it when white America catches the flu, Black America gets pneumonia? Either way, the point is that centuries of institutional racism have bred a system that has left our community weak against environmental threats. Whether they come in economic form – Black unemployment consistently hovers well above the national average – or, as is the case today, a global pandemic.

A pattern started to emerge as we continued to monitor the behavior of this novel coronavirus. Black people were getting seriously sick and dying from COVID-19 at an alarmingly higher rate than other groups. The Associated Press recently analyzed the data available from state and local governments, and it shows that nearly one-third of those who have died in the U.S. are Black, in a country where only 13% of its residents are. In Michigan, 41% of those who’ve died are Black; African Americans make up only 14% of our state’s population. It would seem that to be Black in America is itself a preexisting condition.

This pandemic has exposed cracks in America’s foundation that we knew were there, but in early April, Donald Trump stood in front of reporters and acknowledged the disparity but said he doesn’t understand why and that this is a problem for which we need to “find the reasons.” We can save you the time of putting together a task force, Mr. President. Because racism. Because our ability to fight off any illness or disease depends largely on social determinants like health care, our access to fresh food, our physical environment and, of course, wealth – all factors impinged upon by structural racism.

PARIS GILES IS BLAC DETROIT’S SENIOR EDITOR.

22 BLAC • MAY 2020 • BLACdetroit.com

In 2017, of

10.6%

Black Americans

WERE WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE. ONLY MORE HISPANICS WERE UNINSURED AT A RATE OF

$

16.1%.

IN 2016, THE MEDIAN WEALTH FOR BLACK

FAMILIES IN AMERICA WAS $17,600 COMPARED WITH

WHITE FAMILIES’ WEALTH OF

$171,000.

IN 2017, THE MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME FOR BLACK FAMILIES WAS

$40,258, OR $10,000 LESS

THAN THE NEXT CLOSEST ETHNICITY GROUP.

42% OF

BLACK AMERICANS HAVE HYPERTENSION,

12 PERCENTAGE POINTS

HIGHER THAN THE NEXT CLOSEST ETHNICITY GROUP.

11.7% OF

DIABETES DIAGNOSES IN 2017 WERE IN BLACK PATIENTS, THE SECOND-HIGHEST RATE AFTER AMERICAN INDIANS AT .

14.7%

THE AVERAGE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN 2016

FOR BLACK WOMEN AND MEN

7.8%

9.1%

AND WAS RESPECTIVELY, COMPARED TO

4.7% FOR THE NATION.

Sources: American Diabetes Association, Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Reserve, U.S. Department of Labor BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 23

access

ED

DENI

DETROIT MAY 2020

Come on now. You guys know all the away-from-home fun has been canceled or postponed. As much as we wish we could’ve been your saving grace, “eat,” “sleep” and “sanitize” couldn’t exactly fill five pages, and so it didn’t make much sense to publish our normal events calendar.

Rest assured: As soon as the coronavirus threat is no more and things get back to normal, our calendar will return in all its Black excellence. In the meantime, keep an eye on our online listings at BLACdetroit.com/calendar. We’ll start to rev that up again at the first sign of life. Stay strong, safe and healthy!

BLACdetroit.com/CALENDAR

D LIFE

SEEN

Self(ie)-Quarantine O

utside is still closed, and we’re still eating.

Hair struggling? Wine bottles piling up? Crazy setting in? Same. But we’re all in this together, even when we’re alone. Call this the cabin fever roll call!

Ki Ana Franulic “Court hearing”

Don Quixjote “About to make tacos… ”

Danielle Graves-Belcher “Grocery store run!”

Jenn Andiamo “Saturday after sorority meeting via Zoom!”

Riana Elyse Anderson “#SelfCareSunday!! ”

Turkessa Coleman “Post home schooling, house chores…ready for a spa night at mi casa ”

Simone’e Williams “Headed to Kroger’s

”

Tiara Shantell Freeman “Chillin watching Netflix” BLACdetroit.com • MAY 2020 • BLAC 25