Our Health Really Is Our Wealth…

Have you ever wondered why we see so many children grossly overweight? There is a very serious problem plaguing America today. It’s called OBESITY and it’s not only effecting adults, but our children and their future!

I recently read about how over the past 20 years, the rate of childhood obesity in the United States has doubled. Like adults, children today are dealing with diseases like type two childhood diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, asthma and liver damage. Obese children are more times likely to become obese and sick adults. In one study, it was noted that 80% of children that were obese at 10 to 15 years of age were obese at 25. Some of the culprits that cause our children to grow from obese youngsters into obese adults include, first and foremost, poor diet: fast food, sugary drinks, noodles, foods and snacks high in sodium, candy and cakes. Also canned goods which contain many preservatives that are harmful to the body and cancer causing. Modern Technology, i.e. Social media, video games x-box/ cell phones etc., also plays a major role in influencing obesity among children. Many children today lack adequate physical activity and social interaction, which is limited to being in school.

It's our responsibility as parents/adults and caretakers to not only set examples for our children, but help them develop life saving habits to ensure a healthier life. We can start with the diet by replacing the junk and helping them develop healthy eating habits: plenty of vegetables, fruits and wholerain products; limit sugary drinks and sugar and saturated fats and drink more water. We can encourage them to become more physically active (summertime is a great time for that!) – and even exercise with them! – walk, jog, jump rope, swim etc. We can also make sure they get enough sleep and limit screen time – both TV and video games.

Let’s focus on our health and our children’s health this summer and beyond. Let’s continue to read and grow and share lifesaving information. Our health really is our wealth…I’m just sayin’…

NATIONAL/WORLD

Martinique’s reparations request denied by France

PARIS — France’s highest court has rejected a request by three groups seeking reparations for enslavement in a case that originated on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. The court’s decision said that no one produced evidence showing they had “suffered individually” any damage from the crimes that their ancestors had been subjected to. Slavery was abolished in France in 1848, but before that had a significant slave trade, shipping more than 1 million Africans to colonies in the Americas.

U.S. Based Black Radicals Convene in Atlanta

A historic gathering of African/Black was held June 23 thru June 25 in Atlanta, Georgia. The theme for the conference was “Unity in our Lifetime: Connecting the National Black Struggle for Self-Determination with Pan-Africanism .” Kamau Franklin, the founder of Community Movement Builders (CMB) and the organizational host of the gathering states that one of the main objectives of the recent gathering is to “bring together Black radical organizers from all over the country to a single location to discuss the pressing issues of our liberation struggle.” info@communitymovementbuilders.org

Back to the Plantation in Academia?

By Dawoud S. Adeyola Par 1 of a 2-Parts

“How we have arrived at the present state of affairs can be understood only by studying the forces effective in the development of Negro education since it was systematically undertaken Immediately after Emancipation. To point out merely the defects as they appear today will be of little benefit to the present and future generations. These things must be viewed in their historic setting. The conditions of today have been determined by what has taken place in the past, and in a careful study of this history we may see more clearly the great theatre of events in which the Negro has played a part. We may understand better what his role has been and how well he has functioned in it.”

(Carter Woodson in The Miseducation of the Negro (pub. 1935)

It has been clear since the Brown vs Education decision that education is an issue that remains central to politics in the USA. The recent Supreme Court decision overturning Affirmative Action is according to many, including this writer, an historic setback to our African American agenda. The decision is based on many misconceptions and calumnies. The court held, in a 6-3 opinion for the conservative majority, that Harvard and the University of North Carolina’s admission policies violate the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.

One to the major proponents of this decision was Justice Clarence Thomas who has been on a mission to get rid of Affirmative Action for years and who is described by Michael Eric Dyson as an example of “malignant self-hatred.” Malignant meaning something pernicious, destructive and counter to healthfulness.

Howard Law School Professor and Executive Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, Justin Hansford said, “This is the culmination of a dream that has been held by Justice Roberts and especially Clarence Thomas for decades.” This “dream” is an anomalous and interesting one coming from a man who grew up in the Jim Crow South and went on to attend Yale Law School, which had an explicit affirmative action policy at the time he was admitted, but it is clearly an opinion that he has held and espoused for decades.

Thomas has been on the Supreme Court since 1991, and in a continuation of his decades long embarrassing debacle, went to great detail in a 58-page harangue against affirmative action writing, “All forms of discrimination based on race—including so-called affirmative action—are prohibited under the Constitution”. He also belittles Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s argument that our society should work to undue the ills of systemic oppression and slavery, calling obvious signs of inequality such as the wealth gap “irrelevant.” Instead, he says that “the law must disregard all racial distinction.”

Jamie Nelson who serves as director-counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, in speaking on this issue, told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner about how this Supreme Court decision will have a devastating affect that will not be limited to academia but will ripple throughout American society because it flies in the face of encouraging and promoting diversity as an American value. Vice-President Kamala Harris spoke at the Global Black Economic Forum alongside moderator Thasunda Brown Duckett who serves as the President and CEO of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA) recently . Her main topic was the state of Black America, with a specific focus on the recent Supreme Court decision that restricts race-based affirmative action in higher education. As part of her speech, she stated:

“The court has not fully understood the importance of equal opportunity for the people of our country. And it is in so many ways a denial of opportunity.” She also states unequivocally continued Page 13