HEALTH: NEW STUDY REVEALS EXCESS MORTALITY AND YEARS OF POTENTIAL

LIFE LOST AMONG THE BLACK POPULATION IN THE US FROM 1999-2020

By Stacy M. Brown, BlackPressUSA.com

Ahe new study shows that after some progress, the number of deaths and years of possible life lost among America’s Black population stopped going down and then started going up again.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) said their results show that new ways of doing things are needed.

JAMA looked at statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which showed that when the coronavirus pandemic hit the world in 2020, the number of deaths and years of potential life lost went up.

Compared to white people, 1.63 million more Black people died than they should have.

Experts said that’s the equivalent of 80 million years of potential life during the study period, which took place from 1999 to 2020.

“After a period of progress in reducing disparities, improvements stopped, and differences between the Black population and the white population got worse in 2020,” JAMA experts wrote.

Because of the pandemic, experts stated that years of growth had ended.

They said the pandemic affected Black Americans more than other groups.

Herman Taylor, one of the study’s authors and head of the cardiovascular research institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine, said, “The study is very important for about 1.63 million reasons.”

“Real lives are being lost. Real families are missing parents and grand- parents,” Taylor declared.

“Babies and their mothers are dying. We have been screaming this message for decades.”

Clyde Yancy, an author of the study and chief of cardiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, told reporters that high death rates among Black people have less to do with their genes. However, it has more to do with the country’s long history of dis-

ART: LONGTIME UHD PROFESSOR OF ART FLOYD NEWSUMRECEIVES FIRST MAJOR RETROSPECTIVE ATMADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART

CO-CURATED BY THE HUNTINGTON’S LAUREN CROSS AND UHD’S MARK CERVENKA

By StyleMagazine.com - Newswire

crimination, which has hurt generations of Black people’s chances of getting an education, a good place to live, and a good job.

Yancy said that Black areas redlined in the 1930s, meaning that mortgages and other investments were too “high risk” for them, are still poorer and sicker today.

Yancy remarked that there were also more COVID infections and deaths in ZIP codes that used to be redlined. “It’s very clear that we have an uneven distribution of health,” Yancy said. “We’re talking about the freedom to be healthy.”

In 2021, non-Hispanic white Americans could expect to live to 76 years old, but non-Hispanic Black Americans could only hope to live to 71 years old.

A big reason for this difference is another study that showed that non-Hispanic Black babies are 2.5 times more likely to die before their first birthday than non-Hispanic white babies. Non-Hispanic Black mothers are more than three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related problem than non-Hispanic white moms.

Professor of Art at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) for 47 years and Project Row Houses

Co-Founder Floyd Newsum is presenting his first large-scale retrospective, Evolution of Sight, at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, Wisconsin, from May 20 through October 8, 2023. The exhibition is organized by guest curators Dr. Lauren Cross, Gail-Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts at The Huntington in San Marino, California, and Mark Cervenka, UHD Professor of Art and O’Kane Gallery Director.

Evolution of Sight will reflect on the artist’s entire practice, including paintings and models of public art commissions, such as sculptures and relief installations. With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Memphis-born Newsum invites viewers to look closely at his works to investigate the personalized signs and imagery he uses. Each work captures the deeply personal history of the artist with family photographs and symbols veiled by richly layered color and textures that create tactile surfaces. As Newsum explains, "My career covers 50-plus years of creating works of art that are exploring color, marks, and surfaces in various mediums. I call my evolution in creativity a problem-solving event of expression of the soul."

The exhibition is on view May 20 through October 8, 2023, in the Museum’s Main Galleries, with an opening reception May 19, 2023, from 5-8 p.m. Newsum will present an artist talk at 6 p.m.

Cross and Cervenka organized the exhibition by engaging in a dialogue that reflects on the depth and extent of the artist’s production. Rather than curating a traditional retrospective, Cervenka looked back to Newsum’s foundational pieces, and Cross is bringing attention to work made in the last few unprecedented years. This collaboration has resulted in a nesting exhibition of early works in conversation with the artist’s most recent series.

"Floyd Newsum is a leading artist whose work has been shown and represented in major institutions and collections across the United States," said Cross. "Newsum’s powerful message of hope transcends time and space and has remained relevant both historically and into the present. In this way, I am excited to connect Newsum’s dynamic work and practice with the Madison community through this survey of his work. The interrelationship between Newsum’s style over time: his past figurative works, public art career, and metaphorical abstract paintings all tell different stories that I believe visitors will connect with today.

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SPORTS: HOUSTON TO HOST REAL MADRID VS. MANCHESTER UNITED IN 2023 SOCCER CHAMPIONS TOUR AT NRG STADIUM MATCH ON JULY 26 PART OF COPA DE LONE STAR SERIES

By StyleMagazine.com - Newswire

Soccer Champions Tour announced the launch and schedule for a new series of games featuring six of the world’s most iconic soccer clubs to be played this summer in major markets across the United States. As part of this series, organizers announced today that La Liga powerhouse and reigning UEFA Champions League Champions Real Madrid CF will face off against English Premier League titans Manchester United on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at NRG Stadium.

The 2023 match is the first time the two clubs are meeting in Houston and the first time they have met since 2018. Real Madrid’s only other visit to NRG Stadium was in 2019 against Bayern Munich, while Manchester United returns to NRG Stadium for the third time and first since they faced Manchester City at the venue in 2017.

“It’s incredible to welcome back these two iconic clubs in Real Madrid and Manchester United to NRG Stadium this July,” said Lone Star Sports and Entertainment General Manager David Fletcher. “This match is a rare opportunity for fans to see this caliber of talent in-person and another chance to showcase Houston as a premier destination for soccer in the world.”

In advance of the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup, American audiences are clamoring for new opportunities to engage with the global game. With the Soccer Champions Tour, a new competition featuring the biggest clubs in the world takes the spotlight. Leveraging commitments from partner clubs to compete in the U.S. every summer from now through 2027, the Soccer

Champions Tour brings Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, Manchester United, and Arsenal together to square off in America's premier stadiums. The eight fixtures will take place in host market stadiums in Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, and San Francisco.

The Houston stop on the tour is a Copa de Lone Star event. Copa de Lone Star hosted Manchester City and Club America in its inaugural match in 2022 in front of over 60,000 fans at NRG Stadium. The event focuses on providing fans world-class soccer matchups at NRG Stadium and is operated by Lone Star Sports and Entertainment. The 2023 Soccer Champions Tour is being produced in partnership with AEG, the world's leading sports and live entertainment company, and in partnership with Sixth Street and Legends.

Exclusive pre-sale tickets will be available starting Tuesday, May 16, with the general on-sale ticket access beginning on Friday, May 19. For access to the exclusive pre-sale, fans are invited to join the waitlist at www.LSSE.net. More information is also available at the tour website, www.soccerchampionstour. com, and fans can follow @TheSCTour on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter for updates.