Insight ::: 01.03.2022 by Insight News, Inc

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Insight News

January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 1• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

Mya Williamson

Kidpreneur

https://lovemynatural.com/

STORY ON PAGE

Page 2 • January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022 • Insight News

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Insight News • January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022 • Page 3 WINNER: 2020 T YPOGRAPHY & DESIGN, 1ST PLACE, PHOTOGRAPHY (PORTRAIT & PERSONALIT Y), 1ST PLACE, WEBSITE, 3RD PLACE

Insight News January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022

Vol. 49 No. 1• The Journal For Community News, Business & The Arts • insightnews.com

How much federal spending benefits African Americans By Brenda Lyle-Gray Columnist

Mya Williamson

Edrence Yalley

Deidra Isaac

BEE MARKETPLACE

Black women work together to build wealth Columnist

By Brenda Lyle-Gray Six-year-old dynamo Mya Williamson, her phenomenal mom, Brianna Williamson, and her proud grandmother, Nichelle Shannon, embrace the mantra, “We must be the head and not the tail.” They joined fellow entrepreneurs for the Wednesday edition of Conversations with Al McFarlane, the daily social media webcast over McFarlane Media digital platforms and on Black Press USA Facebook Live, inviting our community to learn about and support the BEE Marketplace which is underway now through the end of January. Kenya McKnight Ahad’s Black Women’s Wealth Alliance’s (BWWA) created the BEE Marketplace, a virtual shopping extravaganza

introducing local Black women entrepreneurs from all ages sharing their dreams and visions of success and helping others. In its second year, the BEE Marketplace features over 30 unique enterprises that embody the concept of generational wealth creation through entrepreneurship. BEE Marketplace is made possible by lead sponsor Bremer Bank, BWWA, Insight News, West Broadway Area Business Coalition and Wells Fargo.. Two years ago, Brianna Williamson noted the intensity of young Mya’s statement, ‘I lost my afro in my ballet class so I could fit in’. So she and Mya wrote a book about it. My children and I went through the same anguish and knew well the pain. Wisdom, love, and tenacity led to the creation their company, Love My Natural. “I want people to be happy; to live their life the way they want to,” the self-described kidpreneur and author said. She’s learned

a lot by studying young millionaires and all the things they did to make a diﬀerence. The Love My Natural product line includes a series of books that continues to grow. Titles include Natural Hair ABCs, We The People: From Apartheid to Black Pride, Making Change: Black Youth of Black History, and more, all featuring beautiful, brown-skinned boy and girl characters. Love My Natural products also include Candy Colors, a complete natural hair care color wax that washes out easily; Browndages, bandages for brown skin, a girls swim wear line; and Papaya Baby, a kids natural hair product line made with gentle, plant-based cleansers, free of parabens and dyes. Mya and her family’s vision: ‘Using literacy to spread natural hair love to youth from birth to beyond and ensure that children know they are perfect in their natural form, as is, no alterations’. www. lovemynatural.com Edrence Yalley loves

nature, the arts, storytelling, and living well. The combination of these elements in her life helps keep her focused on her goals of educating, encouraging, and equipping Black women with the physical and mental tools to live life with more purpose and joy. Yalley’ company, Faith in Action, oﬀers yoga, meditation, and wellness coaching through classes, workshops, and private sessions. https://faithinaction.co/blogs/ faith Having experienced her own share of trauma, she teaches the benefit of faith and continuing to grow through personal development with meditation and yoga, “keeping the mind and body in the best condition it can be,”. Along with her ‘Mommy and Me’ classes with her two-year-old son, Yalley wants more Black women to take the time; make the eﬀort to find one’s ‘whole self’, a vehicle for the spirit.

The power of ‘now’ can only be realized now. It requires no time and eﬀort. Eﬀort means you’re trying hard to get somewhere, and so you are not present, welcoming this moment as it is. Eckhart Tolle Last month, Nexus Community Partners was selected by the Bush Foundation to establish a Community Trust Fund that will directly invest in Black communities across the region through grants to individuals. The $50 million Bush Foundation grant will target Black residents in Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Nebraska. The launch is scheduled in early 2023 following extensive community engagement. In a statement announcing the grant, Nexus said it supports “strong, equitable, and just communities in which all residents are engaged, are recognized as leaders, and have pathways to opportunities. The key to building more engaged and powerful communities of

color lies in the connections between authorship, leadership, and ownership.” That notwithstanding, “More support is needed for policies, resources, and an urgency with an exclusive focus on African Americans,” said Shawn Lewis, who monitors and comments on philanthropy. “One of many questions that needs to be answered is how much federal spending is truly benefiting African Americans and their communities.” “According to the Census Bureau, even years prior to the pandemic, the Twin Cities had one of the highest percentages of people of color below the poverty level of the 25 largest cities in the US. And the Twin City metropolitan region had the third highest percentage behind Pittsburg and Milwaukee,” said Yusef Mgeni, journalist and retired executive who is a regular commentator on Conversations with Al McFarlane Thursday webcasts. Before the housing market bubble burst in 2008,

SPENDING 5

Image: https://www.tutulegacy.com/#GallerySection.

BWWA 4

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Umoja:

Rest in Power Archbishop Black Lives Matter and the Removal of Racist Statues Desmond Tutu (1931–2021) Perspectives of an African By Caesar Alimsinya Atuire Part 1 in a series ABSTRACT The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police oﬃcers and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests have been accompanied by calls for the removal of statues of racists from public space. This has generated debate about the role of statues in the public sphere. I argue that statues are erected to represent a chosen narrative about history. The debate about the removal of statues is a controversy about history and how we relate to it. From this perspective, the Black Lives Matter movement is not a drive to remove or topple statues, but a call for an honest examination of systemic racism and the residual eﬀects of slavery. This call can be a kairos to engage in a constructive dialogue about the societies we aspire to live in. The result of this dialogue, which includes a re-examination of dominant narratives, will decide which statues and monuments can occupy public space and represent our societies. KEYWORDS: Black Lives Matter; Statues; Racism;

Culture and Education Editor

By Irma McClaurin, PhD

Fort Leysaemheyt/Fort Patience, Apam Slavery; Dialogue. Premise I begin this paper with a confession. I cannot be neutral in the Black Lives Matter conversation because mine is a black life and I would like it to matter. Nevertheless, as an academic philosopher, I can only try to be rational and possibly dispassionate. The residual eﬀects of the North Atlantic slave trade and its essentially racist framework have always been present in my life. My ethnicity,

the Bulsa of Northern Ghana, is linked to the slave trade. The unity of the Bulsa as a distinct ethnic group came about when various clan and village leaders united to defend themselves and their families from the frequent attacks of slave raiders. The Feok Festival, celebrated by the Bulsa every year in December, aﬃrms the Bulsa identity by commemorating and reenacting the defeat of Baabatu, the last notorious slave raider of the Upper East region of Ghana.1 The architecture of the Bulsa homes also bears

News

Remembering Bishop Desmond Tutu, The Moore Martyrs, and the lethality of Covid-19

PAGE 5

witness to defence against human and livestock raiders. All domestic animals are kept within the courtyard of walled compounds, where, amidst the thatched roofs, there is always a flat-roofed terrace which serves among other things as an observation tower. Growing up in the northern territories of Ghana, I was quite oblivious of racism. This changed when I left Ghana for the UK at the age of seventeen to continue my

BLM PT.1 4

“…a living embodiment of faith in action, speaking boldly against racism, injustice, corruption, and oppression, not just in apartheid South Africa but wherever in the world he saw wrongdoing. …” Desmond Tutu Foundation (https://www. t u t u l e g a c y. c o m / m e s s a g e ) . The quiet death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu this morning (December 26) gives us pause as we close out 2021 — a year that has been filled with health and social pandemics. https://www.cbsnews.com/ news/desmond-tutu-diesage-90-nobel-laureate-antiapartheid-leader-south-africa/ He will be missed as a champion of social justice and arbiter for truth and reconciliation. No one believed decades ago that South African apartheid would ever be dismantled. Yet, it is gone today. And the honorable Tutu was on the forefront of that battle.

South Africa is still healing, but on a path to recovery, where the Black South African majority are gaining footholds in the country’s social and political capital. There is progress, but change is processual and takes time. South Africa is still struggling with transition and has a need for visionary leadership, like that of the late Mandela and now his beloved friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as it battles greed, lust for power, and the legacy of inequality created by the unequal racialized apartheid system. It is a country still figuring out how to redistribute the country’s wealth and resources held by so few —a white minority — for so long in an equitable fashion. The United States would do well to look to South Africa as it grapples with a majority white population realizing it is becoming a minority and using every legislative, economic, law enforcement means at its disposal to maintain white cultural, political, and economic superiority — e.g., redlining districts to diminish the power of Black voters, promoting

TUTU 5

I2H

Vaccine uptick found in African Americans, but access and misinformation still confound community

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Page 4 • January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022 • Insight News

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Dr. Derek West - Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Radiology Health Equity Coalition care.

Columnist

By Brenda Lyle-Gray Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhumane. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Derek West is a board-certified interventional radiologist, and an associate professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Science at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. With a father as a physician and a mother as a nurse, West seemed destined to follow in some field of medicine but chose engineering as an undergrad major instead. It wasn’t until his impressive scores on the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) that he went from being an average student to one who made his parents proud and is now having an impact on one of many disparities, especially those adversely aﬀecting women of color. His research has focused on the use of electroporation with chemotherapy, nanoparticle delivery in the treatment of pancreatic adeno carcinoma, and in radio genomic oncologic imaging research and its eﬀects on interventional oncology decision making. West’s research and practice is grounded in diversity and inclusion. In a press release provided by Radiology Health Equity Coalition (Nov. 22, 2021), it was announced that eight major radiology organizations will be collaborating in the formation of a coalition to positively influence healthcare equity in the radiology and imaging arena and beyond. Many physicians of color have long argued that BIPOC communities have become desensitized to huge gaps in health care and training in the field. It wasn’t until the globally televised execution of George Floyd and the COVID19 pandemic that disparaging statistics were magnified due to obvious barriers of health care including the lack of health insurance, unbiased treatments, and quality customer service and

The coalition is vital to addressing the unsettling diagnosis and imaging utilization statistics, such as: excessive/potentially preventable deaths from cancer, lower respiratory disease and other illnesses in rural areas are often nearly double that of urban areas; black women are 42% more likely to die from breast cancer than white women; black men are 52% more likely to die from colorectal cancer (CRC) than white men. (The 19% CRC disparity may be due to few screenings for black men); black Americans with diabetes are three times more likely to have a limb amputated than others; and U.S. Latinos are more likely to die from CRC than those in many Central and South American nations. The CRC death rate for U.S. Latinos has dropped more slowly than for whites. Asian Americans are twice as likely to die from stomach cancers, eight times more likely to die from hepatitis, and have a tuberculosis rate more than 30 times higher than white Americans. 39% of U.S. women without health insurance had a mammogram in the past two years vs. 75% of those with health insurance. Can I reiterate ‘unsettling’ statistics requiring immediate attention; an education needed to save the next generation and yet improve the quality of life for chocolate baby boomers of all hues and ethnicities? As my editor-in-chief and the host of ‘Conversations with Al McFarlane’ always says, “Our Health Should Be ‘Our Business’”. The coalition is convened by the American College of Radiology and currently includes the American Board of Radiology; the Radiology Section Council of the American Medical Association; the Association of University Radiologists; Section on Radiology and Radiation Oncology for the National Medical Association; Radiological Society of North America; Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments; and Society of International Radiology with other specialty and state radiology organizations already joining the initiative. The network of

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Insight News is published weekly, every Monday by McFarlane Media Interests. Editor-In-Chief Al McFarlane Publisher Batala-Ra McFarlane Associate Editor & Associate Publisher B.P. Ford Culture and Education Editor Dr. Irma McClaurin, PhD. Associate Editor Afrodescendientes Carmen Robles Associate Editor Nigeria & West Africa Chief Folarin Ero-Phillips Columnist Brenda Lyle-Gray Book Review Editor W.D. Foster-Graham Director of Content & Production Patricia Weaver Content & Production Manager Sunny Thongthi Yang Distribution/Facilities Manager Jamal Mohamed Receptionist Lue B. Lampley

Intern Kelvin Kuria Contributing Writers Maya Beecham Nadvia Davis Fred Easter Abeni Hill Inell Rosario Latisha Townsend Artika Tyner Toki Wright Photography V. Rivera Garcia Uchechukwu Iroegbu Rebecca Rabb Artist Donald Walker Contact Us: Insight News, Inc. Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Ave. N. Minneapolis. 55411 Ph.: (612) 588-1313 Fax: (612) 588-2031 Member: Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium (MMMC), Midwest Black Publishers Coalition, Inc. (MBPCI), National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Postmaster: Send address changes to McFarlane Media Interests, Marcus Garvey House 1815 Bryant Avenue North, Minneapolis,

Dr. Derek West patient-focused radiology societies will collect, assess, and disseminate resources and best practices, advocate for and connect with patients and community members, and collaborate on programs and services to improve access to and utilization of preventive and diagnostic imaging. Because medical imaging touches most patients at some point, radiologists are uniquely positioned to begin closing the BIPOC disparity gap in healthcare. Radiologists’ consultative roles across the care process, and particularly in medical education, creates an opportunity to drive systemic change to achieve consistent, high-quality, and equitable care for all ages and diverse backgrounds..

BWWA From 3 Deidra Isaac is a licensed cosmetologist and an all-hair textures, diverse, professional hair stylist. Her company, Ashes 2 Beauty Salon,

BLM PT.1 From 3 education. It was only then that I was made to become conscious of the weight of being black. Yet, apart from a few isolated incidents of being verbally and physically attacked because of the colour of my skin, the weight has been present principally in two subtle forms. First is a sort of burden of proof that I am a

mghraddiversity

“The members of the Radiology Health Equity Coalition are committed to addressing health disparities and improving health outcomes for the underserved,” said Jacqueline A. Bello, MD, FACR, Chair of the RHEC, and Vice-Chair of the ACR Board of Chancellors. Our collaborative framework empowers radiologists to join this eﬀort.” Who would have thought that possibly having an accurate mammogram would depend on where my physician’s oﬃce was located, how much training the imaging technician has, or whether they have biases that would cause them to cause the patient unnecessary pain? How many people of color are being trained for careers radiology and imaging, a critical

procedure most humans and often animals will need one day, possibly to save a life? Right after giving birth to her daughter, phenomenal tennis star, Serena Williams began to experience a shortness of breath. As one of the most celebrated athletes in the world, she knew there was something wrong with her body after an emergency cesarean section had to be performed. She underwent multiple operations after sustaining a pulmonary embolism. Doctors eventually spotted several small blood clots in her lungs with a CT scan and put her on a blood thinner. So, what happens if one does not have the access of this kind of quality health care? Dr. West and coalition members are working hard to make that

scenario change and to assist in providing community outreach and advocacy and equal resources and accessibility to the historically disenfranchised. It is indeed time! For further information: E-mail: www.info@ radhealthequity.org Committing to the Cause: www.radhealthequity. org Personal Contact: To speak with a coalition spokesperson, e-mail at www. PR@act.org or call Kevin Walter at (202) 420-0153 Information Source: PR Newswire, A. Cision Company, New York

(https://www.facebook.com/ Ashes2BeautySalonLlc) may be to only African American, female-owned salon and beauty supply distribution outlet in Minnesota. Having been mentored this past year by the Dudley Company, the preeminent Black hair care line, she

supplies professional operators at barber shops, salons, and estheticians. but not retail to the public. The supply business oﬀers top brand tools such as sheers and flat/curling irons. Issac found there was a need for a supply outlet in the area. With a diverse clientele and filling the need of having

supplies close by, the beauty and hair specialist hopes to expand by promoting the value of Black women helping each other. “I want to see Black women become their new and natural self, appreciating their beauty from inside out,” Isaac said.

normal law-abiding, honest person and an intellectual. If we consider that onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat (the burden of proof lies with the one who aﬃrms and not the one who negates), this is tedious. When a burden of proof is needed for such basic human characteristics, there is an implicit assumption that by claiming to possess these qualities I am making an aﬃrmation that requires proof because it is not the accepted view about persons like me. The qualities which have often been assigned to me gratuitously and generously, such as being a good dancer, an athlete, a party freak, and possessing ‘joints’ or being able to procure them, are qualities which I unfortunately do not possess. The second aspect of this weight is alienation. Even though I have lived, studied and worked in the UK, Ireland, Spain and Italy, and I speak four modern European languages fluently (whereas I can barely get by with two African languages), I have always been considered a foreigner in Europe, an outsider. I do not really belong. With hindsight, I realize how this has conditioned some of my reactions, especially on

those occasions when I should have spoken up. The feeling of alienation, accompanied by the burden of justification, has made me think speaking out is counterproductive or pointless. I have been perhaps more fortunate than other persons of African descent born in Europe and America, since I always have a home to return to in Africa, whereas for them it must be more diﬃcult because the only home they have and they know is the one that alienates them. When I returned to Ghana after living in Europe for twentynine years, I chose to settle in a small fishing town on the Atlantic coast called Apam. There are three things I notice whenever I am returning home to Apam: the distinct smell of fish as I drive by the port; the Apam skyline, which is an endless series of bamboo sticks, none perfectly perpendicular to the ground, holding up TV antennas from low-rise rusting roofs; and, above all, the imposing structure of slave Fort Lijdzaamheid (Fort Patience), built by the Dutch from 1697 to 1702, standing on top of the promontory overlooking the town. It is an indelible and jarring reminder of the North Atlantic slave trade and its racist agenda.

It is with this baggage that I write about Black Lives Matter and the removal of statues of racists. Next week Introduction. Una passeggiata estiva romana (A Roman summer walk) 1. Amos Yaw Ademin, Indigenous Resistance to Slavery by the Builsa People of Northern Ghana, MA Thesis, University of Ghana, Legon 2016. 2. Nest Caesar Alimsinya Atuire is a Senior Lecturer in the Philosophy and Classics Department at the University of Ghana, Legon. He is also a 2020 Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford. Dr. Atuire’s work draws from African and European philosophical traditions to reflect on normative issues in bioethics, health, and intercultural relations. He is coeditor of the volume Bioethics in Africa: Theories and Praxis. He has also lectured and published on epistemic decolonization in academia. Originally published as 21: INQUIRIES INTO ART, HISTORY, AND THE VISUAL #2-2020, pp. 449– 467 https://doi.org/10.11588/ xxi.2020.2.76234

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Insight News • January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022 • Page 5

Remembering Bishop Desmond Tutu, The Moore Martyrs, and the lethality of Covid-19 By Chuck Hobbs Editor’s note: Insight welcomes Attorney, Chuck Hobbs whose column will appear weekly and whose blog, Hobbservations, will appear daily at insightnews.com. Upon the passing of Bishop Desmond Tutu yesterday, my Morehouse classmate and Kappa Brother, Rev. Malone Smith, provided the following epitaph on his Facebook page: “His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” The Gospel of Indeed! Lest we forget that the Archbishop, who turned 90 this past October, was a leading voice for non-violent resistance to South Africa’s racist apartheid movement and because of his eﬀorts, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. While encomiums in his memory will be written and professed the world over for the next few days, I choose to honor his life with a few lines from 18th Century Scottish poet Robert Burns: “An honest man here lies at rest, The friend of man, the friend of truth;

The friend of age, and guide of youth: Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d, Few heads with knowledge so inform’d: If there’s another world, he lives in bliss; If there is none, he made the best of this.” Requeiscat in Pace, Bishop Tutu! ***With the Omicron variant of Covid-19 surging, I once again implore my readers to wear K/N95 masks, wash your hands regularly, and remain socially distant (in as much as you can) in the days ahead. With the world barely a month away from marking the second anniversary of this plague, I share the sentiments of my five-year-old nephew, “J,” who loudly opined last week, “I’m tired of Covid!” What’s worse is that I’m sick of seeing folks on TV, or up and down my social media timelines, acting like Covid is no big deal as they skin, grin, and share air (and spittle) like the Coronavirus has just up and disappeared! Please do better, my friends... American History Hobbservation I 124 years ago today, the first Black College football

Bishop Desmond Tutu game was played between Livingston College and Biddle University (now Johnson C. Smith University) at Livingstone in Salisbury, North Carolina. Biddle won the game 4-0 (at that time a touchdown was 4 points). Below is a photo of Dr. William L. Metz, the starting fullback for Biddle University in that game. American History Hobbservations II On December 25, 1951, 70 years ago, Florida NAACP leader Harry T. Moore and his wife, Harriet, were

killed when a bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan exploded at their house on Christmas Day. Mr. Moore, an alumnus of both Florida Memorial College and Bethune Cookman College, rose to prominence in the 1940s as the leader of the Florida State Conference of Branches of the NAACP. Mrs. Moore, also a Bethune Cookman graduate, was a popular school teacher near their home in Mims, Florida. As to the latter, one of Mrs. Moore’s former students, Paij Bailey, noted how her

mentor made no complaints about the then standard Jim Crow era practice of used books being handed down from white public schools, as she supplemented her lessons with her own books about freedom fighters like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth; read aloud articles and poems from Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston, and provided copies of the latest Ebony magazine articles to inspire her young Black students. As to the former, Mr. Moore was indefatigable in his efforts to stamp out racism in Jim Crow Florida, and he drew the ire of the Florida Ku Klux Klan for his efforts to register Black voters; his investigating the lynching of Willie Howard, a 15-year-old Black boy who was killed near Live Oak, Florida for allegedly writing a love letter to a white girl in 1944; his investigating the notoriously racist Sheriff Willis McCall, the man who was so brutal to the “Groveland Four” Black arrestees in 1949 that some historians believe that his acts served as the template for later (and more infamously racist) “law enforcers” like Birmingham, Alabama’s Chief Eugene “Bull”

Spending From 3 Minnesota had one of the lowest Black homeownership rates in the country and after all the foreclosures and evictions, that rate has fallen to a low of 2122% according to the NAACP Economic Inclusion Plan (EIP) Report on the Twin Cities. “Add to that reality the fact that Black life expectancy in the US has fallen 2.5 years since the COVID19 pandemic began. We are over-represented in the service industry and are most often among the first lower tier workers to be let go,” Mgeni said. The Black poverty rate in the Twin Cities prior to the pandemic was five times higher than whites (25.5%), and the Black child poverty rate (under 18) was 8.5 times greater (33.1%) than for white children (3.9%) according to the EIP Report. “These combined realities have contributed to a perfect and on-going economic storm in our community,” he said. A recent News One article headline said, “Despite economic recovery, Black Workers continue to experience financial diﬃculty.”

Tutu From 3 white historical innocence by banning Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project in schools, sanctioning white supremacist violence when possible, legitimizing white police violence against Black and Brown communities, and not reauthorizing the Civil Rights Acts. White America would be wise to heed the lesson of white South Africa. No matter how long you may have a yoke on the neck of a people to oppress them, it is only a matter of time before they rise up to demand freedom and liberation. Because of people like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died peacefully today, December 26, 2021, a racial bloodbath was avoided. He helped to guide the transition of power from a white minority to a Black majority with compassion and empathy. He was a kind and wise humanist who will be missed. May the social justice heirs of this former Nobel Peace Prize laureate and drum major for peace carry forth his legacy. It is up to us now — who believe in freedom, who believe in equality, who believe in democratic principles — to carry on Tutu’s work. It is up to us to ensure that the change and transformation towards a more equitable world the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu committed his life to continues. Condolences to his family

The White House

Yusef Mgeni

Shawn Lewis

According to Black to the Future Action Fund’s socioanalytic research data collection survey, which seeks to engage Black people in conversations about critical community issues, interests, and resources, intergenerational connections can positively impact families and their communities, but the current status of Black America had not changed much up to this point. 42% of Black adults called their financial situation ‘bad’. One-third of respondents reported their income potential had stayed the same or worsened since most Americans finally became believers of the COVID19 pandemic. While approximately 800,000 Americans have

perished and hospitals around the country have reached capacity owing to the pandemic, interestingly, 52% of Black adults polled were satisfied with the direction of the country, but 54% were dissatisfied with the current state of the economy. Since July, parents/ guardians have received the federal child tax credit. Chalk Beat, an innovative model of local journalism, reported that as inflation soars, parents who received the much-needed financial boost are spending money on regular household expenses with food being at the top of their list, and not making payments on a new car. This extra cash has led to a decrease in child hunger and poverty. Since President

and all who knew him well. Rest in power. Your lifeforce may have ended, but your legacy continues to inspire. *December 26 is the first day of Kwanzaa, on which the first principle “umoja” (unity) is celebrated. ( https:// thegrio.com/2009/12/25/ five-things-you-didnt-knowabout-kwanza-but-should/ ) (c) 2021 Irma McClaurin Irma McClaurin (http://irmamcclaurin.

c o m / h t t p s : / / t w i t t e r. c o m / mcclaurintweets) is the Culture and Education Editor and freelance columnist for Insight News, an activist anthropologist, award-winning writer, CEO of Irma McClaurin Solutions, and founder of the Irma McClaurin Black Feminist Archive (bit.ly/ blkfemarchive) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her book, JustSpeak: Reflections on Race, Culture and Politics in America, is forthcoming in 2022.

Jan 20-23 ORDWAY.ORG 651.224.4222

Biden’s Build-Back-Better-Act did not pass in the Senate by last week, Child Tax Credit payments will

President Joe Biden

not be made in January or be extended for another year. Provisions for career training and workforce

Connor, and Albany, Georgia’s Sheriﬀ Laurie Pritchett. Mr. Moore’s work earned him the title of “The most hated Black man in Florida,” but eschewing fear, Moore stated that, “Every advancement comes by way of sacrifice. What I am doing is for the benefit of my race.” As the Moores prepared for Christmas in 1951, a firebomb ripped through their residence and Mr. Moore died en route to the only Black hospital in the region (located in Sanford, Florida—over 30 miles away). Mrs. Moore, tragically, succumbed to her injuries nine days later at the very same hospital…Mr. Moore was 46 years old…Mrs. Moore was 49. Legendary Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, upon learning of the Moore assasinations, penned the following lines: “When will men for sake of peace and for democracy, Learn no bombs a man can make Keep men [and women] from being free? And this he says, our Harry Moore, as from the grave he cries: No bomb can kill the dreams I hold, For freedom never dies!” Amen!

development provide a major pathway for poverty reduction. The Joint Center to Political Economic Studies says Congress should, lower age of eligibility to 18 so these individuals could be eligible for benefits, and those without children might be assisted in some way. According to www. inequality.org, the U.S. and most global populations underestimate the impact and extent of systemic inequality, not realizing just how wide the gaps between the have and have nots have grown. Inequalities negatively impact Black Americans especially in the treatment of COVID and other health care issues.

Page 6 • January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022 • Insight News

Insight 2 Health

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Vaccine uptick found in African Americans, but access and misinformation still confound community By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent, @StacyBrownMedia The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the life span of Black males by an average of three years and has robbed Hispanic men of about 2.5 years, according to the latest information from health oﬃcials. Black females have seen a more than a 2-year reduction in their average lifespan because of the pandemic. In contrast, Hispanic females fared better by losing slightly less than their African American peers. The life expectancy for white males and females decreased by just over one year. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) noted that its Vaccine Monitor found that more than seven in ten U.S. adults (72 percent) now report being at least partially vaccinated. According to the report, similar shares of Hispanic (73 percent), Black (70 percent), and white (71 percent) adults now report having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. That marks a change from earlier in the vaccination eﬀort when Black and Hispanic adults were much less likely to report being vaccinated than white adults and reflecting other data showing that people of color make up a disproportionate share of recent vaccinations. “KFF’s analysis of state data on vaccination rates by race and ethnicity suggests that, when looking at people of all ages including children who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, white people continue to be vaccinated at higher rates than either Black

photo/oday.cofc.edu

Dr. Ebony Jade Hilton or Hispanic people, although those gaps have narrowed over time,” the researchers wrote. KFF identified the Delta variant, surges in cases, and increased hospitalizations and deaths as the primary motivator for the recent uptick in vaccinations. KFF researchers also noted other factors playing minor roles in the uptick in vaccinations, like full FDA approval of the Pfizer vaccine and an increase in vaccine mandates. The most significant increases in vaccine uptake between July and September were among Hispanic adults and those ages 18-29, and similar shares of adults now report being vaccinated across racial and ethnic groups (71 percent of white adults, 70 percent of Black adults, and 73 percent of Hispanic adults). KFF found significant gaps in vaccine uptake by partisanship, education level, age, and health insurance status. Research revealed that 90 percent of those identified as Democrats had received at least one dose, while 52 percent of Republicans point to the booster shots as a reason to distrust the science behind the vaccines. Researchers from various groups have acknowledged that

the coronavirus has spotlighted the majority of racial and ethnic inequities in access to health. According to KFF researchers, Black people have received smaller vaccinations shares than their shares of cases, deaths, and the total population in more than half of states reporting data. For instance, in Washington, D.C., Black people represent 45 percent of those who received at least one dose, but they make up 56 percent of Covid cases. African Americans comprise 46 percent of the District of Columbia’s population but 71 percent of all Covid deaths. Approximately 49 percent of white individuals in D.C. have at least one dose, and they comprise just 19 percent of Covid cases. Meanwhile, while D.C.’s white population stands at 41 percent, the death rate from Covid among white people remains 13 percent. Vaccination rates among African Americans by state continue to raise alarms. Multiple states, including Vermont, Utah, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Idaho, and Hawaii, report that just 1 percent of their African American population

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The most significant increases in vaccine uptake between July and September were among Hispanic adults and those ages 18-29, and similar shares of adults now report being vaccinated across racial and ethnic groups (71 percent of white adults, 70 percent of Black adults, and 73 percent of Hispanic adults). has received a Covid vaccine. Alaska, Iowa, Maine, and New Mexico, report just 2 percent of their Black population vaccinated. D.C. at 45 percent, Mississippi at 38 percent, and South Carolina at 22 percent, represent the highest vaccines among African Americans. “The reason why Black and Brown Americans had low uptake of vaccines early in the rollout is that they could not get one even if they wanted to,” Dr. Ebony J. Hilton, a Critical Care Anesthesiologist doctor at the University of Virginia and founder of GoodStock Consulting, LLC, tweeted. Hilton has loudly denounced things like quick re-openings, anti-vaxxers, and reckless gatherings during the pandemic. “The CDC guidelines were pro-white in design. Prioritization is defined along the lines of age and employment and not risk,” Hilton wrote. Hilton repeatedly has asked the CDC about changing protocols when it comes to booster shots. “How are we not

repeating this same injustice in the face of racial health disparities as it pertains to boosters? As a result, black Americans die at younger ages, higher rates, and have already lost three years of life expectancy,” Hilton demanded. “Race is an independent risk factor,” she declared, adding further that “this will be a stain on the history of America.” “It is inexcusable, and we, the medical community, and the CDC have to account for our contribution,” Hilton concluded. Of individuals who received their first COVID-19 dose since June 1, 39 percent reported that the increase in cases due to the Delta variant was why they got vaccinated. Thirty-eight percent said they were concerned about the crowding of local hospitals and intensive care units. In comparison, 36 percent said they knew someone who became seriously ill or died from Covid, and 35 percent responded that they wanted to participate in activities that require vaccination. Some still

unvaccinated said they don’t believe the vaccines can prevent them from contracting the virus, so why bother? However, medical science shows that while vaccines cannot prevent the virus from entering a person’s body, the shots are designed to help fight oﬀ serious illness and death. Others who oppose the vaccines cite the seemingly rapid development of the doses. “They weren’t rushed,” former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden noted. “mRNA technology has been researched for more than 20 years. We’re fortunate that it works extraordinarily well for the virus that causes Covid, and it may also work for other viruses, such as influenza, in the future,” Frieden asserted. “The reason we see alarming rates of hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. is because many people are still unvaccinated,” he continued. “Booster shots may help some people, but our biggest challenge is vaccinating those who haven’t gotten their first shot,” said Frieden.

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Insight News • January 3, 2022 - January 9, 2022 • Page 7

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“For the African-American community, Kwanzaa is not just any ‘Black holiday.’ It is a recognition that knowledge of Black history is worthwhile.” -Frank E. Dobson

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A candle is lit each day to celebrate the seven basic values of African culture.

What Kwanzaa means for Black Americans By Frank Dobson, Associate Dean of Students, Vanderbilt University On Dec. 26, millions throughout the world’s African community [began] weeklong celebrations of Kwanzaa. There will be daily ceremonies with food, decorations and other cultural objects, such as the kinara, which holds seven candles. At many Kwanzaa ceremonies, there is also African drumming and dancing. It is a time of communal self-aﬃrmation – when famous Black heroes and heroines, as well as late family members – are celebrated. As a scholar who has written about racially motivated violence against Blacks, directed Black cultural centers on college campuses and sponsored numerous Kwanzaa celebrations, I understand the importance of this holiday. For the AfricanAmerican community, Kwanzaa is not just any “Black holiday.” It is a recognition that knowledge of Black history is worthwhile. History of Kwanzaa Maulana Karenga, a

noted Black American scholar and activist created Kwanzaa in 1966. Its name is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, the most widely spoken African language. However, Kwanzaa, the holiday, did not exist in Africa. Each day of Kwanzaa is devoted to celebrating the seven basic values of African culture or the “Nguzo Saba” which in Swahili means the seven principles. Translated these are: unity, selfdetermination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics (building Black businesses), purpose, creativity and faith. A candle is lit on each day to celebrate each one of these principles. On the last day, a black candle is lit and gifts are shared. Today, Kwanzaa is quite popular. It is celebrated widely on college campuses, the U.S. Postal Service issues Kwanzaa stamps, there is at least one municipal park named for it, and there are special Kwanzaa greeting cards. Kwanzaa’s meaning for Black community Kwanzaa was created by Karenga out of the turbulent times of the 1960’s

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in Los Angeles, following the 1965 Watts riots, when a young African-American was pulled over on suspicions of drunk driving, resulting in an outbreak of violence. Subsequently, Karenga founded an organization called Us – meaning, black people – which promoted black culture. The purpose of the organization was to provide a platform, which would help to rebuild the Watts neighborhood through a strong organization rooted in African culture. Karenga called its creation an act of cultural discovery, which simply meant that he wished to point AfricanAmericans to greater knowledge of their African heritage and past. Rooted in the struggles and the gains of the civil rights and Black power movements of the 1950s and 1960s, it was a way of defining a unique Black American identity. As Keith A. Mayes, a scholar of African-American history, notes in his book, “For Black power activists, Kwanzaa was just as important as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kwanzaa was their answer to what they understood as the ubiquity of white cultural practices that oppressed them as thoroughly as had Jim Crow

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observance that acknowledged solidarity with the struggles of the past and with one another. Like the Black power movements, such as today’s Black Lives Matter movement, it is an aﬃrmation of “Black folks’ humanity,” their “contributions to this society” and “resilience in the face of deadly oppression.” Karenga wanted to “reaﬃrm the bonds between us” (Black people) and to counter the damage done by the “holocaust of slavery.” Kwanzaa celebrations are a moment of this awareness and reflection. Frank E. Dobson, Jr. is Associate Dean of Students, Social Justice and Identity, at Vanderbilt University. Dobson has published two novels, The Race is Not Given and Rendered Invisible: Stories of Blacks & Whites, Love & Death. He has also published short fiction as well as scholarly work on Black literature and culture, particularly film. He has published articles on the filmmaker Spike Lee and also on the actor, Woody Strode. This article appeared originally on The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons license.

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Overturning white definitions Today, the holiday has come to occupy a central role, not only in the U.S. but also in the global African diaspora. A 2008 documentary, “The Black Candle” that filmed Kwanzaa observances in the United States and Europe, shows children not only in the United States, but as far away as France, reciting the principles of the Nguzo Saba. The Black Candle’ It brings together the Black community not on the basis of their religious faith, but a shared cultural heritage. Explaining the importance of the holiday for African-Americans today, writer Amiri Baraka, says during an interview in the documentary, “We looked at Kwanzaa as part of the struggle to overturn white definitions for our lives.” Indeed, since the early years of the holiday, until today, Kwanzaa has provided many black families with tools for instructing their children about their African heritage.

is evident on college campus Kwanzaa celebrations – one of which I recently attended. (It was done a few days early so that students going on break could participate.) The speaker, a veteran of the Nashville civil rights movement, spoke about Kwanzaa as a time of memory and celebration. Wearing an African dashiki, he led those in attendance – blacks and whites and those of other ethnicities – in Kwanzaa songs and recitations. On a table decorated in kente cloth, a traditional African fabric, was a kinara, which contains seven holes, to correspond to the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa. There were three red candles on the left side of the kinara, and three green candles on the right side of the kinara. The center candle was black. The colors of the candles represent the red, black and green of the African Liberation flag. The auditorium was packed. Those in attendance, young and old, Black and white, held hands and chanted slogans celebrating Black heroes and heroines, as diverse as the civil rights icons, Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Jamaican musician Bob Marley. It was a cultural

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