Remembrance in the face of tragedy

As a senior citizen, I often view events and people from the perspective of how they will be remembered. After the death of a dear one, the sadness and much of the pain and suffering and difficulties in loss and life seem to fade with time. It is often replaced by remembering the joys you’ve shared of George Floyd (May 2020), essional Democrats l

That said, I question whether the devastated mother of Tyre Nichols can ever overcome her tortured son’s haunting pleas for help while he was being brutalized by police Will it be possible for her to remember the sweetness she shared with her Tyre? How can she be anything but overwhelmed by anger and crushed by grief?

. The George olicing Act was introduced with the oal of combatting police misconduct, addressing force, and policing without racial p. 30 ing products or services that are not appropriate for older individuals.

Last month I caught a cold. Remember that? Since the advent of COVID-19, it doesn’t seem like we use it much anymore. Anyway, my cold wasn’t COVID — I continually tested at home and got PCR tests — but I did need over-thecounter meds like cough syrup, decongestants and homeopathic remedies.

Inaccurate facial recognition: AI-powered facial reco gnition systems can struggle to accurately recognize the faces of older individuals, leading to incor rect identifications or even false arrests.

The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, but not the evenly divided Senate amid Republican opposition. Shamefully, negotiations on that reform bill collapsed in September 2021 and has not been voted on since.

In the past week, I’ve learned much about Tyre’s mother, and I think she’s an amazing woman. Her response to the death of her son at the hands of five brutal policemen was to say she would pray for them. With wise judgment, she asked that the hordes of folks, outraged by the vicious attack on her son, protest peacefully. Her strength and courage under these most dreadful of circumstances are hard for me to fathom.

Yet in the face of ongoing brutality and racist madness I think this woman of strong faith can serve as a role model for all of us. She reminds us that we are all human beings; she encourages the meek among us to use their voices and to do so with reason; she offers strength to the weak and shows us how to use the will to fight injustice. My hope and prayers are that she will awaken understanding and responsibility in all of us

As we review the dreadful beating of Tyre, we have to ask what could possibly motivate the police to use such deadly force against him. Have no refor ms been established to prevent such inhumane action? In response to the tragic death

Almost daily, brutal and sometimes deadly, confrontations with police take place and, more often than not, they are directed against the non-white community. How can anyone feel safe when our “guardian” police, employed to “serve and protect,” are often the perpetrators of vicious acts? It should be noted that these “bad apple” police are in the minority of police departments. The horrific behavior of the few captures the headlines. As a result, responsible police officers are often disrespected, tainted by the bad actions of others. Fewer and fewer qualified people are willing to join the police force, adding to the serious problems police departments across the nation have

We, all of us, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, white folks, and people of color, must bombard our Congress to enact the George Floyd Bill, at a minimum, and then make it effective now. May parents, like Tyre’s mother, take strength from the knowledge they have awakened in the minds and hearts of many of us, and guided us to care and speak up.

I hope that even though Tyre’s death was unconscionable, with time his mother will be able to dwell in the sweet memories she shared with her son and that she will find peace.

One thing all my cold treatment purchases had in common was small print. Really small print. There I was, sick as a do g and getting pissed of f because I couldn’t read the directions! How many tablets? How often? One teaspoon or is that tablespoon? Yes, I do wear glasses, and I did just go to have my eyes checked and upgraded my prescription. As I age my needs change, which is true for everybody. So why aren’t our changing needs taken into consideration? Why are our changing needs, as we age, invisible? Why are we, as we age, invisible? If we were a country, Americans 50 and older would be the world’s third-largest economy.

Blesoff Hausman

Job discrimination: AI algorithms used in the recruitment process can be ageist if they are trained on data that reflects discriminatory hiring practices. This can result in older job applicants being unfairly screened out.

Insufficient accessibility features: AI-powered systems and interfaces may not include accessibility features that older individuals need, such as large font sizes or audio descriptions, leading to exclusion and further marginalization.

One answer is ageism.

One of those days that I was having trouble reading the cough syrup small print, I was also reading an article about ChatGPT, the virally popular Artificial Intelligence (AI) app. The author used the term Digital Ageism. Digital Ageism refers to discrimination and prejudice in the digital world against individuals based on their age. Maybe some of you have lear ned about or experienced unconscious bias that is programmed into algorithms, such as facial recognition software that consistently misidentifies Black faces. It’s important to be aware of the potential for any bias in AI systems and to actively work toward reducing yet another example of unconscious bias.

AI algorithms can perpetuate and promote ageism in a number of ways:

Biased training data: If the data used to train AI algorithms is biased, it can perpetuate ne gative stereotypes about cer tain age groups. This can result in AI systems that display ageist behaviors, such as recommend-

Later that same day, I attended one of my cardiac rehab sessions at a local hospital. Wired up to a hear t monitor as I walked on a treadmill, I could watch my heartbeat on a big screen at the front of the room. The woman on the treadmill next to me was eng aged in conversation with a doctor from the hospital. The doctor had on a white coat. Given how close the treadmills are, I couldn’t help but hear snippets of their conversation. The doctor commented, “Well, you still look great for someone your age.” Before I could say anything, the doctor took her leave and said goodbye.

I consider “You still look great for someone your age” to be ageist because it reinforces ne gative stereotypes about aging and implies that aging is inherently negative. It also implies that it is unusual or surprising for someone to look good at a cer tain age, which reinforces the idea that aging is a period of decline and that people’s looks and abilities deteriorate with age. Our health-care system is full of systemic and inter nalized ageism, so I wasn’t sur prised, but I was disappointed. This was just one day of ageism. I went to sleep that night and woke up to another day.