next generation network got game

Young ballers are more connected at home than ever. Unlike last season’s crew, this generation has it easy thanks to the Xfinity 10G Network. Now, today’s players are scoring reliable connections from every yard line, running at faster speeds, and using the most cutting-edge WiFi to soar their imagination. Introducing the Xfinity 10G Network. The future starts now.

This Memorial Day, Remember the Ancestors who Started the Commemoration

While many people will be off participating in festivities that mark the unofficial start of summer, according to a 2019 Harris poll survey, commissioned by the University of Phoenix 55% of Americans know the true purpose of the federal holiday and only one in five will participate in commemorative activities honoring fallen soldiers. With a little more than half of Americans acknowledging the holiday as a day of remembrance, there’s less who know the celebration got its start thanks to the genius of newly freed Black citizens.

Often, history credits the first annual Memorial Day (also called “Decoration Day”) celebrations as happening in April 1866, when women adorned the graves of soldiers with flowers in the Civil War hospital town of Columbus, Mississippi. However, in the 2001 book “Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory,” Pulitzer Prize-winner David Blight notes the primary memorial celebration kicked off on May 1, 1865, when freshly freed African Americans and white missionaries took to a former planters’ racetrack where Confederate soldiers captured Union soldiers in the final year of the Civil War in Charleston, South Carolina.

According to Time, at least 257 prisoners died, many succumbing to disease, and were then buried in unmarked graves. Acknowledging these fallen soldiers, Black citizens and some white missionaries organized to commemorate their lives with a celebration that included a parade and festivities with students, white and Black Union soldiers marching, people singing, preachers preaching, huge signs, decorations and more.

Publications at that time reported about 10,000 people, predominantly African American, showed up for the celebration.

Today, Memorial Day is an annual celebration commemorating the thousands of American lives lost during wars. It’s recognized nationwide and several organizations will take the weekend to remember the fallen soldiers, and celebrate their bravery.

So this year, as you show up to your all white parties, head to that cookout, travel out of town, catch that holiday sale, or take that much-deserved day off, remember the Black residents of Charleston who paved the way in commemorating American heroes.

Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all, and particularly acknowledging the service people and families who sacrificed their lives to protect the citizens of this country. WI

More Black Males Needed as Health Professionals

Statistics have reported over the years that Black males lag their white counterparts when it comes to becoming healthcare professionals. The situation has gotten so bad that the Federation of Association of Schools of the Health Professions (FASHP) has declared the small number of historically under-represented men of color graduating and entering the healthcare professions a national crisis.

The FASHP declared the crisis based on data from the American Dental Association revealing of the 6,665 U.S. dental school graduates in 2022, only 147 were Black men. Of the 21,051 2021-2022 U.S. medical school graduates, only 565 were African American males, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The 2021 graduating class of veterinary medical students included 0.6% Black men. Of the 824, 2021-2022 U.S. public health doctoral graduates, only 2.5% were African American males, according to the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health.

Plus, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health agencies consistently show that Black men suffer higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, stroke, and heart attacks than whites.

In its consensus statement, the FASHP calls on local and national educational, health care, governmental and community leaders to raise awareness regarding the dearth of Black men in the health care professions.

The encouragement of Black males to enter the health professions should begin in elementary school and continue through middle school. Black boys should have exposure to healthcare careers through field trips to medical facilities and the chance to interact with professionals.

In high school, Black male teenagers must study the physical sciences and higher mathematics such as calculus to prepare for higher education pre-healthcare professions courses. In college, Black males should receive encouragement to participate in programs such as the Action Collaborative for Black Men in Medicine or the Summer Health Professions Education Program to further their education.

Getting Black males into the health professions must start early in their lives and be supported by educational and governmental leaders. It is not only in the best interest of Black males, but all Americans to have competent, diverse healthcare professionals. WI

Editorial To The Editor

Celebrating Our Heritage

I am looking forward to The Washington Informer’s 11th annual Heritage Tour. It’s been a few years since I last attended, and I’m excited to explore Montgomery County and our history there.

Washington, DC

The Tipping Point

Your story (“The New Moral Dilemma: Should You Tip at the Self-Checkout Line?”) by Stacy Brown really started a dialogue between my colleagues and me. While I’ve never been confronted with tipping a cashier or bag handler, many have and do believe those workers should be tipped. However, I’m more of the belief that people should be paid a living wage, and tipping should always be optional regardless of the service or sector.

Teresa Chin

Washington, DC

Readers' Mailbox

The Washington Informer welcomes letters to the editor about articles we publish or issues affecting the community. Write to: lsaxton@washingtoninformer. com or send to: 3117 Martin Luther King Jr Ave., SE, Washington, D.C. 20032. Please note that we are unable to publish letters that do not include a full name, address and phone number. We look forward to hearing from you.