Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons

For those who celebrate the traditional Western World Christmas, did you receive a desired gift this past Wednesday? What did you do to enjoy such a fortunate outcome? Requested the gift verbally or through prayer? Used mind power to materialize it? Produced the gift yourself or shopped and
purchased it? Not to worry, the key point is that you received what you desired!

On the other hand, should we not give just a little more consideration to the foregoing questions and outcome? Should we consider the scenario in light of our (Black America’s) plight in the good ole US of A? BlackEconomics.org is just one of a multitude of sources that beat the drum incessantly on economic inequality and that analyze reasons for it. At the same time, recognize that some of the most powerful voices against economic inequality and the most prolific scholarly researchers of the
topic have little-to-no experience suffering the vagaries of economic inequality. Besides, many scholars benefit tremendously from the persistence of conditions about which they expound.

We will not venture here to examine the thought about what is required to know a topic completely. And while we value the admonition to “study the ant,” a wise one will know that no matter how much we accrue in “ant knowledge,” we will never fully comprehend the nature of ants. However, it is very worthwhile to consider the “Why” and “How” of getting what we want. We will undertake these one-word questions below, but we invite you to introduce yourself to, or refamiliarize yourself with, our June 2023 commentary entitled, “We Get What We Accept.”

A salient portion of the just-mentioned commentary relates:

Until we (Black Americans) comprehend fully that we must first reject completely acceptance of {the status quo} our unrightful place (at the bottom) in the US society, decide what and where we want to be inside or outside of the US society, and then move systematically, determinedly, and expeditiously to reach our rightful place, then we will continue to get what we have gotten. While truthful and consistent with our intent, the statement is presumptive and fails to ask or answer a very pertinent question: “Why do we accept the status quo?” Given the title of the current commentary, the inferred answer to the latter question is that we accept the status quo because it is what we desire—what we want. “Really?” You ask. “Yes really!” We respond.

Returning to the beginning of the June 2023 commentary, Ye was, and is, correct. We have choices. In fact, as we reminded colleagues recently, we have no choice but to make choices. The creation, if anything, reflects duality in its oneness: A twoness; male and female; right and left; up and down;
hot and cold; etc. Therefore, we confront choices everywhere we turn.

When considering the case of Black America’s unfavorable position “at the bottom” of the socioeconomic hierarchy, recognition of being at the bottom is coupled with recognition of the possibility of being at the top or elsewhere in the hierarchy.

This commentary is to remind us that it was, and is, our choice to be at the bottom (individually or on average—collectively). If we really, really despise the status quo, then we have intellects that can enable us to engineer an alternate outcome. The latter statement is not to convey the warmed-over
spit labeled “bootstrap economics.” A wise guardian advised us often years ago: “Everybody ain’t able.” That is, every individual is not capable of rising (bootstrapping themselves up) alone. Rather,
Black Americans must confess that we, too, not just the “White man,” may speak—intentionally or unintentionally—with a “forked tongue.”

We may ruminate and pontificate vociferously about being at the bottom, but we must want to remain there. On a sweltering day, it can be pleasant in the shade at the foot of an old oak tree with wide
branches. It can be comfortable to the point of motivating the suppression of ideas about working and suffering in the heat of a blistering mid-day sun to lift ourselves from the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy. And there is the thought that sacrifices required to capture materialism should not be made because materialism is not “the best answer for resolving very important mystery-of-life questions.” Yet, if we accede to the latter notion, then why proclaim that we desire a different outcome—i.e., to not be at the bottom?

Returning to the outset of this commentary and recalling the questions that we posed and the answers that surfaced in your mind in response, we certainly know how to get what we want. In combination, we can deploy the spoken word (vibrations from our heart), the power of the mind, and brute force effort (violent aggression if necessary) to get what we want.

We (Black Americans) should discontinue our self-deceit. If we did not know before, we know now. We get what we accept, and we know how to get what we want (by any means necessary) if we really want it. Now we add a correlated postulate: “We accept what we want!”

Hence, we are all charged now with informing new and coming generations of these life realities no matter the starting point in the socioeconomic hierarchy. We should teach them the truth and help prepare them to tackle life and to make wise choices about what they really want. We should not be
surprised when they surpass our expectations in getting and accepting what they want by any means necessary somewhere in this world.

Dr. Brooks Robinson is the founder of the Black Economics.org website.

The post “We Get What We Want!”: Will Black Americans Continue To Accept Being At The Bottom Of American Society? appeared first on Black Star News.

Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons

Logically, and it should not be surprising, our late November 2024 release of an analysis brief on “group economics” revealed that Black Americans practiced the just-mentioned concept by spending a mere estimated 13.1% of our total “spending power” with Black American
entrepreneurs during 2020.[i]

The current splintering and fragmenting of the US along political lines is also mirrored along racial
lines. Given the current high level of uncertainty and prospects for its continued intensity and long
duration makes the following statement appear as a wise choice: Black Americans should prepare
for a renewed surge of fighting in the undeclared, but over 400 year-long war in the US.

We are not referring here so much to violent conflict; although that is certainly included. Rather,
concern is focused on socioeconomic and political conflicts.

Economically, we can do no better than ensure the functional/operational existence and practice
of Kujichagulia and Ujamaa, self-determination and cooperative economics, respectively, in our
“areas of influence” (communities).[ii]

Even before this preferred condition materializes, and to ensure it is sustained and expanded, it is
important to “name it and claim it.”[iii] Such a positive affirmation and agreement on Black
Americans’ practical goals and aspirations is essential for our success—knowing all the while that
we are more than prepared to work and produce our desired outcomes.

Before elaborating on “naming it and claiming it,” it is appropriate to highlight two related experiences. First, we note our current research study effort in Fargo, North Dakota and turn your attention to Figure 1. It shows St. Mary’s Cathedral, which stands on Broadway Street. A white sculpture of Jesus inviting all to the “kingdom” is positioned conspicuously at the front of the cathedral. Although situated at a northern latitude with a cold climate, this sculpture reflects no modification to Jesus’s “standard” attire: A flowing robe made of a thin fabric. As a result, the sculpture is even more striking to those
passing by, who are not fully adjusted to winter. Those observing the cathedral and the Jesus sculpture are motivated to inculcate the following obvious, but subtle 2 (subliminal) messages: (1) Jesus is White, which means that God is White; (2) Jesus and Whites can address any issue or concern, undeterred by inclement weather; (3) Jesus and his Whiteness are linked directly to light (even divine knowledge) and rightness.[iv] This tripart thought (and it need not be limited to three) is at the root of White Supremacy which is packaged well in a message that was, and continues to be, taken the world over to expand, reinforce, and sustain Whites’ positions at the top of the socioeconomic hierarchy around the globe.[v]

The just-mentioned messages have produced egregious harm to the world’s Black population,
which should issue a powerful response. Black people of the world must counteract, unseat, and
reverse this White Supremacy program if we are to rise. A starting-point and crucial realization is
that wherever the Christian message has been, or is being, taken, White proselytizers have named
and claimed as much in sight as possible.

Second and conversely, during our limited travel and working time on the African Continent, we
were perplexed concerning Africans’ failure to conduct widespread renaming of aspects of their
world that were reclaimed from colonizers. Our personal consternation about this was amplified
by time spent in South Asia. Unlike Africans, South Asians have been enthusiastic about
reinstating the full scope of their culture since their 1947 break with the British. Not everything,
but almost all important aspects of the South Asian world have undergone renaming and
reclaiming to undo the British former powerful presence. With or without financial and other
resources, South Asians have charged ahead to recapture control of their world and remove
vestiges of White Supremacy so that its impact is diminished. On the other hand, when enquired
of Africans why they have not made similar efforts to preserve their heritage and thwart negative
fallout from White Supremacy programs, the responses received mainly highlighted a fear of
losing tourism receipts.

These are external “naming it and claiming it” experiences. What about the Black American
experience? After Black Americans enjoyed solidarity in achieving a National MLK Holiday,
many thoroughfares all over the nation are labeled “MLK.” Certain local authorities have gone so
far as to relabel some of their most important thoroughfares “MLK,” irrespective of whether they
are located in or around pockets of Black American populations.

Black Americans, who seek to increase and improve our practice of Kujichagulia and Ujamaa,
can do so by “naming it and claiming it.” Specifically, where we have enclaves of significant sizes,
with or without approval of local authorities, we can unilaterally relabel schools, streets, parks,
etc. that are located within our enclaves and for our own satisfaction. It is by giving more
significance to where we live and claiming more “ownership” of it that we can motivate and
stimulate internal energy to intensify and expand our efforts to achieve that favored state where
we exercise control over our areas of influence, economically, socially, politically, and otherwise.

As we walk through our enclaves on Sunday mornings, we hear joyful noise emanating from our
places of worship (especially those of Pentecostal or Evangelical faiths) in the form of a question
and a related cry: “Do you have a need, a requirement? Then name it and claim it!” We should all
begin to take this gospel—adding elbow grease in the form of work—from the sanctuary to the
streets in our communities so that we seize greater control of our lives and elevate our overall
socioeconomic wellbeing.

Dr. Brooks Robinson is the founder of the Black Economics.org website.

References:

[i] Brooks Robinson (2024). “‘Group Economics’ for Black Americans (Afrodescendants).” BlackEconomics.org; https://www.blackeconomics.org/BELit/gefbaa112924.pdf (Ret. 121924).

[ii] Kujichagulia and Ujamaa are Kei Swahili terms that account for two of the Seven Kwanzaa Principles (Nguzo Saba). Kwanzaa is a seven-day international holiday and celebration enjoyed mainly by African and Afrodescendant People around the globe; https:/ www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/ (Ret. 121924).

[iii] It is believed (according to Generative AI) that Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter, II (June 1, 1935 – July 28, 2009) aka Rev. Ike was the first to popularize the phrase “name it and claim it.” Rev. Ike was a prosperity gospel preacher headquartered in New York City.

[iv] We discussed the near ubiquitous association of Whiteness with rightness, righteousness, goodness, and divinity in Chapter One of Brooks Robinson (2007), Black Americans and the Media: An Economic Perspective. Unpublished. See footnote 2 on page 1. https://www.blackeconomics.org/BEMedia/chapterone.pdf (Ret. 121924). When the white
color issue surfaces, often the types of connotations noted in the text of this essay are presented; and in certain cases, mirror connotations are provided for the color black. Seldom will one find a rebuff of the white connotations. We provide such rebuffs. The color white, which is not identical to a “clear” or translucent color,” is associated, inter alia, with the following non-exhaustive outcomes as viewed in our natural environment. We start with the
overarching significance of white. In our view, it serves as a “warning;” including being at a pinnacle with nowhere to go but downward: viz., white snow signals the onset of winter (coldness, dormancy, morbidness, and death); and a snow-peaked mountain top is a pinnacle with only a downward direction. Is a global economy dominated by Whites a warning that we have reached a pinnacle that will be followed by a precipitous decline? A property of the
color white is as a reflector of light. It is interesting that many (wood and stone) churches are painted white; presumably with the expectation, at least in part, that white reflects/deflects—not attract or absorb—evil (the presumed dark). White ocean foam warns of a forceful tide; a frothy white condition is too hot; white-hot iron or other metal implies pliability—something not typically desired in metals; a shallow cut of black or brown skin will reveal whiteness, warning that the next level is bloody. An important connotation of the color white is that
something is lacking/missing/absent: viz., albinos, who are without pigment; and blank white pages that scream for colored ink. White automobiles typically cost less than automobiles painted with non-white colors. The foregoing examples reveal that the color white is tightly linked to connotations that are not so noble, right, righteous, good, favorable.

[v] We discuss this topic in more detail in the chapter, “Jesus the Salesman” in Brooks Robinson (2024), Merida Musing, BlackEconomics.org, pp. 32-36; https:/ www.blackeconomics.org/BEAP/memu041924.pdf (Ret.
121924).

The post “Name It and Claim It”: Black Americans Must Work Together To Reclaim Our Power appeared first on Black Star News.

Photos: YouTube Screenshots

Considerable interest and importance have long been assigned to nonfinancial and financial
wealth. However, there is the adage and realization that “Our health is our wealth.” Now we drill
down on the latter truth to assist Black Americans in realizing the higher health wellbeing. The
primary takeaway from this analysis brief is that, like nonfinancial and financial wealth, Black
Americans can engage in producing health wealth. We have considerable latitude, self-reliance,
self-determination, and liberty to produce health wealth. Therefore, we confront again the well-
known dictum: “Do for self.” Given that ill-health is a prevalent aspect of today’s Black American
condition, we should ask “Why”? Using the multiplicity of partial answers to the question, we
should commit to resolving current health concerns, and then to adopting the paradigm for good
health that is suggested in the Long-Term Strategic Plan for Black America (LTSPFBA):
“Prevent, Fortify, and Flourish.”[i]

The following are the top 10 causes of death for Black Americans for 2021 (the latest available
statistics).

Note that 11 (not 10) leading causes of death appear in Table 1 because the Covid-19 cause is
pandemic related, which was present during 2021, but would not typically appear as a leading
cause death for non-pandemic years.

In reviewing what are considered important contributing risk factors for each of the causes, it is
clear that, with the exception of Covid-19, Accidents, and Assault, the remaining eight leading
causes of death for Black Americans are linked to “lifestyle habits” to include suboptimal diet (i.e.,
the inefficacious consumption of food and beverages) and consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and
certain drugs. Also, suboptimal exercise is a contributing risk factor for most of the eight leading
causes of death. In other words, Black Americans have considerable opportunities to control risk
factors that combine to help cause the top ten killers. Proper attention to managing our lifestyle
habits; our diet; our tobacco, alcohol, and drug use; and engaging in sufficient exercise can help
reduce the likelihood that these eight diseases rise to become leading causes of death.

Given the prominent role of our lifestyles and consumption behavior in raising these diseases to
the level of “leading” causes of death, there are at least four noteworthy points. First, it is well
known (and significant efforts have been expended in certain locales to acknowledge and address
the problem) that Black Americans confront restricted opportunities to obtain access to high
quality diet sources. “Food desserts,” as they are known, invite an influx of unhealthy sources of
food for consumption into our areas of influence (communities), which exacerbate the role of diet
as a contributing risk factor in producing disease.

Second, local governments’ proclivity to license the sale of alcohol, tobacco, and now cannabis in
or near our areas of influence is another crucial factor that contributes to the elevation of
consumption-related risk factors that causes certain diseases to become leading cause of Black
American deaths.

Third, there is an integrated and supporting connection between the two foregoing points and the
role of health in local and national economies. We note often that health services-related output
constitutes nearly 20% of the nation’s total output (gross domestica product, GDP). Therefore, if this

large economic sector fails to grow, then growth for the entire economy is jeopardized. With
the latter point in mind, little effort is made to stifle the foregoing realities from contributing to the
process by which they increase death. We note that this is tantamount to saying explicitly that, like
one other service industry that is bad news for Black Americans (criminal justice services), the
health services industry exploits wantonly Black American minds, bodies, and souls as material
factor inputs in the nation’s economic production.[iii]

Fourth, the “virtuous circle” and integrated nature of the economy includes a pattern of
unannounced, but supportive processes that contribute mightily to Black America’s ill health.
Specifically, the nation’s governments contribute significantly to the following types of production
using taxpayer resources in ways that are not beneficial to certain taxpayers—especially Black
American taxpayers: (1) Agricultural and manufacturing production of unhealthy foods and
beverages; (2) pharmaceutical products that serve as treatment for ill-health that is caused by the
consumption of unhealthy foods; (3) wholesale and retail sales of the production just referenced
in items 1 and 2; (4) the creation and expansion of health related programs that require and enable
production by many other industries (construction, manufacturing, and numerous service
industries) in a quest to create an ever expanding healthcare sector with more and more employees
that build on the production highlighted in items 1, 2, and 3; and (5) media enterprises that play a
major role using the power of suggestion to cause consumers to: (i) Over consume goods and
services that are not in their best interest; and (ii) generate real or psychosomatic illnesses that
necessitate the need for health services and consumption of more harmful pharmaceutical products
than would otherwise be consumed.

Consequently, this analysis brief clarifies that Black Americans confront a choice. We can
continue to accept the status quo, or we can research, identify, and adopt alternative methods for
producing our health wealth using the newly suggested LTSPFBA paradigm: “Prevent, fortify,
and flourish.” If we choose the latter, then it serves as another step toward greater independence,
self-reliance, self-determination, and liberty. We can discontinue supporting economically and
enriching those who seek to use and destroy us. Most importantly, our production of health wealth
can be accompanied by nonfinancial and financial wealth secured by saving on healthcare, and we
can enjoy longer lives with considerably improved wellbeing.

Dr. Brooks Robinson is the founder of the Black Economics.org website.

The post We Black Americans Must Produce Our Own Health Wealth appeared first on Black Star News.

Since BlackEconomics.org’s May 2021 submission, “Seven Truths About Black American Billionaires,” Forbes Magazine has recognized two new Black American billionaires: LeBron James and Rhianna.[1] They join the following list of Black American billionaires: Robert F. Smith, David Steward, Oprah Winfrey, Kanye West (Ye), Michael Jordan, Jay-Z Carter, and Tyler Perry.

Yet these two additions did not transform a fundamental reality about Black billionaires: Their core enterprises are generally in wholesale/retail or service-related industries (consulting, design, financial, and entertainment).[2] The simple fact is that, although we now have nine billionaires, Black Americans are generally absent a large and significant role as owners of enterprises that manufacture or build.

This could all change if enough unity and trust can be forged between Black Americans in key positions to come together in support of major projects.

For example, a Black American consulting and management firm, the Finley Group, Inc., has performed a tremendous amount of background and administrative preparatory work for designing and building a high-speed rail system between Atlanta, Georgia and Dallas, Texas. The proposed about 800-mile-long and privately financed construction project in the Interstate 20 Express corridor would connect all major cities between its two endpoints. The project’s cost is currently estimated at about $35 billion; it would create hundreds of thousands of construction and post-construction jobs; and it would present a wide breadth of business opportunities on a post-construction basis in and around stations built for the system.

In fact, there should be a sizeable upside to other socioeconomic benefits that are likely to accrue to Black Americans in the five states covered by the system. Those benefits should include opportunities for Black Americans to receive knowledge and skill transfers associated with all aspects of the high-speed rail industry: From finance, to design, to manufacturing, to construction, to management and operations. These opportunities would help increase in a significant way Black American representation in jobs with above average compensation.

However, possibly the most important benefit from developing this project is that it would represent Black America’s initial foray as a significant participant in the construction of a multibillion-dollar project. We would move from important roles in wholesale/retail and services to important roles in large scale construction. Of course, the end-product would be transportation services.

Unfortunately, to date, too few strategically placed Black American in the five states to be covered by the high-speed rail project have come forward to support the endeavor and to leverage their clout to influence the states’ leadership to approve the project. Everyone knows that first movers are rewarded, and that failure to capture opportunities when they appear could mean that others may step in and claim the benefit.

For Black America’s benefit, we hope that well-positioned Black Americans in academia, industry, and government in the concerned states will reconsider and step forward to help move Black America up the economic track to play a first-time and leading role in a megaproject that stands to benefit millions of Americans for decades to come.

It is through these types of projects that more Black Americans can join the millionaire and billionaire clubs. In addition, Black Americans even at the lowest economic level can benefit from such projects because they can enjoy cost savings by accessing the related services. However, as already noted, the most important outcome from such projects is that they would help transform our and others’ mentalities concerning our capacity to resurrect the genius and skill that were, and still are, on display on the African continent when we built great and large things thousands of years ago.

Once we recapture our confidence to perform in this way, Black American billionaires will become much more common place.

Dr. Brooks Robinson is the founder of the Black Economics.org website: https://blackeconomics.org/index.php/about-us/
References:
[1] We include Rihanna here even though she is not a
citizen of the US; she is a US permanent resident.

{2] Potentially one exception to this general rule is that
David Steward’s firm produces computer software,
which is considered a “manufacturing” process.

The post Black Billionaires: Moving Black America Up The Economic Track appeared first on Black Star News.

On April 4, 1968, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life was cut short by a racist’s bullet. Though his death shocked the nation and will forever reverberate throughout our republic, the fruits of his righteous labor and those of countless others remain undeniable: Mass non-violent protests; The Civil Rights Act of 1964; and, The Voting Rights Act of 1965. These monumental pieces of legislation and the civil rights movement that fueled them changed the course of our nation and reimagined what the world thought was possible. 

But if history is any indication, past victories often need defending. If Dr. King were alive today, what would he think about the 253 bills that have been introduced by state legislators in 43 states to suppress the vote? In a 1957 speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Dr. King criticized states who were using “all types of conniving methods” to prevent Black Americans from voting.  He explained, “the denial of this sacred right is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition.”  And he called for action from the federal government, demanding that Congress “give us the ballot!” It is likely he would say the same right now. 

We need federal action now to give all of us the ballot and fulfill the promise of our democracy. Congress answered Dr. King’s call for action by passing the Voting Rights Act.  Dr. King’s words ring true now as much as they did six decades ago, and Congress must listen once again.   

There are two current bills that together would move us closer to the multiracial democracy envisioned by Dr. King and the civil rights movement. First, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act  (“VRAA”), named after the civil rights legend and U.S. Representative John Lewis, would restore much of the major anti-discriminatory protection lost in 2013’s disastrous Shelby County v. Holder U.S. Supreme Court decision—federal review of voting changes made by states and localities with a record of discrimination.  Among other provisions, the law would also create new transparency requirements for voting changes, such as providing public notice for polling place changes.   

The second important bill is the For the People Act. This legislation would set clear minimum standards for voter access in federal elections that would improve voter participation, particularly in communities of color. The bill, which has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives, would require states to provide a minimum of two weeks of early voting, allow eligible citizens to register to vote on the same day as an election, and provide the option of voting by mail to all voters. 

It also would require government agencies to automatically register eligible voters when they access government services, and would enfranchise millions of voters who are currently unable to vote because of a prior criminal conviction. These provisions would prevent states from engaging in numerous subtle, and not-so-subtle, voter suppression tactics that disproportionately affect our most disadvantaged communities. 

Fifty-three years ago, Americans of all races questioned whether the country would be able to transcend its divisions or would instead continue to suffer from racial discord and violent upheaval. Today, the United States is still facing those same questions.  

While the country is much closer to fulfilling King’s dream of a multiracial democracy—the Congressional Black Caucus now has a record 59 members, Black mayors govern the Southern cities of Atlanta, Jackson, Birmingham and Montgomery, and the country has its first Black and Asian-American vice president—voting rights now are less secure than they were in 1968. 

The Voting Rights Act, the landmark legislation that Dr. King fought for years to establish as law, has been a shell of its former self since the infamous Shelby decision. For the past eight years, our country has faced a wave of restrictive voting rights legislation without the protection of federal oversight.   

As we mark Dr. King’s death once again, Congress must heed his call to action and pass this critical legislation for our democracy. That is the best way to honor the legacy of one of America’s greatest leaders.  

Kadeem Cooper is Policy Counsel with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.  

The post Honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s Legacy By Passing Voting Rights Legislation appeared first on Black Star News.

Long-term disinvestments in communities of color across the city left Black New Yorkers underserved and overexposed during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we battle a second wave, COVID-19’s resurgence in predominantly African-American communities should be cause for new alarm. Our Black-owned businesses also continue to disproportionately bear the brunt of the ongoing economic fallout from the pandemic.

According to a December poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, vaccine hesitancy is proportionally higher than average among Black Americans – with 35% saying that they definitely or probably would not get vaccinated. Given our country’s long and dark history of exploiting and mistreating Black Americans in the false name of science and public health, it should come as no surprise that the community most harmed by racism in healthcare is one of the most skeptical of a rapid vaccine rollout.

As the City rolls out the COVID-19 vaccine, we cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes. My Fair Shot NYC proposal is a plan to reach every New Yorker where they are – and break down systemic barriers that have long perpetuated unequal public health outcomes among African-Americans. We cannot take vaccination access for granted: New Yorkers across backgrounds, economic status, occupations and ages face distinct barriers to vaccination, each of which must be identified and removed as distribution ramps up.

That is why I called on the City to release all demographic data in real time on who has received vaccination shots to date with breakdowns by zip code, age and race. That data are crucial to ensure the vaccine is actually reaching the populations hit hardest by the virus – and identifying where more aggressive outreach is needed.

The same structural racism that resulted in people of color bearing the disproportionate burden of COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths is now plaguing our vaccination program. Only 11 percent of New Yorkers vaccinated are Black, and just 15 percent are Latino. By comparison, 48 percent of New Yorkers that have received a vaccine are white. Furthermore, more than a quarter of the people vaccinated in the city are not New York City residents – and nearly 60 percent of those people are white.

These gaps will not close on their own; it requires consistent, intentional, thoughtful, and authentic engagement and programs focused on those being left behind. That’s why data without cultural and historical context are meaningless. It is essential that the City work within the African-American community to address mistrust and establish strong lines of communication and partnership. The City should launch targeted public advertising campaigns in partnership with “trusted messengers” – including faith leaders, workplace leaders, widely known public figures and influencers. These are people who have deep roots in their communities and reach audiences that one-size-fits-all outreach cannot.

Our business community also has a vital role to play in making sure the vaccine distribution is equitable. The City should work with employers whose workforces are high-risk and eligible to share official information about how and where employees can get vaccinated. Equity also means ensuring that workers who want the vaccine also have the workplace flexibility to get it. The City should require that all businesses provide paid time off for all employees who need to get vaccinated and to recover from any side effects.

When it comes to actually getting an appointment for the vaccine, New Yorkers have to navigate multiple complex and glitchy distribution systems—which pose major hurdles for people without Internet access, lacking in digital literacy, and with language barriers. We should implement a single, functional online platform for vaccine sign-ups. Rather than have multiple ineffectual city government websites, we need one city platform that works.

The City should establish a supply chain management task force to track and redistribute vaccine supplies in real time. If one vaccination site is struggling with vaccine delivery or low demand, the task force should be ready to get those unused doses to other sites that need them. The task forces should also work with these low-performing sites to figure out why demand is stagnant – and use the demographic data to target outreach.

The City also needs to be more strategic about directing its resources. We have an army of City contact tracers working to pinpoint sources of community spread. The City should reassign the majority of contact tracers to promoting vaccine access in all communities including making appointments – with special emphasis on the elderly and other high-risk groups.

Time and time again, we’ve seen that clear, constant communication and information-sharing is our way out of crisis. New York City was the COVID capital of the world – but we can now be the COVID-19 vaccine capital of the world if we aim for it.

Scott M. Stringer in Comptroller, New York City.

The post How Fair Shot NYC Would Ensure Equal Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine appeared first on Black Star News.

This is how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. summed things up: “We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”

America has what it voted for; Trump is gone (I will deal with Trumpism in another article). Despite the failed coup d’état on Jan. 6, President Biden and Vice President Harris will be sworn into office in a matter of hours. The Biden-Harris administration is now a reality.

The majority of Americans are ready for the country to move forward but where does it go and how does it get there? The “empire” must now come to grips with a number of structural problems. Across the United States, voter suppression policies continue to disenfranchise the poor and voters of color. In the aftermath of the George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbury murders too many Americans do not feel safe in their own communities. Twenty-four million American’s have been infected with COVID-19 and nearly 400,000 have died, as the government struggles with the logistics of vaccine distribution and inoculation. COVID-19 also continues to ravage the American economy.

According to the Department of Labor, the four-week moving average of first-time filings for unemployment insurance claims was 834,250, an increase of 18,250 from the previous week’s revised average. Also, 30 to 40 million Americans are on the verge of being evicted from their homes in the dead of winter and in the midst of a pandemic.

The world also knows as W.E.B Du Bois wrote, that the problem of the 20th century is “the problem of the color line.” In 1967 the Kerner Commission warned, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal” and COVID-19 has highlighted deep-rooted systemic racial disparities in health care; highlighting the adage, when America catches a cold, Black America gets pneumonia.
As the Biden administration implements its COVID, economic, social justice, education, and other programs, African Americans must be at the forefront of articulating the needs of the African American community. “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy,” Dr. King reminds us. It will be fatal for the community if it overlooks the urgency of the moment.

How quickly new president Biden forgot that the African American community saved his candidacy and put him in the White House. He was about to drop out of the race until African American voters in South Carolina delivered him a resounding win.

In December, civil rights leaders had to demand a meeting with the then president-elect to express their concerns about a lack of focus on racial equity, social justice, and increased diversity in the Biden-Harris Cabinet. South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn is on record saying, not enough Black Americans have been nominated to join the incoming Biden administration: “I want to see where the process leads to…But so far it’s not good.”

Biden has confused gender diversity and diversity of phenotype and pigmentation with the diversity of perspective and policy. Look at the names and records of his cabinet selections and nominees. For the most part it’s “Clinton-Obama” retreads. The same people and perspectives that have given us the neoliberal and imperialists policies that have driven the country into the ditch. Republicans have contributed to this as well but right now the focus is on Biden-Harris.

Frederick Douglas told us, “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them…The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” What is the African American community willing to demand?

We need a Marshall Plan for the African American community. If the U.S. could spend $15 billion to rebuild Europe after the devastation of WWII, and pass a $740 billion Defense Authorization Act, the U.S. can invest the needed dollars to rebuild the American communities of color that it devastated with the Tulsa race riot, the Red Summer of 1919, and the gutting of urban centers with the building of the highway system of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

The African American community saved Biden’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and put him in the White House. The African American community saved the Senate for the Democrats with its successful efforts in Georgia. The question is not, what reward will it be given for its efforts? Again, power concedes nothing without a demand. The community must decide what it is willing to fight for. The question is, upon what hill is it willing to die?

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Leon,” on SiriusXM Satellite radio channel 126. Author of Politics Another Perspective. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: wjl3us@yahoo.com. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com © 2021 InfoWave Communications, LLC

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U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) on Tuesday released a statement after the Senate Intelligence Committee released the second volume of its report on Russian interference in the 2016 election:

“Today’s bipartisan report of the Senate Intelligence Committee makes clear that Russia deployed information warfare to sway the 2016 elections and exploited American social media networks to do it—and that their disinformation campaign ramped up after Election Day 2016. Russian operatives set out to divide the American people by taking advantage of existing divisions in American society, particularly on the issue of race, to stoke fear and influence voter turnout. The Russian influence operation delivered disinformation and inflammatory content, on a massive scale, aimed at deepening fissures among the American people and weakening our national security.

“Russia engaged in tactics designed to suppress the votes of Black Americans in particular. Russian operatives fraudulently posed as Black Americans to actively discourage the Black community from voting. Social media companies must step up their efforts to fight disinformation and remove inflammatory content on their platforms, including by ensuring their workforces are diverse enough to identify and understand the cultural nuances that foreign actors exploit to divide and harm Americans.

“And let’s be honest: it’s time for the President of the United States to stop playing into our adversaries’ hands. With every dishonest and inflammatory tweet, the president advances the interests of our adversaries by dividing the American people. This bipartisan report should cause social media companies to seriously question the role they play in advancing the president’s dangerous rhetoric.

“Defending the integrity of our elections must not be a partisan issue. Hostile foreign powers will seek to promote candidates who they perceive to promote their interests, regardless of party. This is an ongoing threat against our national security and our democracy. Our work to secure our elections for 2020 and beyond will only be successful if we understand that our diversity is our strength and that our power ultimately comes from our unity.”

Among the Senate Intelligence Committee’s findings in the second volume of its report were:

* “Russia’s targeting of the 2016 U.S. presidential election was part of a broader, sophisticated, and ongoing information warfare campaign designed to sow discord in American politics and society.” (pg. 5)

* “IRA activity on social media did not cease, but rather increased after Election Day 2016.” (pg. 8)

* “Three types of voter suppression campaigns on Facebook and Instagram emerge, including: ‘a) turnout suppression/election boycott; b) third-candidate promotion; and c) candidate attack, all targeting nonwhites or likely Clinton voters.” (pg. 35)

“[N]o single group of Americans was targeted by IRA (Russia’s Internet Research Agency) information operatives more than African-Americans. By far, race and related issues were the preferred target of the information warfare campaign designed to divide the country in 2016.” (pg. 38)

* “Evidence of the IRA’s overwhelming operational emphasis on race is evident in the IRA’s Facebook advertisement content (over 66 percent contained a term related to race) and targeting (locational targeting was principally aimed at ‘African-Americans in key metropolitan areas with well-established black communities and flashpoints in the Black Lives Matter movement’).” (pg. 38)

* “The groups that they made to reach out to Black people were specifically targeted with ‘Don’t Vote for Hillary Clinton,’ ‘Don’t Vote At All,’ ‘Why Would We Be Voting,’ ‘Our Votes Don’t Matter,’ [and] ‘A Vote for Jill Stein is Not a Wasted Vote.’” (pg. 35)

* “At the direction of the Kremlin…IRA social media activity was overtly and almost invariably supportive of then-candidate Trump, and to the detriment of Secretary Clinton’s campaign.” (pg. 4)

* “The IRA targeted not only Hillary Clinton, but also Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. For example, Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were targeted and denigrated, as was Jeb Bush.” (pg. 6)

* “An estimated 3.3 million Facebook users followed IRA-backed pages, and these pages are the predicate for 76.5 million user interactions, or ‘engagements.’” (pg. 45)

* “[T]he IRA used 133 Instagram accounts to publish over 116,000 posts…IRA accounts accumulated 3.3 million followers and generated 187 million engagements.” (pg. 48)

* “Twitter accounts tied to the IRA “generated nearly 8.5 million tweets, resulting in 72 million engagements on the basis of that original content….Twitter estimates that in total, 1.4 million users engaged with tweets originating with the IRA.” (pg. 50)

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