Year: 2017

The recent dust-up over President Trump’s sudden interest in historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Education Secretary DeVos’ fake history of the origin of these national treasures brought to mind an uninformed remark by a white South Carolina state elected official several years ago. That official stated that those of us who attended an HBCU were not qualified for admission anywhere else. Such comments might be comical were they uttered by uninformed or misinformed private citizens, but they are downright dangerous when they are the mindset of elected and appointed public officials.

South Carolina State College ― now University (SCSU) ― was established in 1896, and its law school operated from 1947 until 1966, solely to keep historically white Clemson University and the University of South Carolina all white, irrespective of the intellect of Harvey Gantt and Henri Monteith, and the intellect and military service of John Wrighten and Matthew Perry.

There are over 100 HBCUs in the country. They were established by white and black religious leaders out of frustration with the actions and inactions of mostly southern states and the federal government’s attempt to maintain rigid segregation and a modified form of apartheid. South Carolina refused to provide my dad and many others public schooling beyond the seventh grade. Many of them continued to educate themselves, later passed college entrance exams and matriculated at various HBCUs, their only choice. But they were not allowed to graduate, or even enter their senior year, because – thanks to the state – high school diplomas were required. My family and I were present when Morris College rectified this situation for my dad, awarding him his degree in 2003, 25 years after his death.

It was not that long ago when South Carolina elected to pay the out-of-state tuition for black students who wanted to pursue a course of study offered at the state’s historically white institutions but not at SCSU. But that was then; so what is now?

I don’t know that I am sufficiently equipped to discuss other states. But despite findings by the federal government, a 24-year old lawsuit, and a recent State Supreme Court decision, South Carolina continues to under-fund its elementary and secondary schools as well as SCSU, its only state-supported HBCU. By the way, North Carolina has five state-supported HBCUs, Georgia has three, and West Virginia, about 60 percent the size of South Carolina, has two.

I have always maintained that one will never be any more or any less than that which his or her experiences allow them to be. And the earliest experiences our children have, outside of the home, are in their schools and communities. If the toilets in their schools do not work and the roofs leak, not much learning is going to take place in the labs or classrooms. If their water is not safe to drink, their roads barely passable, and there are little if any broadband connections in their homes, positive early childhood development is rarely going to take place.

These factors offer unique challenges for HBCUs. One of my friends, a highly successful retired cardiologist, recently said to me, “When I arrived at NC A&T from that little rural South Carolina high school, I had to take remedial everything.”

HBCUs do much more than offer post-secondary studies: they counsel, remediate, and nurture. Most HBCU administrators, staffs, and professors see a bit of themselves in these young, neglected, inquiring minds, and the vast majority of them view it as part of their calling to rescue them and help them develop into solid citizens and pursue productive careers.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

While “Black-ish” actress Tracee Ellis Ross may have always been a bombshell in our eyes, the actress recently told Health magazine that it took years for her to accept her curves. 

“I love my butt in a way I didn’t growing up,” Ross told the publication in an interview posted Tuesday. 

“I really didn’t like it growing up. It was so much bigger than everyone else’s, and I wanted jeans to look the way they did on everyone else, and mine didn’t,” she continued.

The actress added that she’d been “at odds with [her] body for years” and wanted it to “be something other than it was.”

Fortunately, Ross’ negative body image is a thing of the past. She has also been the subject of several complimentary headlines, including “10 Instances Of Tracee Ellis Ross Looking Gloriously Thick.” 

“The comfort in my skin is so much better,” Ross said. “I spent so much of my life, culturally, seeing myself through others because I just didn’t always have the confidence to look at the world through my own eyes. As opposed to the ‘shoulds.’”

You’re still #bodygoals over here, Tracee. 

Read the full interview here.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Beyoncé fans are not happy with Emma Watson. 

Last week, Watson posed on the cover of Vanity Fair in a somewhat racy outfit that showed off her cleavage and mid-section. Unfortunately, many people criticized the photo, claiming that she can’t be a feminist and be sexual at the same time (in actuality, neither of these are mutually exclusive). A few days after the uproar died down, Watson responded thoughtfully and critically. But on Monday, the Beyhive tweeted some comments Watson made about Beyoncé in 2014 after her self-titled album “Beyoncé” came out. Early Tuesday morning, Watson responded to the Beyhive. 

Here’s a quick timeline to explain why Beyoncé fans are coming after Watson and what’s happened since.

On March 1, Vanity Fair published their March cover photo of Watson in a revealing outfit. 

In the spread, Watson is featured wearing no shirt and a tiny piece of white fabric that barely covers her breasts. Immediately, a ridiculous debate began where people questioned her feminist credentials. “Emma Watson: Feminism, feminism… gender wage gap… why oh why am I not taken seriously… feminism… oh, and here are my tits,” British columnist Julia Hartley-Brewer tweeted. 

As HuffPost contributor Hannah Cranston wrote so succinctly: “In one simple photo, Watson has inadvertently bared a troubling truth that our society still, in 2017, cannot fathom the possibility that women can both express themselves sexually AND express a desire for equality, simultaneously. It appears as though flaunting one’s figure and a feminist agenda are mutually exclusive.” 

On March 5, Watson responded to her critics.

In an interview with Reuters, Watson fired back at critics, pointing out that she most definitely can be a feminist and express her sexuality all at the same time. 

“It just always reveals to me how many misconceptions and what a misunderstanding there is of what feminism is,” she said. “Feminism is about giving women choice. Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality. I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it. It’s very confusing.”

Even Gloria Steinem weighed in a few days before Watson responded, telling TMZ: “Feminists can wear anything they fucking want,” later adding that maybe the people criticizing Watson “have an incomplete idea of who [feminists] are.” 

Watch the full Reuters interview below.

On March 6, Twitter users unearthed a 2014 article in which Watson criticized Beyoncé for expressing her sexuality in her self-titled album. 

The March 2014 Wonderland Magazine article was a discussion between Watson and Rookie Magazine editor-in-chief Tavi Gevinson. Although the issue was not available online until Tuesday morning, many critics cited a 2014 write up from The Cut that covered the original interview. 

One notable topic at the time was Beyoncé’s new album “Beyoncé,” which dropped a few months prior. The album was heralded as intrinsically feminist, with empowering songs like ***Flawless, which sampled Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s speech “We Should All Be Feminists.” 

This is Watson’s quote from the article that many people are taking issue with:

As I was watching [the videos] I felt very conflicted, I felt her message felt very conflicted in the sense that on the one hand she is putting herself in a category of a feminist, but then the camera, it felt very male, such a male voyeuristic experience of her and I just wondered if you had thoughts about that or if you had any of your own thoughts about any of it really…

Many Twitter users were not happy with Watson, calling her hypocritical.  

In Watson’s full quote, the actress admits, conversationally, that she hadn’t “really formulated [her] own ideas” about Bey’s album, but goes on to ask Gevinson her thoughts on the album. 

While asking Gevinson her question, she says:

My friend and I sat and watched all the videos back-to-back and I was really conflicted… On the one hand she is putting herself in a category of a feminist, this very strong woman ― and she has that beautiful speech by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in one of her songs ― but then the camera, it felt very male, such a male voyeuristic experience of her and I just wondered if you had thoughts about that?

Here’s a screenshot of Watson’s full thought on Beyoncé and her album:

Early March 8, Watson responded to the Beyhive.

On Tuesday morning, she posted a screenshot of part of the original article with certain parts highlighted in yellow. The first part highlighted is the quote circulated by critics on Monday. The second highlighted area reads: 

She does make it clear that she is performing for [Jay-Z]. And the fact that she wasn’t doing it for a label, she was doing it for herself and the control that she has directing it and putting it out there, I agree is making her sexuality empowering because it is her choice.

Wonderland also tweeted a screenshot of the interview and re-published the full interview online. 

Read the full tweet below. (If you can’t read this on mobile, click here.)

Many people applauded Watson in her mentions, with one Twitter user asking: “When someone’s feminism differs from our own, or does not meet our standards, do we have to drag and them for being a ‘bad feminist?’”

All too often, our culture is more ready and willing to criticize a woman of color’s feminism than we are that of a white woman. Understanding that feminism can be a little different depending on the person is integral to a productive conversation. What it comes down to is choice: A woman’s choice to openly express her sexuality or not; her choice to wear revealing clothing or not; her choice to access safe and affordable reproductive healthcare; and so on and so forth. 

As one Twitter user wrote to Watson: “Emma Watson’s feminism might not look like Beyoncé’s feminism but both are valid and positive.” 

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

More Jewish institutions received bomb threats Tuesday, ending a short lull in incidents since Friday, when the FBI arrested a man accused of making eight threats. 

Five Jewish Community Centers, a Jewish day school in Florida and offices for the Anti-Defemation League all received threats. Police searched JCCs in Milwaukee, the greater Washington area, Portland, Oregon, and Rochester, New York, and cleared them all, according to the Jewish Community Center Association of North America. A JCC in Chicago also alerted police after a bomb threat was called in, according to NBC Chicago.

That raises the total number of bomb threats to JCCs and schools to at least 109 since the first big wave of them on Jan. 9. 

It also ends any semblance of normalcy since the FBI arrested Juan Thompson on Friday ― though there was never an indication that he was involved in all of the threats. He’s accused of making eight bomb threats to harass his former girlfriend. Police allege he committed the first offense on Jan. 18 ― nine days after the first series of bomb threats around the country.

Tuesday’s new wave of threats against JCCs were made primarily via email, a method Thompson is accused of using. But many others have been direct phone calls, at times disguised in a robotic voice. The Jewish Telegraph obtained chilling audio from one of those calls in February.

“In a short time, a large number of Jews are going to be slaughtered,” a voice says in the message. “Their heads are going to be blown off from the shrapnel.”

Along with the threats, Jewish cemeteries in Missouri and New York have been vandalized.

In St. Louis, up to 100 tomb stones were toppled. More than a dozen were desecrated in Rochester.  

The FBI is investigating the dozens of other threats across the country. 

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Everyone in the music world remembers Adele’s awesome shout-out to Beyoncé at the Grammys while accepting the Album of the Year award in February.

“I can’t possibly accept this award, and I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious, but my artist of my life is Beyoncé and this album, to me, the ‘Lemonade’ album, was so monumental, Beyoncé,” she said, after “25” beat out Bey’s 2016 album for the night’s biggest award. “It was so monumental and so well-thought-out and so beautiful and soul-baring, and we all got to see another side to you that you don’t always let us see and we appreciate that.” 

That night, Adele also wore a tribute to Queen Bey on her chest: a lemon pin. 

Last week, Beyoncé and Blue Ivy attended the premiere of “Beauty and the Beast” together.

The singer wore a green empire-waist gown, while it appears that Blue wore a modified version of a tiered dress from Gucci’s Fall 2016 collection, according to E! News. 

BuzzFeed noticed that in the middle of Blue’s dress was a heart with “25” stitched in the center, which just might have been a nod to Ms. Adele Laurie Blue Adkins’ album. 

While we don’t know for sure if the “25” had significance (a rep for Gucci was not immediately available for comment), we sure hope so. 

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Co–authored by Marlena I. Mosbacher, occupational therapy student at Rush University, Chicago, IL USA

Yesterday, Trump advanced his developing autocracy with the signing of an anti-immigration executive order that specifically targets Muslims; the UK’s populist anti-immigration party continues to gain steam, and now, it’s even happening in the Netherlands – the anti-immigrant nationalist Geert Wilders is gaining momentum for the March 15th election. And anti-semitic violence and anti-Muslim hate groups are on the rise.

In the current tide of right-wing populist nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, in the US and abroad, it’s even more crucial that we speak out against efforts that further stigmatize and marginalize.

And there is no better place to start, than in environments that we know best ― in higher education settings for the health professions.

Although the general population continues to diversify at a staggering pace with immigrants comprising 14% of America’s population as of last year, the healthcare workforce has remained largely homogenous (i.e., White). In 2015, over 50% of medical school graduates in Illinois identified as White and over 65% of baccalaureate and graduate nursing students in Illinois identified as White, and these statistics aren’t that different from other healthcare fields. Because the demographics of healthcare providers don’t reflect the population at large, there’s a pressing need for curricula in health professions higher education to address this disconnect, a call that, in part, has been attempted by so-called cultural competency training.

Cultural competence is defined as the ability of providers to deliver effective care, which demands a working knowledge of varying social and linguistic needs, to patients who are of a dissimilar culture. Although the educational institutions who train our future healthcare professionals are well-intentioned, cultural competence training often falls way short because it places emphasis on traditional characteristics of minority cultures, and not real, open and frank discussions, about discrimination and oppression. Unfortunately then, the cultural competence model of teaching doesn’t produce culturally aware professionals, but rather, it perpetuates stereotypes by teaching what to expect within certain racial and cultural groups – for example, that Latinx/o/a folks often arrive at the clinic late and/or are joined by several members of their extensive family.

Competence, in medical terms, is defined as the quality or state of being functionally adequate. With this definition in mind, cultural competence suggests that learning how to effectively provide care to minority populations is a linear process with a clear end point, and this is simply not the case. Rather, multicultural training should instead focus on cultural humility which asserts that successful intercultural practice can only be achieved through continuous self-evaluation, correction of unequal power dynamics and formation of non-oppressive community partnerships over the course of a lifetime.

Because diverse populations present opportunities for individuals of different races, cultures and creeds to continuously interact with one another, this creates circumstances in which individuals adopt characteristics, practices and identities that are grounded in more than one culture.

This intersecting of identities, referred to as intersectionality, gives rise to experiences that are far more varied than our current educational models recognize. By sending students into the field with incomplete knowledge about the reality of co-existing identities, for example, of being female, lesbian and Black, we send students into practice without the ability to empathize with the complex and multidimensional nature of the human experience, and without the skills needed to challenge their own personal biases.

Despite the messages conveyed by much of the cultural competency education we see in today’s healthcare curricula, the reality is that most of us don’t have identities that fit neatly into predetermined boxes. Based on this idea we should be teaching our students how to understand, respect and celebrate personal expression of culture, not to see cultural groups as being distinct and mutually exclusive. By changing how we approach educating students about culture, we can equip the healthcare providers of tomorrow with the skills they need for a lifetime of practice in an ever-diversifying world while also teaching students to make known their biases and to continuously challenge their unconscious biases. We must look at patients as people who often define themselves based on their own uniquely personal experiences and intersectional identities.

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This article is part of HuffPost’s Project Zero campaign, a yearlong series on neglected tropical diseases and efforts to fight them.

Rabies is one of the most lethal viruses known to man. It kills virtually 100 percent of victims who don’t get the vaccine within 10 days of exposure.

Rabies almost exclusively kills people in developing countries ― which means it is not a priority disease for the West.

Anyone exposed to the virus has 10 days to get the vaccine, a method known as post-exposure prophylaxis. The vaccine is 100 percent effective, but many people cannot afford it. 

A recent study in Kenya found that bite victims paid up to $500 for treatment, nearly half the average per capita income.

India alone, where more than a fifth of the population lives on just $1.25 a day, accounts for 35 percent of rabies deaths worldwide.

Another 36 percent of deaths take place in sub-Saharan Africa, where two-fifths of people live on less than $1.25 per day.

Complicating the issue is the fact that rabies falls between government ministries for animal and human health, according to Felix Lankester, who started his career as a wild animal vet and is now a clinical assistant professor at the Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health at Washington State University.

“Health globally has been divided into human health and animal health,” Lankester said, even though 60 to 70 percent of human diseases come from animals.

“Dogs transmit [rabies], so agriculture ministries need to intervene,” he said. “Yet because it’s people that suffer, it’s health ministries that benefit from the reduced cost of the human disease.”

Coordinating a veterinary response to a human health problem is not easy, says Lankester, whose project ― the Serengeti Health Initiative ― oversaw the elimination of canine rabies in Tanzania’s Serengeti, one of the world’s most famous national parks.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

The majority of the 2,000 people in the United States formally exonerated of crimes they never committed are black, according to a new report examining the relationship between race and wrongful convictions.

In addition, the majority of more than 1,800 innocent defendants framed by law enforcement since 1989 in widespread police scandals are African American, says the report, “Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States,” published Tuesday as a companion to the annual National Registry of Exonerations.

“Judging from the cases we know, a substantial majority of innocent people who are convicted of crimes in the United States are African Americans,” the report declares.

The report examines exonerations for defendants who had been wrongly convicted of murder, sexual assault and drug crimes since 1989.

Murder

The report found a range of factors leading to wrongful convictions, including including government misconduct, false guilty pleas by innocent people, and situations where it was later determined that no crime was committed.  

The National Registry of Exonerations now lists 2,000 exonerations since 1989. On average, those who were cleared had served almost nine years in prison. Some had been on death row. Others were younger than 18 when they were convicted, or had intellectual disabilities. 

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In a decision that should send ripples through the criminal justice system, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Constitution empowers judges in criminal cases to scrutinize racist statements made by jurors during jury deliberations.

Such deliberations, held in secret and without the presence of judges, are largely shielded from court review under the “no impeachment” rule. The general principle behind it is that the jury system would suffer if judges were constantly second-guessing what jurors decide behind closed doors.

But in a 5-to-3 ruling, the Supreme Court looked at its precedents and found a constitutional exception to that rule whenever there is evidence that a juror exhibited racial bias in voting to convict a defendant.

“This Court’s decisions demonstrate that racial bias implicates unique historical, constitutional, and institutional concerns,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his opinion, which conceded that the jury system is human and thus can be flawed. “An effort to address the most grave and serious statements of racial bias is not an effort to perfect the jury but to ensure that our legal system remains capable of coming ever closer to the promise of equal treatment under the law that is so central to a functioning democracy.”

The ruling ― joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan ― is highly readable and was replete with the kind of language Kennedy reserves for landmark rulings, such as those he has authored on gay marriage and affirmative action in higher education.

“It must become the heritage of our Nation to rise above racial classifications that are so inconsistent with our commitment to the equal dignity of all persons,” Kennedy wrote.

It must become the heritage of our Nation to rise above racial classifications that are so inconsistent with our commitment to the equal dignity of all persons.
Justice Anthony Kennedy

The case arose after two Colorado jurors in the criminal trial of a Latino, Miguel Peña-Rodriguez, reported to his attorney that another juror had made “anti-Hispanic” comments during deliberations. The defendant had just been convicted of harassment and unlawful sexual contact with two teenage girls.

According to those jurors, the biased juror had expressed his belief that Peña-Rodriguez was guilty because “Mexican men had a bravado that caused them to believe they could do whatever they wanted with women” and that “he did it because he’s Mexican and Mexican men take whatever they want.” He had also referred to the defendant as “an illegal,” even though he was legally in the country.

Colorado courts refused to accept these jurors’ revelations to contest the verdict and let Peña-Rodriguez’s conviction stand. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and was required to register as a sex offender.

Recognizing that every state and the federal government follow a version of the no-impeachment rule, the Supreme Court nonetheless said it was its responsibility to “enforce the Constitution’s guarantee against state-sponsored racial discrimination in the jury system.” 

“A constitutional rule that racial bias in the justice system must be addressed — including, in some instances, after the verdict has been entered — is necessary to prevent a systemic loss of confidence in jury verdicts, a confidence that is a central premise of the Sixth Amendment trial right,” Kennedy wrote.

The high court cautioned that not just any “offhand comment indicating racial bias or hostility” during deliberations will allow a defendant to challenge his or her verdict ― but only those statements in which “racial animus was a significant factor in the juror’s vote to convict.”

Kennedy’s opinion left it up to the states to determine the proper procedures in similar cases moving forward. The court also noted that there are already safeguards in the criminal process to screen out and contain biased jurors ― such as the jury selection process and the instructions judges give prior to deliberations.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the text of the Constitution did not compel the majority’s conclusion.

“In its attempt to stimulate a thoughtful, rational dialogue on race relations … the Court today ends the political process and imposes a uniform, national rule,” Thomas wrote. “The Constitution does not require such a rule. Neither should we.”

Justice Samuel Alito, in a separate dissenting opinion joined by Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts, called the decision “well-intentioned” but said the ruling will undermine the finality of jury verdicts and may lead to a slippery slope of similar challenges ― for example, if there’s evidence that a juror expressed sexist or religiously bigoted views during deliberations.

“Today’s decision — especially if it is expanded in the ways that seem likely — will invite the harms that no-impeachment rules were designed to prevent,” Alito wrote. He noted that jurors, unlike judges and attorneys, are ordinary people who should be allowed “to speak, debate, argue, and make decisions the way ordinary people do in their daily lives.”

But Kennedy and the majority saw things differently, singling out racial discrimination as “especially pernicious in the administration of justice” ― bad enough that not even everyday jurors should be allowed to use it against a defendant.

“It is the mark of a maturing legal system that it seeks to understand and to implement the lessons of history,” Kennedy wrote.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices