This is the Church Where I Found The True Jesus Christ says Senator Obama. He says his resignation in no way negates the good work that Trinity and its leaders have done and continue to do.
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This is the Church Where I Found The True Jesus Christ says Senator Obama. He says his resignation in no way negates the good work that Trinity and its leaders have done and continue to do.
June 01, 2008 in Religion | Permalink | Comments (0)
Fighting on Two Fronts:
The African American Experience of World War II presented by the Amistad Research Center.
More than one million African Americans served in the United States armed services in World War II and even more worked at home to help ensure victory. It is in recognition of the importance of the African American contribution in World War II that the Amistad Research Center of Tulane University, The Center for African and African American Studies at Southern University at New Orleans, The Eisenhower Center for American Studies at the University of New Orleans and The National D-Day Museum host Double V-Fighting on Two Fronts: The African American Experience of World War II.
June 02, 2008 in Black History | Permalink | Comments (0)
God Works In Mysterious Ways
June 04, 2008 in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Ethiopian Jews lived primarily in villages in the north and Northwest of the country, far from their Christian neighbors, with separate social and economic institutions and conditions. Their story is a fascinating example of Jewish perseverance and survival despite time, trial and tribulation.It is a story of people long isolated from the rest of the Jewish world. That separation was so complete, that at one point, the Ethiopian Jews thought themselves the only remaining Jewish community in the world - the last guardians of Jewish knowledge, tradition and the "Torah of Moses." The Ethiopian Jews struggled mightily to retain that tradition and guard it from outside forces that would see it assimilated, conquered and destroyed. As a result, throughout Ethiopian history, they often fell sacrifice to Christian kings, wars and oppression.
That struggle continued in different forms even after the arrival of the Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Their homecoming, joyous as it was, was marked by a lack of acceptance, as state religious institutions did not officially recognize their status as Jews. These institutions made life hard for Ethiopian immigrants, and in some ways still do.
June 04, 2008 in Black History | Permalink | Comments (0)
• Black residents of Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina had 6 amputations per 1,000 Medicare enrollees, while black residents of Colorado and Nevada had fewer than 2 per 1,000.
• Overall amputation rates for both blacks and whites vary among states. Utah has the lowest rate at .5 amputations per 1,000 Medicare members, and Louisiana has the highest at 1.7 amputations per 1,000.
Fisher says patients undergo leg amputations partly because of the care they get and partly because of difficulties they may face in getting treatment. Other factors — such as whether patients smoke or exercise, or if they can afford the special shoes some diabetics need — also play a role, he says.
Blacks also were less likely than whites to get mammograms to check for breast cancer, although the size of the gap varied widely among states. In Illinois, for example, 63% of white female Medicare beneficiaries were screened for cancer, while only 51% of blacks were. In Massachusetts, the gap was narrow: 71.9% of whites were screened, 71.5% of blacks.
With the exception of Arizona and Kentucky, black diabetic patients were less likely to get a recommended annual blood test than whites. The biggest gap was in Colorado, where 84% of whites were tested, 66% of blacks.
Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says it will spend $300 million over three years to fund programs nationwide and targeted in 14 regions to improve medical care and reduce racial and ethnic disparities.
Changes could include getting patients to regular doctor visits and stocking fresh produce at grocery stores, says John Buse, president for Medicine and Science at the American Diabetes Association, who did not work on the study.
Often, he says, patients who have leg amputations live in poorer communities and are either uninsured or have limited coverage. By the time they qualify for Medicare, they may be in bad shape.
"Once someone with modest resources and no health insurance becomes acutely ill or disabled, they can generally get Medicare or Medicaid," Buse says. "But often the price of admission for a patient with diabetes is a serious complication like blindness, kidney failure, amputation or stroke."
The study, paid for by the non-profit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, used data from Medicare to look at amputations, screening rates and other measures of quality care among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The foundation is one of the nation's largest philanthropies and backs efforts to change the health care system.
Researchers studied amputation because it can indicate that diabetes patients have received inadequate preventive care. The study found:
• Across the USA, the rate of leg amputation is four times greater among black Medicare recipients than white.
June 05, 2008 in Black Health and Wealth | Permalink | Comments (0)
It never ceases to amaze me how often people form their opinions about an individual or an issue not based on facts but on what they hear from a right wing talk show host or uninformed friend. Since we have all heard the lies about Barack Obama, how about finding out the truth.
June 06, 2008 in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)
Illegal aliens do the jobs that Black Americans will No longer do?
Those are words you hear coming from many whites and some blacks who try to justify why most of the service jobs that African American use to have are primaryly held by mexican immigrants. Many employers that say this, use it as their excuse for not hiring Blacks. Those that agree are misinformed.
T Willard Fair, President of the Greater Miami Urban League and Board Member of Center for Immigration Studies, talks facts about the effects of illegal immigration on Black America.
June 07, 2008 in Distorted Media Images And Our Own Distortions | Permalink | Comments (0)
Is Obama Black Or Is He Biracial? That was the question posed on CNN this morning.
Why is the US media, comprised mostly of white reporters, obsessed with this question? Would Obama's selection of biracial make him acceptable to more white voters? Or maybe the fact that he is half white would explain in the minds of some why he is so intelligent. Historically, in America, if you have one drop of Black blood that makes you Black. Let me set the record straight for those who think that this issue is important for how they vote; the majority of African Americans could claim to be biracial. If you look at pictures of our family members going back generations, you will see cousins, aunts and uncles of all hues and hair texture. This is the vistage of slavery. While the white slave master hated and treated us less than human during the day, he forcibly slept with Black women during the night.
The funniest conversation I heard recently between two older white males, in which one said to the other "Obama's not black, he's half white."
While some can debate whether Obama is Black or biracial, you are what not only what you call yourself to be, but as he says, when he is trying to catch a cab on 5th Avenue in New York City, the empty cab that passes him by leaves no double on how he is perceived. To those reporters who still aren't satisfied, I post this question, What makes you think you are 100% white? As you ponder this question, listen to Obama's excellent speech on race, and know that we are all God's people.
June 09, 2008 in Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Even when they are cared for by the same doctor, black Americans who suffer from diabetes are less likely than their white counterparts to bring the illness under control, a study released Monday showed.
Researchers from Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates analysed electronic medical records from 4,556 white patients and 2,258 black patients under the care of 90 doctors for diabetes.
The patients, who were all treated in eastern Massachusetts, were tested for low density lipoprotein (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol that leads to clogged arteries; hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), which measures blood glucose control over time; and blood pressure.
"White patients were more likely than black patients to reach commonly accepted benchmarks for controlled levels" of all three, the study showed.
Forty-seven percent of the white patients achieved control of HbA1C versus less than four in 10 blacks; 57 percent of white patients brought their LDL under control, compared to 45 percent of blacks, the study showed.
Blacks also lagged six percentage points behind whites in controlling blood pressure (24 percent versus 30 percent).
"Racial differences in outcomes were not related to black patients differentially receiving care from physicians who provide a lower quality of care but rather that black patients experienced less ideal or even adequate outcomes than white patients within the same physician panel," the authors of the study said.
"Our data suggest that the problem of racial disparities is not characterized by only a few physicians providing markedly unequal care but that such differences in care are spread across the entire system," they added.
The study is the latest to address differences in healthcare for diabetes between blacks and whites in the United States.
A study published last week showed that blacks suffering from diabetes are more likely to have a leg amputated than whites.
June 10, 2008 in Black Health and Wealth | Permalink | Comments (0)
Barack Obama Talks About What Fatherhood Really Means
My own father died when I was 7. Despite my parents divorce, I still remember those weekends he came to take me with him. Even as a young child, I felt a sence of strength and security when I was with him. He was always a heavy drinker. My mother would repeatedly warn him, that if she smelled alcohol or thought he had been drinking, she would not let me go with him. So I pleaded with him not to drink. He worked in the post office by day and went to drafting school at night ,hoping to get a better job. But one day alcohol got the better of him and he drowned. Despite being a good swimmer, after jumping off a manhattan tour boat , he could not fight the currents. 3 days later they found his body.
When my mother told me what had happened, I was devasted. As I got older, my devastation turned into anger. I was angry that he did not have the strength to fight his addiction. But I had friends and neighbors who had strong Black fathers who were truck drivers, garbage, police men. I saw them getting up every day going to work and coming back home to be with their families. As the years passed, my anger at my father's alcohol weakness turned into a determination that I was going to be the father I didn't have. In my 20's I found out from relatives that my father's father was not around when he and my uncle were growing up.
This leads me to say that real Fatherhood is learned. Despite the unique obstacles and challenges we face as Black men in a society that underestimates and does not expect much from us, we must expect and demand more from ourselves. Our children do need our financial support. But what they want most of all is our time and attention. When I talk with my teenagers now, what they remember most are our trips to the zoo and the museum. Our Sunday morning big breakfast and our long walks and talks. My holding up their bikes, as they learned how to ride. Fatherhood is about a committment of time and attention that will be pasted on to the next generation of Black fathers. I came across this interesting article about fatherhood and our daughters:
Black Leaders Empasize The Importantance Of
Father Daughter Bond
Kate Santich | Sentinel Staff Writer
Black leaders on Thursday called upon fathers across the country -- and especially black fathers -- to step up for their daughters, becoming their "rock" and "a living example of what a good man should be."
"When fathers involve themselves with their daughters, you see and know the difference," said TV journalist Ed Gordon, addressing the 100 Black Men of America annual conference in Orlando. "Be more than just a protector, more than just the bank for your daughter and your family. Be her nurturer; be a loving entity within the family."
"Daddy's Promise," Gordon's national initiative to celebrate the father-daughter bond, officially launches Sunday -- Father's Day -- with a Web site that allows dads to download a pledge of love, support and duty they can give their children. He also hopes families will upload father-daughter pictures -- and that the movement will spread via a cross-country series of panel discussions and events.
Alarming statistics on the rise of girls in gangs and black women in prison -- the fastest-growing segment of the prison population -- make the initiative especially important for the black community, Gordon said. But he emphasized that his message is for all fathers.
Alarming statistics on the rise of girls in gangs and black women in prison -- the fastest-growing segment of the prison population -- make the initiative especially important for the black community, Gordon said. But he emphasized that his message is for all fathers.
If white America doesn't want . . . to be involved in this," he said, "understand that it'll creep into your neighborhood. And it won't have anything to do with blacks moving next door. It's just the societal norm of what occurs as times change and things get harder for people."
Gordon, host of the syndicated TV show Our World with Black Enterprise, got involved in the issue after penning an essay for Essence magazine on the bond he shares with his daughter Taylor, now 14. The essay provoked an "overwhelming" response, Gordon said, leading to a book deal and the Daddy's Promise initiative.
Frequent CNN commentator Roland S. Martin, who helped lead a panel discussion on the topic, also called upon men to get involved in the lives of girls who otherwise would have no suitable father figures. Martin and his wife, for instance, are raising four of his nieces after his sister "married one of those sperm donors, and she finally decided enough is enough."
"Sometimes we have to admit . . . we have some sorry brothers and sisters, and we have to intervene for their kids," Martin said. "And, sure, they might be a burden . . . but raising those girls is far more important to me than sitting here having a bigger 401k."
The benefits, the panel agreed, go beyond the immediate relationship. A strong father-daughter bond helps sons learn the right way to treat women and keeps daughters from making bad choices about sex and relationships.
"My image of a black man is based on my dad," said Glenda Hatchett, a judge who now presides over court in her syndicated TV show. "He wasn't a man with a lot of money, a lot of prestige. He was a hard-working man, no bling-bling around his neck, who came home to the same woman for 50 years. And he paid his mortgage and he went to church, and he prayed for us. And that's what a lot of these young girls are missing."
For Orlando police Capt. Charles Robinson, a member of the local chapter of 100 Black Men and the father of two girls, the message hit home.
"I just basically try to be involved with my daughters -- whether it's piano or ballet or fishing," Robinson said. "My job is to show them how they should be treated as young ladies. My job is to be a good example."
Kate Santich can be reached at [email protected] or 407-420-5503.
June 14, 2008 in Black Education And Our Children | Permalink | Comments (0)
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