Have you heard of the following event? Have you gone to one before? If not why not go, or better yet organize one in your community?
Black Family Reunion, 150,000 people for parade, music and, mmmm, that food
Gerald Glaspie has a lot of reasons for working on the Midwest Regional Black Family Reunion Celebration, but one stands out: "We want to expose people to the African-American lifestyle and culture."
The 19th annual festival at Sawyer Point is expected to attract 150,000 guests from throughout the Midwest, says Glaspie, who has been working on the event with promoter Cassandra Robinson for 15 years.
The celebration was conceived in 1986 by educator and activist Dr. Dorothy I. Height, president emerita of the National Council of Negro Women, as a way to focus on the strengths and traditional values of the black family. Height, who turned 95 in March, got the idea after watching a negative documentary on "The Vanishing Black Family." Height knew there was another side to the story.
The festival spread quickly. Today, it's held in several cities and draws about 2 million annually.
"The one thing I really like about the reunion," says Glaspie, a 51-year-old Kennedy Heights entrepreneur who does fitness training for adults 50 and older, "is its incredible diversity. It may have started as an African-American event, but times have changed. Today, you see everyone you can imagine. I think part of that is because there are now so many more multiracial families out there. But a bigger part is that I think people - all people of all backgrounds - are looking to understand their world."
The easiest way to do that is to visit the pavilions - themes include children, genealogy, spirituality, young adults and the cyber world - and start talking to people.
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CULTURE
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Hopefully the community and the company, profiled in this story can come together and do the right thing.
L.A. Insurer to Sell Black Art Collection Over Local Protests
A collection of black art owned by Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Co. in Los Angeles has been carted off to be auctioned in New York, infuriating local art historians who want it to remain in California.
Golden State plans to sell 94 artworks on Oct. 4 at Swann Galleries. The paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings are expected to sell for as much as $1.5 million.
The company's 1948 Moderne office building in gritty south central Los Angeles, design by famed black architect Paul Williams, had been hung with a dazzling array of some of the greatest names in African-American art, from Romare Bearden to Jacob Lawrence. It was a bright spot for a mostly black community beleaguered by crime and poverty.
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One reason it's so hard to have any sort of productive talk on hip hop and its effect on Black culture.
The War of Words between Rapper David Banner and Reverend Al Sharpton Painfully Demonstrates the Urgent Need for Unity among Old School and New School
Apparently rapper David Banner doesn’t take too kindly to Rev. Al Sharpton’s recent protests against rap lyrics. I read here David Banner called Sharpton a "permed-out pimp" and said, "They’re killing kids in New Jersey and all he’s got to talk about is rap lyrics?" Oh yeah, how can I forget, Banner also said, "The next time you see Al Sharpton, tell him I said f*ck him and he can suck my d*ck!".
Wow.
Rev. Al Sharpton responded to Banner’s comments, at least through a spokesperson, Kirsten John-Foy, a leader with Sharpton’s National Action Network: "I am sure Rev. Sharpton would not call Crump the "N" "B" or "H" word. And, despite Crump’s personal request, I am sure Reverend Sharpton would not call him a f-g–t. He would just pray for him. We at NAN are pro civil rights for everyone, even Levell Crump (David Banner’s real name)who has not had a banner year since his debut album in 2003."
Again...wow.
These back and forth statements between the civil rights leader and the Mississippi born and bred rap star clearly illustrates the deep, bitter problems that exist between the older generation of African-Americans and the Hip-Hop generation. Forget about the media and white America, it seems to me that the black community really needs to have dialogue that will bridge the gap and help both generations to understand the concerns of the other so that we can all get on the same page as far as the progress of blacks in American society.
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POLITICS
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A positive sign of progress in America. Black celebs are major political players
Hollywood's biggest and richest fundraisers of this election cycle are being hosted by some of the entertainment industry's most respected and influential African Americans, a potent symbol of how much has changed in recent years.
These fundraisers underscore the importance and security of the black celebrities and executives, who have become such an integral part of Hollywood. They've become a community unafraid to divide its loyalties, regardless of race. The days when "black Hollywood" felt that it needed to marshal all its resources behind a single candidate or cause are past. So, some of the biggest names are backing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, while others are supporting Sen. Barack Obama.
"I have never seen the African Americans in the Hollywood community this excited and involved, ever," said Democratic political consultant Kerman Maddox. "I was around when [former L.A. Mayor Tom] Bradley was running for governor and [Jesse] Jackson was running for president. I've never seen it like this.
"You have a lot of young African Americans in Hollywood with disposable income ready to write a check."
On Sept. 8, media icon Oprah Winfrey -- who also happens to be one of America's richest women -- will open her rambling Santa Barbara "getaway" home to raise money for fellow Chicagoan Obama. At least 1,500 people are expected to attend, and organizers are hoping to raise between $2 million and $3 million, a huge amount under new federal campaign limit rules.
Six days after the Winfrey event, entrepreneur and venture capitalist Magic Johnson and his wife, Cookie, will open their Beverly Hills mansion to supporters of Hillary Clinton. That's a switch for the onetime NBA great, who donated $2,300 to Obama in March. Sources say that the NBA Hall of Famer was attracted to the Clinton cause by his billionaire friend Ron Burkle, a major pal of Bill and Hillary. (Johnson and Burkle both worked with their mutual friend, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard J. Riordan, to try to bring a pro football team back to Los Angeles.)
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One thing that is good to see in this election cycle is the number of candidates who are no longer trying to win just doing the same old tired things.
Candidates Turn to 'Boutique' Firms to Reach Niche Audiences
When Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) launched the first ads of his presidential campaign in Nevada last week, two things stood out.
The first was obvious: They were in Spanish. The second was much less obvious. Rather than being produced by David Axelrod, Obama's chief media consultant, they were made by Elevacion, a small, Washington-based firm that specializes in Spanish-language communication.
The radio ads were aimed at the 24 percent of Nevada's population that is Hispanic and had a simple message: I am like you.
"As a son of a foreign father who came to this country looking for a better life, Barack Obama learned that differences do not divide, but rather enrich," the ad's narrator intones. "From the U.S. Senate, he has defied the politicians who forget the very people they serve."
In addition to Elevacion, Obama's campaign has used FUSE -- a St. Louis-based advertising firm that has done work for the St. Louis Cardinals and SBC Communications -- to create and produce radio ads in South Carolina aimed at the black community. African Americans make up nearly 30 percent of the state's population and a significantly larger percentage of potential voters in next year's presidential primary.
(disclaimer: When ever I do Obama stories I disclose that I am a supporter)
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Why is it that everytime some news out lets do a story on Black politicians they have to go to the same tired frames?
First you have to answer all the critism from GOP talking points. They are far left liberals (you rarely hear REpublicans called to conservative), they did some move that is seen as anti-jewish (funny how Jews still seem to support Democrats), they are out to get money for their districts (when the big spending GOP builds bridges to nowhere it's not seen as typical). Then and only then can you get to the positive reviews, they are in their so you can't say it wasn't a balaanced story.
Stephanie Tubbs Jones takes a lead role in politics
Grocery shopping inevitably takes Stephanie Tubbs Jones at least 2½ hours, and it's not because she has trouble finding the chicken broth, celery and butter she needs for her cornbread dressing.
People seek out the vivacious Cleveland Democratic congresswoman wherever she goes, whether it's the supermarket or the House of Representatives floor. She's tall and easy to spot at the center of a crowd, often wearing the red of her Delta Sigma Theta sorority. As she crosses items off her grocery list, she makes a new list of the names, phone numbers and problems of constituents who stop her while she shops. When she gets to her office, she gives that list to staffers who can help.
These days, the former Cuya hoga County judge and prose- cutor is being sought more than ever in Cleveland, Washington and across the country. The Democratic takeover of Con gress revved up Tubbs Jones' political clout, providing her with the chairmanship of the House Ethics Committee and putting her on the majority side of the influential House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax matters, health care and government entitlement programs. Expectations for her performance have risen accordingly.
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I have written on this story before. It's another example of how Bush has broken the US Military. Iraq War Brings Drop in Black Enlistees
Joining the Reserve Officer Training Corps was once an attractive choice for people with few options growing up in impoverished, predominantly black East Baltimore. That has all changed, largely because of the war in Iraq.
"Now, it is like, no way," said Cornelius McMurray, who does outreach with a local church and says the young black people he works with view life in Baltimore as enough of a war. "It is a continuous fight waking up and walking the streets every day."
In the Bronx, Adeyefa Finch says he simply walks past the recruiters who, seeking out minority members along Fordham Road, make the case that the military can help with college financing and job placement after they serve. "I’m not really into going overseas with guns and fighting other people’s wars," said Mr. Finch, 18, headed to college this fall to study accounting.
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UNITY
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Another blow to people trying to get Black and Latinos to turn on one another. Sorry Tom Tancredo! Firms market Hispanic foods via black merchants in South
Have you ever tried to find a decent coyota in Tennessee? How about a sugary churro in Arkansas?
As the Hispanic population explodes in the South, so does demand for the traditional Mexican pastries.
For now, many new Southerners must live with only the craving. But a unique partnership of business groups in southern Arizona and northern Mexico is working to change that.
The Tucson-Southern Arizona Black Chamber of Commerce, the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a "microbusiness" program in Sonora are developing a "nostalgic market" to serve the Hispanic market in the South.
Small-business owners in Arizona and Sonora will supply black merchants in seven Southern states with food, religious icons and artwork to peddle to the region's Hispanic community, which has swelled over the past two decades.
The targeted states are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, which have seen the largest percentage increase of the Hispanic population in the country in the past decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
For example, in North Carolina, the census counted 76,726 Hispanics in 1990 and 593,896 in 2006 -- a 674 percent increase. In Georgia, the number of Hispanics grew 546 percent, from 108,922 to 703,246 in that same period.
"They have to be going through withdrawal," said Lorenzo Almada, vice president of business development for the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
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A main reason I have always supported youth sports is that its a way to get young people of different backgrounds to work together. It's good to see adults getting in on the act. Why not start one in your area?
Social education is, in fact, the impetus behind AJC’s fourth annual Cultural Links Golf Invitational. The organization will hit the links with members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Jewish Community Feder
The event was created to build cross-communal ties between the Jewish and African-American communities, notes Gregory, 38, a South Euclid resident and member of several like-minded community groups, including Cleveland Bridge Builders.
Gregory views the outing as a chance to discuss serious social issues in a relaxed atmosphere. After all, "golf is a social sport," he says.
Most of the scratch golfers are younger professionals who are heavily involved within their respective communities. However, while young Jewish and African-Americans leaders are comfortable within their own circles, Gregory feels there is not enough interaction between the two groups.
"We’ve never really meshed, and nobody has given me a good reason why," he says.
Whacking golf balls is a fun way to bridge that perceived gap, Gregory believes. A comfortable social relationship makes it easier to reach out when critical issues need to be discussed. The Cincinnati native, owner of the consulting firm Symmetric Solutions, touches on his sales background when he says, "People will only buy something from you if they know you."
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Help! Someone call Tom Tancredo, Black folk and Latinos are working together!Participants at the first Black-Brown Summit called for drug rehabilitation, job training and other programs to reduce the disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics represented in state and federal prisons.
The event drew more than 100 members and leaders from the NAACP and the League of United Latin American Citizens from across the nation to the Adam's Mark Hotel in Dallas on Monday for two days of of workshops, discussions and coalition-building activities.
Leaders pointed out "unequal education" and a disproportionate number of blacks and Hispanics that together make up more than 70 percent of the prison population instead of being in college or taking leadership roles in society.
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins delivered the keynote address in which he said that previous prosecutors and judges were "more concerned with conviction rates" than trying to address the roots of crime such as poverty, drug addiction and other social ills.
"Where did it get Dallas?" he asked. "We have the highest crime rate in the nation."
Mr. Watkins, a local member of the NAACP and mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, said his office is working to free the innocent who were jailed. His office is also trying to create prison drug treatment programs and vocational training and is partnering with businesses to make sure freed inmates have jobs.
U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., told the group that he is disheartened by seeing blacks and Hispanics during prison visits.
"We are wasting so many resources in our country by not trying to rehabilitate and bring back into the mainstream thousands and hundreds of these who could be such great assets to our society," he said, receiving a standing ovation.
Hector Flores, past national president of LULAC, said crime sometimes leads to racial tensions among blacks and Hispanics who often share the same impoverished neighborhoods.
"We both have been marginalized, and we're conditioned to accept it," Mr. Flores said. "We often see each other as competition for scarce job opportunities, competition in the classroom and competition for business opportunities."
But Mr. Flores said the best way to iron out those tensions and competition is for both communities to advance through education and other opportunities.
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INTERNATIONAL
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This is becoming more of an issue as people begin to reconsider what is the real purpose of foreign aid.
US food aid is 'wrecking' Africa, claims charity
Critics of US food aid subsidies say they help cause obesity among Americans and starvation among Africans.
Now Care, one of the world's biggest charities, has announced that it will boycott the controversial policy of selling tons of heavily subsidised US produced food in African countries. Care wants the US government to send money to buy food locally, rather than unwanted US produced food.
The US arm of the charity says America is causing rather than reducing hunger with a decree that US food aid must be sold rather than directly distributed to those facing starvation. In America, the subsidies for corn in particular, help underpin the junk food industry, which uses corn extracts as a sweetener, creating a home-grown a health crisis.
The farm lobby meanwhile has a stranglehold on Congress, which has balked at making any changes that would interfere with a system that promotes overproduction of commodities.
Critics of the policy say it also undermines African farmers' ability to produce food, making the most vulnerable countries of the world even more dependent on aid to avert famine.
Under the system Washington buys tens of millions of dollars of surplus corn and other products from agribusiness. The food, which can only be exported on US flagged ships, is then sold by charities to raise money to pay for emergencies.
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Not everything in Africa looks bleak. South Africa's future should be bright, Apartheid's dark days are behind; the economy is buzzing, but some 'Big Brother' fears still linger.
A mixed choir of smiling, swaying, black and white schoolgirls, pert in their identical school uniforms, is belting out golden oldies to entertain shoppers.
In a nearby bookstore blacks and whites sit armchair to armchair, browsing through books and magazines together.
At the market itself white stall-holders wait upon blacks and whites alike. Black stall-holders wait upon blacks and whites alike as they dispose of the interracial detritus of South African commerce – old silver, used DVDs, painted ostrich eggs, beaded gourds, fake leopard-skin rugs.
In a little cafe, blacks and whites share tables as they sip tea and coffee. The mood is relaxed, jovial.
Welcome to the new South Africa. None of these interracial scenes could have taken place in the old South Africa with its strict policies of segregation.
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Hurricane Dean passed through the Caribbean claiming 12 lives. A group of reporters in Jamaica live blogged their experiences. If they weren’t huddled inside The Gleaner building on North Street working round-the-clock covering Hurricane Dean, our journalists were busy doing what everyone was trying to do: survive it. Published in parts I, II and III are the individual experiences
Moving up the road with my friends, we had to be watching each other’s back and stick to walking on the sidewalks to make us less exposed - something we learned during Ivan. While I took pictures, my friends had to be alert in case any zincs, trees and light poles came down or were thrown at us by the wind.
It wasn’t long before we saw a zinc fence being blown and then from out of nowhere a man jumped out, grabbed the soon-to-disappear section of his property, and quickly began nailing it down.
There were still people outside in the storm, despite the winds becoming harsher, making the raindrops sting our faces.
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It's always a good thing when young people learn to make a difference!
Tallahassee.com: Trip to Haiti changes students. They left Tallahassee for the poverty-stricken country of Haiti last week, intending to return to the United States on Sunday. They didn't.
their experience changed them and each said they will return. Lewin, Coward and Ruscher said they couldn't adequately convey the level of poverty they witnessed.
"The vast majority of the people were just trying to get through the day," Lewin said. "You can never judge people by your perceptions or the reality of your life. Most people are exactly like you."
The Rotary-sponsored Rotaract Club went to Haiti as part of Project Medishare - a nonprofit organization serving Haiti's Central Plateau region with basic health-care needs. The trip was Rotaract Club's first service project. Haiti's mountains saved them from Hurricane Dean. "Thank God the hurricane didn't hit Haiti," Ruscher said.
She said she felt bad for areas that got hit. She didn't see how Haiti's village of Thomonde with its stick-like houses and no doors could weather a Category 5 hurricane.
"They didn't have anything but they were proud of what they have," Ruscher said.
Coward said the village was an eye-opener.
"In a world where there's so much advancement and technology, people are still just looking for food to eat," she said.
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I added this story just because I found it intersting. Keeping the country afloat
Two decades of coup, counter-coup, conflict and mismanagement did not end until 2003, with the exile of the warlord president, Charles Taylor. He left the country desperately poor and is now on trial in The Hague for crimes against humanity. Meanwhile more than 80% of the country's 3.3m people are jobless, many of them young ex-fighters who hawk their goods on the crumbling streets that run between the mortar-punctured buildings of the capital, Monrovia. Two-thirds of Liberians live on less than a dollar a day.
As commodity prices fluctuate, the maritime registry is a rare source of regular income for the government. Yet many Liberians wonder why the country is not benefiting more from owning all those ships. A veteran politician, Senator Blamoh Nelson, complains that although the government of Liberia owns the registry, "it doesn't control it." In fact control rests with the Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry (LISCR), a Virginia-based company that has managed the shipping registry since 2000 and which takes a quarter of net profits for its troubles. The rest, say LISCR officials, goes to the government.
LISCR took over the registry when the previous agent was sacked by Mr Taylor. He wanted to plunder the registry, which had been established by the American government after the second world war. During the worst days of Liberia's civil war, when almost everything that could be was being stolen or destroyed, as much as 90% of government revenues came from the registry, an enticing prize for Mr Taylor. A UN report found that nearly $1m was siphoned from the registry to Middle Eastern bank accounts by Mr Taylor, used to pay off sanctions-busting arms dealers. However, the payments were stopped by the end of 2000.
Although Liberia's earnings from its fleet are up by $2m on last year, that is still less than the $18m that came from the registry in 2001. But back then few benefited, apart from Mr Taylor and his cronies. Now at least the cash stands a better chance of being spent on schools and hospitals rather than guns and patronage.
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FAITH
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It's harder to discuss religion then any other subject, except maybe race. People don't take kindly to critism of their faith, but something doesn't seem right about this guy.
Prosperity gospel comes to Chicago, But some call Creflo Dollar's message off-point
To his thousands of followers, Rev. Creflo Dollar preaches a powerful message that faith in God will yield spiritual and financial rewards. But, to some scholars and church leaders, Dollar's brand of prosperity gospel is an exploitative message that is damaging the legacy of the American black church.
On Friday night, Dollar -- yes, it's his real name -- brings his popular "Change 2007" convention to the UIC Pavilion. Promoters said more than 8,000 people have registered by phone and online to attend the free event.
Dollar says he wants to help people who feel like they are "stuck in a rut" to change their lifestyle and more fully embrace God.
"The message is that if you can change the way you think, then you can change your life ... and we'll be tying that in with what it means to really have faith and what it means to live by the word of God," Dollar said Thursday. "We take the word of God and bring it down on a practical level to let them see that it is relevant and can be applied in every area of life."
In 20 years, the therapist turned preacher has built his ministry from a small Bible study attended by eight people into an $80 million religious empire known as World Changers Church International.
His megachurch in College Park, Ga., now counts more than 30,000 devoted members. Dollar's ministry includes a syndicated television program that reaches 1 billion people worldwide, a publishing group and a recording label, church officials say. This year Dollar announced plans to open satellite World Changer churches in every state, 500 in all.
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Remember what I wrote above, about it being hard to talk about? This is even harder! Rift Over Gay Unions Reflects Battle New to Black Churches
Never in a "million years" did Robert Renix think he would find a Baptist church that would accept someone like him: a black Baptist gay man. Never mind one that would allow what happened one Saturday last month, when a tuxedo-clad Renix stood in front of the pulpit at Covenant Baptist Church in Anacostia, exchanging vows with his partner, Antonio Long.
It didn't turn out to be that simple, though.
About 140 members jammed into the fellowship hall a few weeks later for a tense meeting about the recent decision of Covenant co-pastors Dennis and Christine Wiley to conduct same-sex union ceremonies. Some expressed their opposition through Bible verses, saying they were worried that Covenant was getting a reputation as a "gay church." Others wept as they defended the Wileys, said people who were there.
"I don't care who does it in their bedroom with whom," said Yvonne Moore, a longtime member who left the church over the same-sex ceremonies. "But don't bring that foolishness into my church."
Other heterosexual church members defend the Wileys and their actions. "It's never been a traditional church," said Jeffrey Canady, a lifetime member who lives in Takoma Park. "That's the beauty of the church. It has always been at the forefront of change."
The split reflects a tug of war that is developing between a few black churches willing to welcome gays and black denominations that consider homosexuality a sin.
For years, disputes over homosexuality have convulsed predominantly white Protestant denominations -- Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopalian and Presbyterian -- but they have only recently hit black churches.
"It's going to be a real challenge," said the Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, minister at Fellowship Baptist Church in the District and founder of the annual National Black Religious Summit on Sexuality. "We're just beginning to really deal with it."
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Let's pray she recovers quickly. Husband attacks evangelist Bynum in parking lot
Juanita Bynum, a preacher whose fiery and frank sermons about women's empowerment have won her a national following, was attacked by her husband in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel early Wednesday morning, police said.
Bynum, whose ministry is based in Waycross, and her estranged husband, Thomas W. Weeks III, had met up at Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to try to reconcile, Atlanta police said.
But while at the parking lot about 4 a.m., the two got into a physical fight until a bellman at the hotel pulled Bynum's husband off her, Officer Ronald Campbell said.
"She was bruised up and battered," Campbell said. "She had purple bruising around her neck and upper torso."
The husband, who is also a preacher, left the scene. No charges have been filed against him, according to police.
Police found out about the fray from a staff member at Piedmont Hospital, where Bynum was taken for a checkup. She could not be reached Wednesday night.
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HEALTH
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African Americans with diabetes risk vision loss
Poor control over blood sugar levels is "a very powerful risk factor for losing vision," lead investigator Dr. Monique S. Roy, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, told Reuters Health.
Roy and co-investigator, Dr. Joan Sunice, noted that previous studies have examined the rate of visual impairments among Caucasians with type 1 diabetes, but, to their knowledge, there have been no similar studies conducted for a large group of African Americans.
To investigate, the researchers followed approximately 500 African Americans with type 1 diabetes over a period of 6 years to determine the rate of visual loss and associated risk factors.
At follow-up, they found that 4.3 percent of the study patients developed visual loss in their better eye, defined as a visual acuity of 20/40 or worse, and 0.6 percent became blind in their better eye, which was considered to be a visual acuity of 20/200 or worse.
Another 9.8 percent developed a doubling of the visual angle in their better eye, defined as the loss of 15 or more letters on the eye chart between the first and second visit. Another 13.5 percent showed a doubling of the visual angle in either eye, which was "particularly high," according to the report in the Archives of Ophthalmology.
In addition to poor control over blood sugar levels, the researchers found that older age, high protein levels in the urine (a symptom of kidney disease), and diabetic retinopathy -- a degenerative disease of the retina common among those with diabetes -- were all independent and significant predictors of vision loss over 6 years.
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Compared with Caucasians, African-Americans are exposed to more pro-tobacco advertising, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study published in this month’s Public Health Reports.
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, causing more than 440,000 deaths annually and costing more than $150 billion in direct and indirect costs each year; African-Americans currently bear the greatest burden of this morbidity and mortality. Although exposure to pro-tobacco media messages is now known to be a potent risk factor for tobacco use, whether African-Americans are in fact exposed to more pro-tobacco advertising has been unclear until now.
"This review and meta-analysis demonstrates that African-Americans are indeed disproportionately exposed to pro-tobacco mass media messages in terms of both concentration and density," said Brian A. Primack, M.D., Ed.M., senior author of the study and assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "These findings will help us develop interventions and further research aimed at reducing tobacco-related health disparities."
In the study, Dr. Primack and colleagues evaluated data from both predominantly African-American and Caucasian markets using studies from peer-reviewed journals. By extracting the number of total media messages the number of tobacco-related messages, and the number of residents living in each market area, they were able to calculate the concentration and density of tobacco advertising in each market.
Concentration of tobacco advertising can be defined as the number of tobacco advertisements divided by the total number of advertisements. "According to our data, the concentration of pro-smoking signage is approximately 70 percent higher for African-Americans ," said Dr. Primack. "Our results also showed that there are about 2.6 times as many advertisements per person in African-American areas as compared to Caucasian areas."
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Odds and Ends
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I'm a huge baseball fan (go Red Sox) this concerns me because kids who play a sport are more likely to become fans. I also believe that it's important for our countrie's future for kids from different backgrounds to play together.
Where Are The Non-White Kids In the Little League World Series?
But we couldn’t help but notice something this year that we never really noticed before: all the American kids are white. Watching the games casually off and on for the past week or so, we haven’t noticed any black, Hispanic or Asian kids on any of the American teams. Surely this could not be, could it? All the American teams are white?
Inspired and a little bored, it was time to do some research. And by do research, we mean check the intarnets. Here’s what we found:
US Great Lakes: Hamilton, OH: All white
US Southwest: Lubbock, TX: All white
US Mid-Atlantic: Salisbury, MD: All white
US Midwest: Coon Rapids, MN: All white. Maybe.
US New England: Walpole, MA: All white.
US Northwest: Lake Oswego, OR: All white.
US Southwest: Warner Robins, GA: All white.
US West: Chandler, AZ: One Edgar Galiz!
Now, we’re not saying that there’s some sinister plot behind the paucity of non-white kids or anything; to be sure, the dearth could be total coincidence. There are dozens of possibilities that could chalk it up to something innocuous, like the precipitous fall of baseball from pop culture.
But, out of eight teams and almost 100 kids, there’s one (maybe 1.5) non-white kid? In America? In the year that we’ve celebrated both the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut and Hank Aaron’s bravery?
We’re not sayin’, we’re just sayin’. It’s merely ... curious.
Excuse us, Chris Hansen is at the door.
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Diaries of Note on Daily Kos
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Nothing bothers me more then when victims of something begin to talk like their perputators. Black people were victims of racism for years, and still are. But some have internalized this treatment. When I hear Black people say "Obama can't win because America will never vote for a Black Man" I feel very sorry for them. I strongly belive that there are more Blacks who don't vote then their are racist who do vote. If they would only vote, combined with White Americans who would never hold a persons skin color against them, we could do anything!
My friend George schools me on Obama and the race question by diarist snout
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My grandmother schools me on Obama and the race question by diarist blitz boy
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One of the most damming charges against the MSM you will ever hear!
most CBC members have a wealth of foreign policy skills. However, the Traditional Media (see kos I remembered), perpetuates this charge also, by never having on any black leaders unless its a "black issue" like Imus, or Rap music. You hardly ever see, say, Maxine Waters on a pundit show talking about immigration, or international law...AND SHE SITS ON THAT SUBCOMMITTEE!!!
(Ouch! I hope I never piss off sephius1)
No Foreign Policy Experience" and Black Leaders by diarist sephius1
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As I always say Blogging is content driven build it and they will come. Someone else who is trying to do this is... Racial Minority Blog Sundaes by diarist theantidesi101
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Literature for Kossacks: Leopold Senghor by diarist pico
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Welcome back, I missed your writing!cynicism from a jaded summer by diarist scoutbanana