The January 2019 edition of National Geographic states that “weathering” is “a concept developed by University of Michigan professor of public health Arline Geronimus that suggests the health of African Americans deteriorates earlier than that of whites because of the cumulative effects of racism and bias.”
What Is Weathering? Is It An Argument For Reparations In Realtime?
Why Are People Buying Bear Bile?
According to the January 2019 issue of National Geographic, “A robust market for bear bile exists. In Asia bears are farmed for their bile, kept alive in small cages, with catheters inserted to drain their fluids.” The bears’ bile is purportedly so coveted because there are those who believe that, “chemicals that protect a bear’s organs from atrophying during hibernation could also sustain human organs…[some] researchers believe there are many more secrets to be revealed from bear bile, which is produced by the liver, stored in the gallbladder, and secreted as hormones into the bloodstream. They are taking aim at a range of therapies, including treatments for muscular dystrophy and bedridden patients who can lose half of their muscle mass in three weeks.”
Quote Of The Day
Yusuf Hawkins: Never Forget
Tuesday would have been Yusuf Kirriem Hawkins 46th birthday.
The Brooklynite was viciously murdered in his own hometown almost 30 years ago when a quest to purchase a used car led him to a predominately white part of Brooklyn.
16-year old Yusuf Hawkins and three friends ventured into Bensonhurst on a summer’s night in 1989 to purchase a 1982 Pontiac. They were instead met with a racist mob who ambushed them. The mob of approximately 30 white men were armed with weapons, including a firearm and baseball bats. They shouted racial epithets at the black youths and violently attacked them.
Yusuf Hawkins was shot twice in his chest and killed.
Lynch mobs hunting black people has been propagandized as being a practice of an ancient past.
However, every generation has a story of such occurrences happening during their lifetime. These happenings leave indelible imprints on those who have watched them unfold directly or collaterally. We must never forget!!
RIP Yusuf Hawkins and so many others.
Black History Fact: Princess Laura Kofi
Ghanaian-born Laura Adorkor Kofi worked for Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) as the national field director.
Reputed to be an African princess, Laura Kofi came to American because dreams and spiritual visions prompted her to do so. She came to America with a mission to empower African-Americans to create an independent, self-sustaining community.
After splitting from Marcus Garvey, she created her own organization, the African Universal Church. She was murdered while delivering a sermon at her church. It was believed that she was murdered by a follower of the UNIA organization.
Quote Of The Day
Arizona Residents Show Their Disdain For Driverless Cars
Alphabet, Google’s parent company, also owns Waymo, a technology company that manufactures driverless cars. Waymo has been testing its product in Arizona over the past few years to the chagrin of some of Arizona’s residents.
Some Arizonans have reportedly been caught attacking the driverless cars by: throwing rocks, attempting to run the cars off the road, and even brandishing firearms against the cars.
According to The New York Times, anti-self-driving vehicle civilians deem the driverless cars to be dangerous, both physically and economically. In addition to fearing fatal car crashes, driverless car opponents are also concerned about the amount of jobs that potentially can be loss due to the cars’ existence.
Quote Of The Day
“You can watch a documentary of someone’s entire life on their phone. We live in a world where, increasingly, nothing remains secret. And one of the signs of true wealth and power may end up being that privacy will become a commodity only for those who have the serious money to buy it. For everybody else, all the world really will be a stage, with all the people on it self-consciously playing their role.” -Chloe Combi [Source: National Geographic February 2018]
Quote Of The Day
“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the white Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: ‘I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action’; who paternalistically believes he can set a timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a ‘more convenient season.’ Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.” -Martin Luther King Jr.
Paid Maternity Leave: All But The United States
According to National Geographic, paid maternity leave in common throughout the world. The news source states that paid maternity leave for childbirth is federal policy in 34 out of the 35 nations that are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The hold-out country is the United States.