President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari on the shuttle bus at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja earlier today (Photo credit: @Oaktvonline on Instagram)
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Dbanj send tweet to women.
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Friday, May 8, 2015
Black Men Are Missing: Tell Us Something We Don’t Know.
The New York Times has documented the “disappearance” of black men for the past decades through mass incarceration and death, but brings no solutions to the discussion.
Job seekers wait in line at Kennedy-King College in Chicago to attend a job fair hosted by the city Nov. 9, 2012.
SCOTT OLSON/GETTY IMAGES
The tragic and spiraling plight of black men in American society has reached such epic proportions that the national paper of record, the New York Times, is discussing the “disappearance” of African-American men from civil society. “The stigmatization of blackness presents an enormous obstacle,” it notes, “even to small boys.”
The editorial, “Forcing Black Men Out of Society,” followed on the heels of another Times story that found 1.5 million African-American men were “missing” from everyday life because of incarceration and early death, leaving devastated communities, impoverished families, and a cycle of stigma, shame and hopelessness in their wake. The numbers are startling: For every 100 black women ages 25-54 who are not incarcerated, there are only 83 men. In Ferguson, Mo., that number shrinks to 60.
The New York Times analysis and editorial noting that 1 in 6 black men have simply disappeared from daily life in America are noteworthy because this trend, although not new, is receiving a second look by politicians, policymakers and the general public in light of the spate of police shootings of blacks and the subsequent #BlackLivesMatter movement that galvanized the nation last year.
The new racial caste system thrives more on mass incarceration than even early death because inordinate amounts of time spent in prison during the past three decades have robbed the African-American community of the potential civic, economic and familial contributions of at least two generations of black men.
For those unfamiliar with the story, the basic narrative goes something like this: In the aftermath of 1960s-era civil rights victories, African-American men fell victim to global economic shifts that turned major cities into postindustrial wastelands. Jobs, tax bases and opportunities shifted to the suburbs, out West and overseas, leaving behind a desperate, largely unemployable, surplus labor force.
The war on drugs added grave and enduring insult to this pre-existing injury, trapping hundreds of thousands of black men in the bowels of the new American gulag. During the 1980s and 1990s, the black poor was labeled a new racial “underclass,” even as prominent scholars, most notably sociologist William Julius Wilson, insisted that the disappearance of work, more than black behavior, was at the root of the economic misery that contoured African-American inner cities.
So this story is not new, since, as the Times put it, “every census for the last 50 years has shown the phenomenon” of missing black men.
What is new, however, and perhaps offers a sign of hope, is a re-energized discussion over race, class, poverty and criminal justice. The Times editorial offered no policy suggestions other than quoting Wilson’s two-decades-long advocacy for a New Deal-style Works Progress Administration program that would offer every man government-sponsored public employment.
A WPA-styled policy intervention, combined with new legislation aimed at dismantling the system of mass incarceration, would be the kind of bold, ambitious and concrete policy agenda that could untie the Gordian knot of racial injustice in which these missing black men find themselves caught up.
The Times should be applauded for these and other stories that have offered a depth of analysis and reporting on the way in which America’s sprawling system of racial and economic justice does grievous injury and harm to black communities. Pain that, sociologistMichael Eric Dyson reminds us, can be lightning quick or maddeningly slow.
The #BlackLivesMatter movement deserves special praise for its unrelenting and heroic commitment to both protesting the vast spectrum of anti-black racism across the nation and offering concrete policy demands for how we can begin the long road toward genuine racial justice and economic opportunity in America.
There is something profoundly sad about the fact that it takes the combination of prolific and videotaped police shootings of black men and bone-rattling national protests to inspire such coverage in the Times.
Welcome to black America’s reality, a place where African-American men, women and children live daily with the loss of brothers, fathers, husbands, caretakers, friends and mentors. The human cost cannot be adequately measured in numbers alone.
Now, more than ever, we need policy solutions for jobs, decriminalizing black men and women, and injecting resources and hope in neighborhoods and communities, most recently Baltimore and Ferguson, that are exploding in protests and unrest after being burdened for decades by racial segregation, unemployment, police brutality and stigma.
Silence Is Deadly: Mental Health and the Black Community
The first lady of New York City shares two personal stories—about a father’s shame and a daughter’s pain—to illustrate the overwhelming need to talk about mental health in the African-American community.
Bill de Blasio, Chirlane McCray, son Dante de Blasio and daughter Chiara de Blasio after voting at a public library branch on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2013, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City
SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
My father was a quiet man, but not because he didn’t have stories to tell.
Robert McCray was born in Springfield, Mass., in 1924. He never knew his father. His formal education ended after the 12th grade, but he earned advanced degrees in what he called “the school of hard knocks.” After serving his country in World War II, he returned to a society where a black man could rise only so high. Through decades of hard work and sacrifice, he and my mother managed to beat the odds and create a stable and loving home for my siblings and me. But despite all that, there was still little he could do when I came home from school distraught because my white classmates had shunned me.
My father’s story may sound familiar to many of you. Poverty, instability and discrimination are the shaky foundations of too many lives in our community, both past and present. They are also leading risk factors for depression, the disease lurking behind my father’s quiet.
Dad would not have called it depression. He never said a word about the pain he was experiencing, and he wasn’t alone. Back then, people didn’t talk about mental-health challenges—especially black folks. We hid our pain. We disguised it. We toughed it out. We kept our upper lips stiff as broomsticks. With the odds already stacked against us, we couldn’t afford to show what was considered weakness or lack of willpower.
That’s what we thought, anyway. But in truth, silence ultimately costs far more than speaking up. Today, African Americans are 20 percent more likely than their white counterparts to report experiencing serious psychological distress. And yet we are 40 percent less likely to have received mental-health treatment or counselling in the past year.
Here’s what that means in real life: Millions of African Americans suffer from a mental-health condition and do not get the treatment they need to live a full and productive life.
We can do better. And there is no time to waste. Getting our loved ones to treatment and getting them there early can improve and transform their lives.
A first step is to work with our leaders in government to expand the network of evidence-based practices like peer counselling and support groups. We need more health care workers who understand our culture and can help us access services where we live. We need to raise awareness so that people realise that anxiety, depression, substance-use disorders and other mental-health ailments are common. And they are all treatable.
Here in New York City, with the leadership of my husband, Mayor Bill de Blasio, we are starting to put those solutions into place. I recently had the privilege of announcing that the city will invest $78.3 million annually to provide counsellors and treatment to the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including children, families living in homeless shelters and the survivors of domestic violence. Our goal is to create a truly inclusive mental-health system that can serve as a model. This investment is just the first step.
We also need to make a community wide commitment to share our personal stories and encourage others to do the same. Speaking our pain aloud is often the first step toward healing. It is also the only way to end the deadly myth that mental-health challenges are rare and shameful.
A few years ago, our daughter, Chiara, summoned the courage to tell Bill and me that she was suffering from anxiety, depression and addiction. I felt everything you’d expect a mother to feel: love, sadness, fear and a great deal of uncertainty. But one thing I did not feel was hopeless. I knew that science had made great gains and that services had gotten better since my father’s time. If our daughter was brave enough to ask for help, Bill and I were going to help her find it—and we did. I am proud to report that Chiara is now kicking butt at recovery and sharing her own story with other young people.
As I said, my father didn’t talk a lot, but one of his favourite sayings was, “Take care of your body. If you have your health, you have everything.” He was so right about that. But I would add that there is no health without mental health. More than anything, I wish he had lived in a world where people
culled from: theroots.com
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These 5 Women Represent The Last Living People Born In The 1800s
These 5 Women Represent The Last Living People Born In The 1800s
The secret to longevity has been sought for centuries. What exercises, beverages, foods, and characteristics grant the key to a long life? These five women have a number of secrets worth sharing, after all they are the last living people born in the 1800’s.
These incredible women have seen it all, two World Wars, the Cold War, the first flying airplane, television set, and the Internet. A conversation with any one of them proves delightful, interesting and highly informative.
Women tend to live longer than men. It’s unknown exactly why but theories hint at a couple of different factors, such as estrogen helps protect the heart until after menopause. So while these women do have the upper hand when it comes to living a long life, they clearly have some other tricks up their sleeve.
These 5 charming women live in different parts of the world, but they all seem to agree on the same tricks to a long life: sleep, activity, exercise, and eating good food.
World’s Oldest Living Person, Misao Okawa
116-years-old, Born On March 5, 1898
The Japanese are known for living long lives, but Misao Okawa is the oldest living Japanese person ever. Okawa was married, but has been a widow for the last 83 years, as her husband died in 1931. Her secrets to living a long life: good genes, good sleep, exercise, and sushi. “Eat and sleep and you will live a long time.” Misao told Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
Susannah Mushatt Jones, United States
115-years-old, Born On July 6, 1899
Susannah Mushatt Jones, known as Miss Susie, was born in Alabama to sharecroppers; she was the third oldest of 11 siblings. In 1923, she moved to New York City, where she still lives today. Susannah presented “Negro Music in France” at her high school graduation, and was awarded a seat at the prestigious Tuskegee Institute. Since her parents could not afford college, she moved to New York instead. Her family says she is a kind woman who has helped many of her family members afford college. Jone’s niece says, “She wants everyone to go to college.”
America’s Oldest Person, Gertrude Weaver
116-years-old, Born On July 4, 1898
Yet another lady on this list born to sharecroppers, Gertrude was married in 1915 and had four children. Only one of her four children is still alive, he is now in his nineties. Weaver’s favorite activities include Bible study, manicures, and “wheelchair dancing.” Weaver told Time, “We chair dance because we can’t get up anymore.”
Europe’s Oldest Living Person, Emma Morano, Italy
115-years-old, Born On November 29, 1899
Emma is the only woman on this list that still lives completely on her own without any assistance. She was the first born out of 8 siblings and remains the only one still alive today. She worked in a jute factory until 1954, at which time she switched occupations and worked in a boarding school kitchen until 75 when she retired.
Morano says her eating habits have helped her live so long, she eats one raw egg and one cooked egg each day, just as the doctor recommended back when she was 20-years-old.
Jeralean Talley, United States
115-years-old, Born On May 23, 1899
Jeralean Talley was born into a difficult life picking cotton and peanuts. In 1935, she moved to Inkster for better economic opportunities. Here she married Alfred Talley, and the two of them had one child. Alfred passed away in 1988 at the ripe old age of 95.
Even without her other half, Jeralean still lives a fun life with her large family. She now lives with her daughter and takes annual fishing trips, and even hits up local casinos. Until she was 105 she remained an active bowler and always mowed her own lawn. That being said, perhaps it’s no surprise that she cites an active lifestyle as the key to longevity.
culled from earthporm.com
Saturday, April 18, 2015
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