Newswire: USDA announces next steps in providing financial assistance to borrowers who have faced discrimination

Washington, March 1, 2023 (Press Release No. 45.23) – Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the first steps in its process for providing financial assistance to farmers, ranchers or forest landowners who have previously suffered discrimination with respect to USDA farm lending programs. In addition, USDA set a target of distributing the allocated funds, which were authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, out to borrowers by the end of 2023. This process has been carefully designed in accordance with the IRA, the Federal Acquisition Regulation, and significant stakeholder input.
Specifically, Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law by President Biden in August 2022, directs USDA to provide financial assistance to producers who have experienced discrimination in USDA’s farm lending programs and has appropriated $2.2 billion for this program. Under the law, the Secretary of Agriculture is responsible for administering the assistance through qualified nongovernmental entities under standards set by USDA.
“These funds are yet another stepping stone in the long march towards justice and an inclusive, equitable USDA. Through this program and a neutral, comprehensive financial assistance process, USDA will acknowledge wrongs of the past and open up avenues that provide farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who have experienced discrimination by USDA the opportunity to be heard,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
“In providing this financial assistance, our goal is to make sure eligible people have adequate, understandable information about what is available to them, how to apply, and what to expect from USDA at each step. As we work to make all our programs more equitable, accessible and accountable, we are applying these same principles to make sure all Americans know how to engage with USDA’s services so we can prevent more inequities and build new levels of trust with the People’s Department going forward.”
Following President Biden signing the IRA, USDA took immediate steps to convene listening sessions and seek public comments about the design of the program to make sure farmers, advocates, academics, legislators, tribal governments, and other experts were heard.
Now, in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, the Department will soon issue contracts to nongovernmental program administrators, as the IRA specifies, that will coordinate the delivery of a national program of financial assistance to impacted farmers, ranchers or forest landowners. The vendors will include a national administrator to oversee the program and four regional hubs that will be set up to solicit and process applications efficiently. Vendors for the four regional hubs are encouraged to partner with organizations with experience in agriculture and specifically organizations that work with and represent underserved producers and have a relationship with USDA.
Organizations such as existing USDA cooperators that are interested in serving as partners to the regional hubs vendors should send an email to askusda@usda.gov by March 17, 2023 to have the name and contact information of their organization added to a list of interested potential partner organizations that will be made available to all regional hub interested vendors.
In addition to a national administrator and regional hubs, USDA will partner with community-based organizations across the country with experience in agriculture and reach into underserved communities. Building on work underway with existing cooperators and grantees through NIFA, FSA, NRCS and OPPE, these organizations will conduct outreach and ensure potential applicants are informed about the program and have the opportunity to apply. Organizations that would like to serve as cooperators should express their interest through an email to askusda@usda.gov by March 31, 2023.
The Department anticipates final selection of the vendors managing the program to occur by late Spring 2023. As soon as the national administrator, regional hubs, and cooperators are selected and prepared to begin the application process, USDA will work with them to disseminate specific details concerning the application period, with the goal of having payments made by the end of 2023.
The Department will also reach out to trusted cooperators that can further assist eligible farmers, ranchers, or forest landowners nearer to their locations. These trusted cooperators will be drawn from those with long-standing experience in agriculture technical assistance, outreach, and support for the farming community.
By taking these important steps to fulfill the mandates of Section 22007, USDA hopes to recognize and acknowledge the discrimination suffered by individuals, take steps to rebuild trust with communities, and create a better and stronger U.S. agriculture that is more diverse and resilient. This is one piece of a much broader effort at USDA to improve equity and access and eliminate barriers to its programs for underserved individuals and communities. More information about this work can be accessed at usda.gov/equity, where USDA will continue to share updates on its progress.

COVID-19

As of March 7, 2023, at 10:00 AM
(According to Alabama Political Reporter)

Alabama had 1,644,533 confirmed cases of coronavirus,
(2,471) more than last report, with 21,032 deaths (31) more
than last report.

Greene County had 2,309 confirmed cases, 7 more cases than last report, with 54 deaths

Sumter Co. had 3,176 cases with 55 deaths

Hale Co. had 5,728 cases with 110 deaths

Note: Greene County Physicians Clinic has testing and vaccination for COVID-19; including the new bivalent booster for Omicron variants.
Call for appointments at 205/372-3388, Ext. 142;
ages 5 and up.

President Biden renews commitment to passage of John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act at Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee

L To R: President Joe Biden, Cong. Terri Sewell, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson in wheelchair, rolled by son Cong. Jonathan Jackson, Krysten Clarke and Spiver W. Gordon
Attorney Faya Rose Toure addresses gathering at Commemoration March.
Rev. Jesse Jackson receives special tribute at Unity Breakfast.
Senator Hank Sanders at Martin and Coretta Unity Breakfast Rev. Martin Luther King III sitting at right
Freedom Singers bring inspiration throughout Jubilee.

At Sunday’s rally at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, President Biden renewed his commitment to passage of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, even if it requires waiving the U. S. Senate’s filibuster rules.

Biden accompanied by foot soldiers, current civil rights leaders and thousands of marchers crossed the bridge in the annual reenactment of the ‘Bloody Sunday’ march – March 7, 1965, when 600 marchers were met and beaten by hundreds of Alabama State Troopers and Sheriffs deputies. Later that month, Dr. Martin Luther King led marchers from Selma to Montgomery, completing the march and paving the way for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In his statement, President Biden said: “The right to vote, to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty,” 
 “This fundamental right remains under assault. Conservative Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act over the years. Since the 2020 election, a wave of states has passed dozens, dozens of anti-voting laws fueled by the big lie,” he insisted.
 The President continued. “We must redouble our efforts and renew our commitment to protecting the freedom to vote. “We know that we must get the votes in Congress to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act. I’ve made it clear: I will not let a filibuster obstruct the sacred right to vote.”
In his comments President Biden urged passage of the George Floyd Police Reform Act to implement changes in the criminal justice system across the nation. He also urged passage of a ban on assault weapons, like the AR-15, which have hurt people in recent multiple shootings at schools, theaters, and shopping centers.
The President called for building the economy from “the bottom up and the middle out; and for the rich to pay their fair share of taxes.” He said that he was ready to stand by Selma and other places in the state ravaged by recent storms to rebuild better than in the past. He said over $8 million had already been distributed under the FEMA disaster declaration for the January 12th tornados.
Biden was introduced by Charles Mauldin, a foot soldier, who was in the third row of marchers on Bloody Sunday. Mauldin explained that all Black public officials and others registered and voting under the 1965 Voting Rights Act owed a debt to the 600 ordinary people from Selma and surrounding areas who decided that they would take action to make a change.
Mauldin initiated a “Foot Soldiers Breakfast” on Saturday morning of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, ten years ago, to honor those who participated in Bloody Sunday and the Voting Rights Movement in Selma. At this year’s breakfast, the foot soldiers organization announced they had secured a property near the Carver Housing Project for a “Foot Soldiers Memorial Park” to recognize the contributions of the foot soldiers and to inspire the next generations to become active in positive social change for the Selma community.
Faya Rose Toure, Selma attorney, civil rights activist, and co-founder, with her husband, Hank Sanders, of the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, which was celebrating its 30th anniversary, also spoke on the program at the foot of the bridge with President Biden.
Toure said racism is still active and blatant in the Alabama Black Belt along with immense poverty and an abusive criminal justice system. She pointed out to the President, “Not a single white elected official is present on the stage or in the VIP seating for the event. Also, there are less that ten local white citizens involved in the Bridge Crossing Jubilee program. There is no school in the Alabama Black Belt, an area of majority Black population that teaches Black History!”
Commenting on the recent tornados, Toure said, “Mr. President. Not only must we build back Selma better, but we must also build back Selma fairer, if we are interested in justice and progress for the people of Selma and surrounding communities.
Toure also told the President, “I do not think you are too old to run again. My mother said the Blacker the berry; the older the berry, the sweeter the juice … “
A number of the people on the stage and in the VIP seating for the President’s address, had participated earlier in the annual Martin and Coretta King Unity Breakfast. Among them, Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was in a wheelchair, Congresswoman Terri Sewell and other members of the Black Congressional Caucus, Rev. William Barber of the Poor Peoples Campaign, Dr. Joseph Mitchell, President of Wallace Community College, Barbara Arnwine of the Transformative Justice Coalition, Maya Wiley, CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Cliff Albright, Black Voters Matter, and many others.

First Black Women in Public Office in Greene County

Mrs. Wadine Williams was elected the first Black Circuit Clerk in Greene County.

Mrs. Amanda Burton was the first Black woman appointed to the Greene County Commission.
Mrs. Lula Cook was the first Black woman appointed and subsequently elected as Greene County Tax Collector.
Mrs. Edna Chambers was the first Black Woman elected to the Greene County Commission

Editor’s Note: In March, as Women’s History Month, the Democrat will salute various Black women who held political office.

Mrs. Wadine Williams was elected the first Black Circuit Clerk in Greene County in 1970 on the National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA) ticket. She ran for re-election in 1976, but was defeated by Mary McShan, who ran on the Democratic Party ticket.

Ms. Amanda Burton was appointed the first Black Woman on the Greene County Commission, to complete the term of her husband, Franchie Burton, when he passed.
Burton attended school at the Bibb County Training School and Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, where she met her husband, Franchie Burton. After marriage and a move to Greene County, Burton completed her BA degree at Alabama State University in Montgomery and become a certified librarian.
In 1935, Mrs. Burton began teaching at Burton Hill School in Greene County. It was consolidated with Eatman School in 1962 and she continued to teach there and also began its library. She retired in 1972.
She was an active member of the Johnson Hill United Methodist Church in Union. She organized the Johnson Hill Summer Youth Program, which became the Johnson Hill Learning Center.
She was the first Black woman in Greene County to register to vote and the first Black Notary Public in Greene County. She helped incorporate the town of Union and organized a nutrition site for senior citizens in 1981.
Gov. George Wallace appointed her to fill her late husband’s unexpired term as county commissioner, thus making her the first woman commissioner in Greene County.
Mrs. Lula Cook was the first Black Woman appointed to the office of Tax Collector, when her husband, Robert Cook, passed in 1986. She was subsequently elected to that office.
Lula Virginia Davis Cook , (Honey Bae, Honey Baby) was born June 14, 1922 in Boligee, Alabama. After the early demise of her mother, Rebecca Dunlap, she was reared and nurtured in the Christian home by her loving grandparents, George and Lula Davis. She was educated in the Greene County School System. After graduating from Greene County Training School, she attended A & M University, Normal, AL and Miles College in Birmingham, AL, majoring in Early Childhood Education. Because of her love for children, she worked for several years with the Greene County Board of Education.
On December 24, 1948 she married the love of her life, Robert Henry Cook, Sr., who was elected the first Black Tax Collector of Greene County beginning October 1, 1973. In 1986, Lula succeeded her husband after he had served twelve consecutive years by becoming the first Black woman to serve as Greene County’s Tax Collector. Lula loved the Lord and was a loyal member of Macedonia CME Church where she served faithfully until her health prevented her from doing so. She served as Sunday School Teacher, President of the Missionary Society, Secretary of the Sunday School, a Laymen and a Trustee.

Mrs. Edna Chambers was the first Black Woman elected to the Greene County Commission.
Mrs. Edna Chambers, of Knoxville, AL, celebrated her 92nd birthday on January 8, 2023.  Mrs. Chambers has been a community activist all her adult life and continues to share her life experiences and wisdom, receiving many accolades for her outstanding community work.  She is noted as a trailblazer, civil rights activists and humanitarian in Greene County and throughout the state of Alabama.
  Chambers, representing District 1,  served two terms on the Greene County Commission between 1998- 2004.  Prior to running for office, Mrs. Chambers had just retired from the Greene County Health Department as a  home health care employee.  She and her husband for many years operated a small community grocery store. She was also a licensed agent with Primerica Insurance Company. 
  In  her capacity as a community leader,  Mrs. Chambers helped and assisted with the following: Camp Montgomery, Knoxville Volunteer Fire Department, Montgomery Recreation Center and the USDA Commodity Distribution. She is also an active member of the Greene County Chapter of Alabama New South Coalition.
Mrs. Chambers attends Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Knoxville. Her pastor is Rev. Robert Ellis.  

 

Newswire: America’s biggest museums fail to return Native American human remains

Workers excavate a mound at the Moundville Archaeological Park in Moundville, Alabama, in 1975. (photo: The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections)

By: Logan Jaffe, Mary Hudetz, Ash Ngu and Graham Lee Brewer/ProPublica and NBC News



As the United States pushed Native Americans from their lands to make way for westward expansion throughout the 1800s, museums and the federal government encouraged the looting of Indigenous remains, funerary objects and cultural items. Many of the institutions continue to hold these today — and in some cases resist their return despite the 1990 passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
“We never ceded or relinquished our dead. They were stolen,” James Riding In, then an Arizona State University professor who is Pawnee, said of the unreturned remains.
ProPublica this year is investigating the failure of NAGPRA to bring about the expeditious return of human remains by federally funded universities and museums. Our reporting, in partnership with NBC News, has found that a small group of institutions and government bodies has played an outsized role in the law’s failure.
Ten institutions hold about half of the Native American remains that have not been returned to tribes. These include old and prestigious museums with collections taken from ancestral lands not long after the U.S. government forcibly removed Native Americans from them, as well as state-run institutions that amassed their collections from earthen burial mounds that had protected the dead for hundreds of years.
Two are arms of the U.S. government: the Interior Department, which administers the law, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest federally owned utility.
An Interior Department spokesperson said it complies with its legal obligations and that its bureaus (such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Land Management) are not required to begin the repatriation of “culturally unidentifiable human remains” unless a tribe or Native Hawaiian organization makes a formal request.
Tennessee Valley Authority Archaeologist and Tribal Liaison Marianne Shuler said the agency is committed to “partnering with federally recognized tribes as we work through the NAGPRA process.”
The law required institutions to publicly report their holdings and to consult with federally recognized tribes to determine which tribes human remains and objects should be repatriated to. Institutions were meant to consider cultural connections, including oral traditions as well as geographical, biological and archaeological links.
Yet many institutions have interpreted the definition of “cultural affiliation” so narrowly that they’ve been able to dismiss tribes’ connections to ancestors and keep remains and funerary objects. Throughout the 1990s, institutions including the Ohio History Connection and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville thwarted the repatriation process by categorizing everything in their collections that might be subject to the law as “culturally unidentifiable.”
Ohio History Connection’s director of American Indian relations, Alex Wesaw, who is also a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, said that the institution’s original designation of so many collections as culturally unidentifiable may have “been used as a means to keep people on shelves for research and for other things that our institution just doesn’t allow anymore.”
In a statement provided to ProPublica, a University of Tennessee, Knoxville spokesperson said that the university is “actively building relationships with and consulting with Tribal communities.”
ProPublica found that the American Museum of Natural History has not returned some human remains taken from the Southwest, arguing that they are too old to determine which tribes — among dozens in the region — would be the correct ones to repatriate to. In the Midwest, the Illinois State Museum for decades refused to establish a cultural affiliation for Native American human remains that predated the arrival of Europeans in the region in 1673, citing no reliable written records during what archaeologists called the “pre-contact” or “prehistoric” period.
As of last month, about 200 institutions — including the University of Kentucky’s William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and the nonprofit Center for American Archeology in Kampsville, Illinois — had repatriated none of the remains of more than 14,000 Native Americans in their collections. Some institutions with no recorded repatriations possess the remains of a single individual; others have as many as a couple thousand.
When the federal repatriation law passed in 1990, the Congressional Budget Office estimated it would take 10 years to repatriate all covered objects and remains to Native American tribes. Today, many tribal historic preservation officers and NAGPRA professionals characterize that estimate as laughable, given that Congress has never fully funded the federal office tasked with overseeing the law and administering consultation and repatriation grants.
Author Chip Colwell, a former curator at the Denver Museum of Nature … Science, estimates repatriation will take at least another 70 years to complete. But the Interior Department, now led by the first Native American to serve in a cabinet position, is seeking changes to regulations that would push institutions to complete repatriation within three years. Some who work on repatriation for institutions and tribes have raised concerns about the feasibility of this timeline.
Our investigation included an analysis of records from more than 600 institutions; interviews with more than 100 tribal leaders, museum professionals and others; and the review of nearly 30 years of transcripts from the federal committee that hears disputes related to the law.
D. Rae Gould, executive director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Brown University and a member of the Hassanamisco Band of Nipmucs of Massachusetts, said institutions that don’t want to repatriate often claim there’s inadequate evidence to link ancestral human remains to any living people.
Gould said “one of the faults with the law” is that institutions, and not tribes, have the final say on whether their collections are considered culturally related to the tribes seeking repatriation. “Institutions take advantage of it,” she said.

 

Newswire : The new president of Nigeria earned an accounting degree at Chicago State University

Bola Ahmed Tinubu


Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election. Still, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, the second-place finisher, and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, the third-place finisher, said they would challenge the result.

Abubakar said he will “explore all of the legal and peaceful options to reclaim our mandate.” Abubakar has campaigned for president of Nigeria six times.

Tinubu, 70, represents the ruling All Progressives Congress Party and won nearly 36.6 percent of the vote total.

Nigeria is African largest economy. The country holds 37,070, 000,000 barrels of proven oil reserves, according to information issued in 2016.

The country covers an area of 923,769 square kilometers and has a population of over 218.65 million.

Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, was declared the winner Wednesday of Africa’s most populous nation and its richest country based on oil revenue.

Tinubu spent his early life in South West Nigeria and later moved to the United States in 1975 to study at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago. He later transferred to Chicago State University, where he earned a degree in accounting. He graduated in 1979.

He returned to Nigeria in the early 1980s. He was employed by Mobil Nigeria as an accountant, rising in the ranks at other companies before entering politics as a Lagos West senatorial candidate in 1992 under the banner of the Social Democrat Party.

He has been accused of drug trafficking. Court documents and later reporting on the case showed he was a bagman for two Chicago heroin dealers in the early 1990s.

He is the fifth president since Nigeria returned to Democratic rule. He takes office on May 29.

Newswire: Colonel Paris Davis receives Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam

President Biden awards medal to Col. Paris Davis

From Blackmansstreet

President Joe Biden on Friday awarded the Medal of Honor to retired Army Colonel Paris Davis, some sixty years after his superior officers recommended him for the nation’s highest honor. However, the Army lost the recommendations twice, and some believe racism may have played a role.

President Biden draped the Metal of Honor around Davis, who was awarded for fighting in Vietnam during a packed event at the White House.

Davis was captain and commander of the 5th Special Forces Group, one of the few Blacks in command.

He was engaged in a continuous pre-dawn raid on a contingent of the North Vietnamese army encamped in the village of Bong Son in Binh Dinh province.

Davis fought in hand-to-hand combat with the North Vietnamese and thwarted the capture of three American soldiers. He also sprinted across open rice paddies to rescue members of his troop. His entire team survived “That world gallantry is not much used these days,”
Biden said. “But I can think of no better word to describe Paris.” Colonel Davis retired in 1985 and faced segregation in Virginia.

He also wondered why he had never heard about the recommendation he received for the Medal of Honor. He was awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest combat medal, but his team members said his Black skin was a factor in the disappearance of the Medal of Honor recommendation.

Davis had been recommended for the Medal of Honor after the battle in 1965. Nine years later, a second nomination was submitted, but it also was lost.
Army service members said there was no evidence of racism, but former President Bill Clinton said Black men were not recommended for the Medal of Honor in World War II. He then listed several Black men who received the Silver Star but were denied the Medal of Honor often given the Silver Star, a high honor, but not the Medal of Honor.

In 1997, President Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to seven African Americans who had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

In 2021, Christopher Miller, then acting defense secretary, ordered an expedited review of Davis’
Case.

Several weeks ago, President Biden called Davis, now 83, telling him he would receive the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony.

Newswire: The Joint Center: Blacks and People of Color getting few jobs in the new Congress

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from BlackMansStreet.Today

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington D.C. think tank for Black-elected officials, angry that only 5.1 percent of Blacks and 17.9 percent of people of color are hired for the nation’s top jobs in the 118th Congress, which began meeting January 3, 2023.

Top staff positions include chiefs of staff, legislative directors, and communication directors.

“These low numbers are concerning because people of color account for 40 percent of the U.S. population, and Blacks account for 12.4 percent of the population,” the Joint Center wrote in “Update of Racial Diversity of the Top Staff Hires in 118thCongress.”

The Joint Center’s midterm hiring campaign microsite, which went live on November 2022, features several interactive tools monitoring staff of all new and returning members. More than 93.6 percent of the top positions–1,499 of 1,602– have already been filled as of February 17, 2023.

Of the 1,011 top staff positions filled by returning House members, this number also lags behind the national population.

Returning Senate members’ counties also lag behind the diversity of the national population.

The 205 newly elected House members, continue to be behind the national population of 40.0 percent for people of color and Blacks.

Of the newly elected Senators, only diverse top staffers accounted for 8.3 percent, which is lower than the U.S. population.

Newswire: DOJ court brief hints at possible
federal indictment of Donald Trump

 Insurrectionist mob attacks U. S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021


By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice have stated that inciting imminent private violence is not part of a president’s official responsibilities, the strongest indication yet that criminal charges are being considered against former President Donald Trump.
In a case involving police officers who want to sue Trump, the federal appellate court in the District of Columbia asked the Department of Justice to weigh in on the matter.
“Such incitement of imminent private violence would not be within the outer perimeter of the Office of the President of the United States,” the DOJ wrote in a memo to the court.
Trump asserted that he can’t be sued for his role in organizing his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Lawmakers and Capitol Police officers have filed a lawsuit claiming that Trump incited the attack by falsely claiming in a speech that the 2020 election had been stolen and urging his supporters to march on the Capitol.
The civil division of the Department of Justice filed a 23-page brief with the court of appeals, requesting that the court allow the lawsuit to move forward.
The DOJ said Trump’s incitement of the deadly insurrection fell outside the scope of his presidential powers and therefore disqualifies any immunity argument.
The U.S. Supreme Court has previously decided that the Constitution protects presidents from being sued for their official actions.
“The District Court correctly rejected Trump’s categorical assertion ‘that whenever and wherever a President speaks on a matter of public concern he is immune from a civil suit,” the DOJ insisted.
“Speaking to the public on matters of public concern is a traditional function of the Presidency, and the outer perimeter of the President’s office includes a vast realm of such speech.
“But that traditional function is one of public communication. It does not include incitement of imminent private violence of the sort the district court found that the plaintiff’s complaints have plausibly alleged here.”
The lawsuits allege that Trump’s speech was responsible for inciting the attack, which the DOJ said begs the question of whether it is within the scope of his presidency to update his supporters on the results of the 2020 election.
In a ruling made last year, Federal District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta allowed the lawsuits against the former president to proceed.
The judge concluded that Trump’s various communications leading up to and including January 6 amounted to a “call to action” and that he urged his supporters should “fight like hell” to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election victory.
Trump’s attorneys have appealed that ruling to the D.C. Circuit. They claimed presidents have always been protected from legal action for statements made in the course of their official duties because such statements are considered “speech on matters of public concern.”
Several Democratic lawmakers and Capitol Police officers have joined forces to file a lawsuit against Trump over the attack on January 6. Other groups not involved in the appeal, such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, are also named as defendants in the lawsuits.
By its very nature, “such conduct plainly falls outside the President’s constitutional and statutory duties,” the DOJ wrote.
As such, it cannot be squared with the President’s customary role of addressing the nation on vital issues, they argued.
The President has “extraordinary power to speak to his fellow citizens and on their behalf” in his role as the nation’s leader and head of state.
“But that traditional function is one of public communication and persuasion, not incitement of imminent private violence,” the DOJ continued.
“To extend immunity to such incitement would contradict the ‘constitutional heritage and structure’ that have informed and justified the doctrine of presidential immunity.

 

Newswire :Obesity Care Week begins as report reveals that nearly 50 percent of African Americans have obesity

Billboard on obesity

By Stacy M. Brown,NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

Obesity Care Week 2023 (OCW) kicked off on Monday, Feb. 27, with a focus on the disproportionate impact of obesity on communities of color.
Health officials responsible for OCW said racial and ethnic minorities have a higher rate of chronic diseases. African Americans have the highest rate of chronic diseases.
According to recent data, almost 50% of African Americans have obesity, and approximately 4 out of 5 Black women have overweight or obesity.
The causes of obesity are complex, and a person’s access to healthy food, safe places to exercise and play, stable and affordable housing, access to quality health care, and social attitudes about body weight all play a role in whether a person will have obesity.
However, communities of color face unique challenges in each of these areas, health officials stated.
For example, in the United States, only 8% of African Americans live in a census tract with a supermarket, while 31% of white Americans have one. This means that minorities more often shop in small stores or bodegas or eat at fast food restaurants. These places usually have less fresh food and more processed food.
Cultural attitudes about body weight also play a role, with non-Hispanic white women more satisfied with their body size than non-Hispanic Black women, and Hispanic women more interested in losing weight and eating healthy. Evidence shows that the African American population has less of an impact on existing weight loss interventions, with Black men and women achieving smaller weight losses. Health officials noted that this suggests that intensive behavioral programs result in lower levels of adherence in Black people than whites.
Founded in 2015, Obesity Care Week has a global vision for a society that values science and clinically based care and understands, respects, and accepts the complexities of obesity.
Organizers have focused on changing the way society cares about obesity and have worked to empower individuals by providing affordable and comprehensive care and prevention programs, increasing awareness of weight bias, and working to eliminate obesity.
Researchers said obesity not only affects overall health, but it also increases the risk of complications from COVID-19. According to a recent study of hospitalized patients in the US, obesity may also predispose patients to getting the virus and is the strongest predictor for COVID-19 complications.
Unfortunately, African Americans are also disproportionately affected by COVID-19. According to the CDC, 33% of those hospitalized with the virus were African Americans, compared to 13% of the US population. Inequities in access to and quality of care result in poor overall health and many chronic diseases, such as obesity and diabetes. This can affect individuals’ chances of getting COVID-19.
The communities in which African Americans live may place them at greater risk for developing chronic illnesses. For example, they may not have access to healthy foods or safe places to play or exercise.
For people who try to eat healthy, living in a food desert means that they must go to a grocery store. They often must do this by public transportation. These disparities need to be addressed so that all communities have the resources and support they need to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
“Obesity Care Week 2023 highlights the need for comprehensive and inclusive approaches to obesity care that consider the unique challenges faced by communities of color,” organizers stated.