The Greene County Democrat

Category: Newswire

  • Newswire : Joe Biden names his new plan for Black People after The Negro National Anthem

    The “Lift Every Voice” plan addresses the coronavirus’ disproportionate effect on Black people and other pressing issues.

    Written By Bruce C.T. Wright, NewsOne

    Battling sexual assault allegations that have recently dogged his presidential candidacy, the presumptive Democratic nominee on Monday made an effort to appeal to the bread and butter of his support base — Black people — by naming his new plan for African Americans after the Negro National Anthem.
    Joe Biden‘s “Lift Every Voice” plan addresses some of the stereotypical topics associated with Black people, like gun violence and criminal justice, but also would set aside funding for issues stemming from the disproportionate affect that COVID-19 has had on Black people. “Lift Every Voice And Sing” is the name of what was first a poem before it became a song also known as the Negro National Anthem.
    The plan also calls for more funding to help Black-owned businesses. Ninety-five percent of Black-owned businesses were projected to miss out on the Small Business Administration loans provided by the federal stimulus package.
    The announcement on Monday seemed to be Biden’s most comprehensive response to how the coronavirus has ravaged the country’s Black communities. It may have also been an effort to deflect from the negative attention his campaign has sustained from the allegations from Tara Reade, Biden’s former senatorial aide who has publicly accused him of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s. In fact, it seems that Biden has spent more time addressing those accusations that he has addressed Black people (except when he said last month that he would not commit to picking a Black woman as his vice-presidential running mate.)
    Biden pushed past Bernie Sanders in the early presidential primaries thanks in no small part to Black voters, who turned out for him in a major way, especially across the south. The surge of support forced other candidates to drop out of the race, leaving Biden as the presumptive nominee. As New York magazine’s Intelligencer put it, “Joe Biden Owes It All to African-American Voters.” Monday’s announcement seemed to be his first acknowledgment of that coveted voting bloc since before the coronavirus pandemic forced people to socially distance themselves from one another.
    Given that Biden routinely points to his experience with Barack Obama, it follows that the former vice president might name his new plan for the same song that the 44th president once famously sang with Smokey Robinson more than a decade ago. “Lift Every Voice And Sing” also has other significant presidential ties: The poem was originally performed in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12, 1900, and was later set to music in 1905 by Johnson’s brother John Rosamond. Today, the song is an integral piece of Black patriotism.

  • Newswire: Rep. Jim Clyburn will lead House Oversight Committee on Coronavirus

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent
    @StacyBrownMedia

    Rep. James Clyburn


    House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-South Carolina) will chair a newly established oversight panel with broad authority to oversee the federal response to the coronavirus.
    During an exclusive live broadcast, Clyburn told National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to impanel a committee after she recalled a similar body selected by President Harry S. Truman after World War II.
    “Speaker Pelosi called me several weeks ago, and we got into this discussion about what we need to do and how we needed to make sure that this is done in such a way that it will meet with our vision of making sure that the greatness of this country is accessible and affordable for all,” Clyburn told Chavis.
    “This pandemic has opened up some fault lines in this great country, and primary among them is healthcare. Healthcare is not accessible and affordable to all, and this pandemic has shown that to be the case.”
    Clyburn continued:
    “America’s greatness has always been because it’s been able to repair its faults. Speaker Pelosi said she’d given a lot of thought to what happened as this country was moving toward World War II and Truman told the Senate about the 116 committees who after World War 1 looked at all of the profiteering, the price gauging, and the kind of fraud that these fly-by-night groups had done.”
    Clyburn noted that healthcare and other fraud has run rampant during the current novel coronavirus pandemic and, more than ever, African Americans are being victimized.
    “This pandemic is vising family after family after family. We know from all of the data that it is being visited more harshly and more prevalent among African American communities, and some Latino communities all over the country,” Clyburn stated.
    The new panel is expected to enjoy far-reaching power to investigate how the trillions of dollars already approved by Congress for coronavirus relief are being used, Clyburn added.
    It will be able to issue subpoenas, review America’s preparedness for the crisis, and examine decisions about the crisis within the administration.
    The panel will probe the “efficiency, effectiveness, equity and transparency” of taxpayer funds used to respond to the crisis and will investigate reports of waste, fraud, and abuse of funds being spent, according to the establishing resolution.
    It will also be able to study the economic impact and disparate impacts of the crisis on different communities.
    “This is about transparency and accountability,” stated Clyburn during the live stream titled, “Black America and COVID-19: Saving and Empowering Black Lives.”
    Clyburn also talked with Chavis about the NNPA’s Coronavirus Task Force and Resource Center, the first media-related entity in the United States to declare a “State of Emergency for Black America” as the fatalities among Black Americans have continued to rise alarmingly across the nation.
    Using social media to increase public awareness about COVID-19, the NNPA continues to encourage the use of the hashtags: #SaveBlackLives, and #NNPACoronavirusTaskForce.
    Clyburn, a 14-term U.S. Congressman and the dean of the South Carolina congressional delegation has spent his career working to improve and empower the lives of African Americans. Former President Barack Obama once noted that Clyburn is “one of a handful of people who, when they speak, the entire Congress listens.”
    As Assistant Democratic Leader in the 112th Congress, the number three ranking Democrat in the House, Clyburn is the leadership liaison to the Appropriations Committee and one of the Democratic Caucus’ primary liaisons to the White House.
    He plays a prominent role in messaging and outreach.
    The Clyburn-Chavis interview can be viewed at http://www.facebook.com/blackpressusa.

  • Newswire: Coalition of civil rights leaders support CBC in protecting Black health

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent
    @StacyBrownMedia


    WASHINGTON, D.C., May 3, 2020 – National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) President and CEO, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., National Action Network (NAN) Founder Rev. Al Sharpton, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), National Coalition of 100 Black Women, and the Black Women’s Health Imperative, are up in arms because they say too many Washington politicians are protecting insurance company profits over health care for African Americans.
    Collectively, they argue that too often, insurance companies refuse to cover emergency services, and either patients are forced to pay bills they cannot afford, or hospitals are shuttering.
    Congress claims to be tackling this challenge, but until the Congressional Black Caucus got involved, Congress focused only on protecting insurer profits, not people, according to the coalition.
    Chavis, Sharpton, and others are throwing their support behind the CBC.
    They’re asking that others also support the CBC.
    Led by Chair Karen Bass (D-Calif.), the 55-member CBC has worked almost non-stop in fighting for health equity in the African American community.
    The CBC works to protect and expand voting rights, comprehensive criminal justice reform, building a more inclusive economy, and ensuring access to quality and affordable healthcare.
    A primary focus of the CBC remains to target insurance companies that have disproportionately neglected the needs of African Americans while also providing below standard care.
    “This outrageous situation benefits one group and one group alone: powerful insurance executives, who have managed to get off the financial hook for such bills, even as insurers shrink insurance coverage networks to wring more and more profits out of the system,” Chavis has stated.
    He and the other leaders have continued to express strong opposition to any legislation that would give insurers more control over health care prices.
    In their continued push for health equality, the group is working to ensure that insurance companies expand their networks and cover more emergency services. This will maintain access to care in hard-hit Black communities. “The status quo means hospitals in our communities close first,” the group noted in a statement.
    “We cannot let this happen. Together, we can ensure that the old way of doing business – putting insurance company profits over people – STOPS.”
    They continued: Join us and support the CBC. Help us work to make sure Congress passes a bill that keeps us healthy and alive by allowing insurance networks to grow and cover lifesaving services.”

  • Newswire: Kenyan growers send ‘flowers of hope’ as major markets dry up

    Kenyan women farmer with flowers

    Apr. 27, 2020 (GIN) – It was inevitable during a lockdown that sales of Kenya’s flower exports would dry up as buyers make fewer impulse purchases of carnations, roses and other blossoms.
    According to data from the Kenya Flower Council, sales of cut flowers in overseas markets have fallen below 35 per cent of what is expected this time of the year.
    This month, the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, through its members, Kenya Flower Council and other flower growers, launched a “campaign of solidarity” – sending 300 floral bouquets to first responders, doctors and nurses in the UK.
    A note penned by President Uhuru Kenyatta acknowledged the health crisis that has pummeled the revenue-generating sector.
    “There have been a few moments in history when the world has faced a crisis as far-reaching and consequential as this,” he wrote. “It is exactly at moments such as this that we must display our humanity, perseverance and hope. Whatever the adversity, no matter the foe, we shall triumph together. We stand united. Tuko Pamoja. From Kenya with love – H E Uhuru Kenyatta.”
    Despite the depressed sales, flower growers must still care for the flowers otherwise the plant deteriorates and will not bloom in the future. Labor is still required to perform these tasks so that once the pandemic passes, production and sales can return to expected levels.
    The principal export of the Netherlands for over 200 years, flowers today are grown in other regions, including sub-Saharan Africa, and are challenging the Netherlands’ traditional hold on the industry.
    Cut flowers are now Kenya’s second largest export after tea, contributing around 1% of the country’s GDP. They are also one of the country’s largest source of employment, with over 100,000 people working directly in the flower industry and an estimated two million indirectly.
    “Flowers are therapeutic and are a great way of expressing our appreciation to the gallant men and women working round the clock to take care of the sick,” said Bimal Kantaria, managing director of Elgon Kenya. “With this campaign we want to send a message of hope and solidarity as we work to ensure our brothers and sisters in the flower industry do not lose their jobs during these trying times and our highly acclaimed flower sector remains afloat.”

  • Newswire : Me Too founder Tarana Burke: Biden can be ‘accountable and electable’

    The activist behind the anti-sexual violence movement did not outright denounce
    Joe Biden when weighing in on Tara Reade’s accusations against him.

    By Carla Herreria Russo, Huffington Post

    Tarana Burke

    The founder of the Me Too movement spoke up on Tuesday to explain what she believes is an “inconvenient truth” about the sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
    Tarana Burke, who founded Me Too in 2007, said former congressional aide Tara Reade’s accusations against Biden are being felt differently because of the 2020 election, which will now feature two men in powerful positions who have been accused of sexual assault.
    But first, she made clear where she stands with any survivor of sexual assault in a series of tweets.
    “My stance has never wavered: survivors have a right to speak their truth and to be given the space to heal,” she wrote.
    “The inconvenient truth,” Burke added, “is that this story is impacting us differently because it hits at the heart of one of the most important elections of our lifetime. And I hate to disappoint you but I don’t really have easy answers.”
    Reade is one of eight women who have come forward to accuse Biden of touching them inappropriately at various times in his political career.
    Reade said then-Senator Biden assaulted her in 1993 while she was serving as an aide. In a podcast interview with Katie Halper in March, Reade said he kissed her and penetrated her with his fingers without her consent.
    Reade told Halper that she pushed Biden away, which allegedly prompted him to say, “Come on, man! I heard you liked me.”
    Then, Reade said, Biden pointed at her and said, “You’re nothing to me.”
    The accusations come as Biden recently became the last Democrat standing in the race for party’s presidential nomination. His campaign denied the claims against him in a statement to HuffPost in late March.
    “Women have a right to tell their story, and reporters have an obligation to rigorously vet those claims,” Biden spokesperson Kate Bedingfield said in a statement to HuffPost at that time. “We encourage them to do so, because these accusations are false.”
    On Twitter, Burke said Reade, like other survivors, has had to rely on journalists and mainstream media to have her voice and accusations heard ― “precisely because the systems for survivors are not in place.”
    Burke then suggested that Biden could be both “accountable and electable” for Democrats in the 2020 election, adding that the former vice president faced a “learning curve” when it comes to respecting women’s boundaries.
    “The defense of Joe Biden shouldn’t rest on whether or not he’s a ‘good guy’ or ‘our only hope.’ Instead, he could demonstrate what it looks like to be both accountable and electable,” she wrote.
    “Meaning, at minimum, acknowledging that his demonstrated learning curve around boundaries with women, at the very least, left him open to the plausibility of these claims,” Burke continued. “No matter what you believe, we are allowed to expect more of the person running for U.S. President.”
    Burke also suggested that the current judicial system doesn’t allow for a “transformative approach to dealing with claims of sexual violence” that supports “both accountability and healing.”
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    Some activists have criticized what they see as a lack of support for Reade ― and a failure to strongly condemn Biden ― in the weeks that followed her decision to describe the alleged assault in full detail.
    When Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was defending herself to Congress after alleging that then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had assaulted her in the early 1980s, many members of the Me Too movement stood behind Ford and offered full-throated support.
    Days after Kavanaugh was confirmed as a justice, Burke wrote Ford a public letter, praising her heroism and ability to face “the patriarchy with no weapons other than her voice, her body, and the truth.”
    Actress Rose McGowan, who emerged as an outspoken advocate for the Me Too movement in 2017, aired her concern on Twitter this weekend.
    “Where are the #SilenceBreakers? Where is Tarana Burke? Where is #MeToo,” she tweeted Sunday.
    In her Twitter thread, Burke explained that she had taken some time off from her activism because she had family affected by the current coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
    Burke also cast doubt on the intentions of those who have a heightened interest in Reade’s case, suggesting that they were actually more interested in Biden’s political demise.
    “Most people weighing in at the moment don’t actually care about transforming a culture of sexual violence,” she wrote. “Many of you are only interested in this story because you are entertained by the trauma of others or because it has the potential to be politically expedient ― with no real regard for the survivor.”
    To that end, Burke said that survivors “deserve more than being used as a political football by disinterested parties.”

  • Newswire : $349 billion COVID-19 Small Business Program short-changes businesses of color

    By Charlene Crowell, Center for Responsible Lending

    Black business person in California

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – A $349 billion program created to assist America’s small businesses was launched on April 3 to provide payroll, utilities, rent and more for eligible applicants screened by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). On April 16 – less than two weeks later — this national stimulus enacted in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, ran out of funds. In separate but related legal actions, federal lawsuits were filed, challenging the lack of equitable access to the stimulus program.
    On April 19, four class action lawsuits challenged banks’ use of PPP (Payroll Protection Program) funds. Filed separately in the U.S. District Court’s Central California office, the lawsuits are against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.
    While this legal process unfolds, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) estimated that as many as 95 percent Black-owned businesses stood no chance of securing a program loan. Other communities of color were similarly likely to be shut out as well: 91 percent of both Latino-owned and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-owned businesses were financially shortchanged.
    At the same time, businesses of color together are responsible for employing 8.7 million people and represent 30% of all U.S. businesses. Additionally, the combined contributions that these businesses make to the national economy is a noteworthy $1.38 trillion.
    Days later on April 21, an additional $310 billion for the PPP was approved by the U.S. Senate and is expected to be quickly passed in the U.S. House. Even so, some reactions to the new funding suggested that it was still too little and needs to better address how Black and other businesses of color can fully participate.
    “This bill distributes most of the funding again to large banks that prioritized wealthier businesses over small ones,” said Ashley Harrington, Federal Advocacy Director with the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). “Businesses of color were locked out of round one of the SBA PPP, and this Congress proposal fails to assure that they will have fair access to the new $60 billion small business appropriation. Nor does it ensure equity and transparency by requiring data tracking on borrower demographics and loan amounts to be collected or reported.”
    “While it is a good and necessary change to include set-asides for community banks to reach more businesses and rural areas, the bill fails to dedicate targeted funds for use by minority depository institutions (MDIs), and community development financial institutions (CDFIs),” added Harrington. “These are the institutions with a strong track record of serving borrowers of color. Both MDIs and CDFIs should have access to this vital small business support.”
    The set-asides included in the new appropriations bill allocate monies to institutions based on bank size alone. Since over 98 percent of banks and credit unions fall into the allocation that includes CDFIs and MDIs, it is highly unlikely that these institutions will be able to access the funds – especially as the monies will have run out before these two types of institutions would be able to secure SBA approval.
    The new set-asides included in the new appropriations bill allocates monies to institutions based on bank size alone. This provision places CDFIs and MDIs in direct competition with better resourced smaller institutions like community banks for loan funds.
    PPP was a federal response that was supposed to supply funds through June 30 to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. It was created as part of a $2 trillion, national rescue plan authorized through the CARES Act. Instead, it is now no longer accepting applications or approving new lenders in the program. The program’s loans were capped to no more than $10 million and came with an explicit exclusion of businesses based outside of the United States. For six months, loan payments would be suspended and under specific and verifiable conditions, the loans also could be completely forgiven.
    PPP applicants were required to interact with banks and other existing SBA lenders. For communities of color, this specific condition meant beginning, not continuing or expanding financial relationships. Fees paid by the federal government to participating financial institutions were based on the size of loans approved for originating program loans. For example, American Banker reported recently that on a $10 million loan, bank fees would be $100,000, and fees for a $350,000 loan would be $17,500.
    Together, these two program requirements gave larger small businesses quicker and greater access to these loans. Instead of providing needed relief for struggling businesses, the PPP is just the latest iteration of federal funding and resources being systematically withheld from individuals and people of color.
    A similar reaction to the exhaustion of funding was expressed by Orson Aguilar, director of economic policy for UnidosUS (formerly LaRaza) that champions rights for Latinos.
    “We know that many companies did not benefit because they do not have banking relationships and that is a requirement,” said Aguilar.
    Through the assistance of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, 111 organizations across the country, including CRL, jointly told Congress their collective concerns over the exclusion of relief to communities of color in the federal pandemic response.
    “Communities that have already been marginalized by structural barriers to equal opportunities and who have low levels of wealth are particularly vulnerable during this current emergency,” wrote the civil rights advocates in an April 16 letter. “While many working people have been sidelined, many others are still providing essential services during the crisis – working at our grocery stores, delivering mail and packages, and providing care to vulnerable people – putting their lives at risk, often at reduced hours and wages, to keep our country running.”
    “The ongoing crisis has laid bare the structural racism and barriers to opportunity that are entrenched in our society, and our collective actions now must not worsen them,” concluded the coalition.
    CRL identified specific ways in which the COVID-19 federal response can become more inclusive. Its PPP recommendations include:
    Dedicate 20 percent of all new funding to businesses of color;
    At least $25 billion in funding for MDIs and CDFIs;
    Provide an alternative PPP loan of up to a $100,000 that can be forgiven and better fits the needs of very small businesses;
    Adjust program rules to serve more small businesses and ensure equity and transparency by requiring all lenders to provide both borrower demographics and loan amounts;
    Expand outreach and enrollment assistant through community development corporations and community-based organizations.
    “The Great Recession drained communities of color of a trillion dollars of wealth that they have yet to recover,” concluded Mike Calhoun, CRL President. “They should not be excluded from one of the largest COVID-19 relief programs. We cannot allow that to happen again.”
    Charlene Crowell is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.

  • Newswire: Coronavirus has made incarceration a potential death sentence

    A news Analysis by: Rev Jesse Jackson


    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – This week, the New York Times featured the story of how the coronavirus savaged the Federal Correctional Complex in Oakdale, Louisiana. On March 28, Patrick Jones, 49, serving a 27-year sentence for possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute, became the first federal inmate to die of the virus.
    Barely three weeks later, seven inmates had died, at least 100 inmates and staff members had been infected, with more than 20 hospitalized — and an entire community terrorized. The prisoners died, unreported, unknown, their bodies essentially owned by the federal government that imprisoned them.
    According to corrections officers there, the warden was slow to act, saying that “we live in the South and it’s warm here. We won’t have any problems,” a haunting illustration of the dangers of loose rhetoric and tall tales from the president, amplified on social media.
    The horrors of the Andover, New Jersey nursing home — with at least 70 residents dead and dozens more testing positive — has dramatized the vulnerability of the elderly in nursing homes, where over 7,000 have died. Our grossly overpopulated prisons and jails are quickly becoming the next centers to be ravaged by the disease.
    Cook County Jail, the largest in the country, is already one of the nation’s largest sources of infections, with more confirmed cases than the USS Theodore Roosevelt or the New Rochelle, New York cluster. Four inmates are dead and 215 have tested positive, as have 191 correctional officers and 34 other sheriff’s office employees. One employee just died.
    We know the most about Cook County because Sheriff Tom Dart has been the most open. Many are suffering and dying of COVID-19 because sheriff’s offices around the county have not been very open and are not testing. The jail is overwhelmed. The sheriff and jail workers need more hands on deck. For every shift change, the virus is recycled in the community.
    A state prison in Ohio is now the largest reported source of coronavirus infection in the United States. I called President Trump and urged him to make testing, tracing and social distancing a priority for those in jails, nursing homes and prisons. The workers, inmates and communities where the workers live all need help.
    In Ohio, 2,300 prisoners in three prisons have tested positive. In prisons and jails across the country, inmates locked up for nonviolent crimes or while awaiting trial, and older, vulnerable inmates near the end of their term, among others, sit in terror, fearful that they face a death sentence.
    Prisons and jails are virtual petri dishes for the virus. Social distancing is impossible. Soap and water are often not available.
    Correctional officers have no choice but to mix with inmates. Many inmates are poor, often with health problems — asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, stress — that make them more vulnerable to the virus.
    Prisons and jails have begun — although far too slowly — to react. Cook County Jail has reduced its population from 10,000 to 4,200, partly because of bail reform, some from courts sentencing fewer nonviolent offenders to prison, some from early release. Soap and disinfectants have been made available. Those with symptoms are isolated from the general population. Visitors and volunteers are not allowed, often at great psychic cost to inmates.
    Facilities are cleaned more frequently. In some prisons, inmates have been locked in their cells for 22 hours a day to limit human interactions.
    But — as is true for the general population — testing is often not available. Too few are tested too seldom. That puts not only prisoners but corrections officers and their families, and the people they interact with at risk.
    Not surprisingly, prison uprisings have begun, as terrorized inmates demand protection and more information. Corrections officers have joined in lawsuits to get adequate protective equipment, information, and testing. Too often, it is too little and too late.
    There is no defense. Clearly, at the federal and state level, prison officials should speed the release of nonviolent offenders, of the elderly and the vulnerable. Universal testing is an imperative. Prisoners need more access to soap and water. And both prisoners and corrections officials need protective gear — from masks to gloves — and, most of all, information on how to protect themselves.
    Donald Trump informed me that he had made his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the point person on prison reform. The time for aggressive action is long past. Prisons should be made a priority for supplies, for tests, and for early release of as many inmates as possible, particularly the elderly and the vulnerable.
    If the pandemic continues to spread through prisons, the toll in lives will soar.
    As the pandemic exposes once more, it is a moral outrage that the U.S. locks up more people than any other country, including China. Prisoners are disproportionately poor and people of color, too often victims of institutionalized racism that still puts African American young men at greater risk of being stopped by police, charged, and jailed if convicted.
    Even without the virus, that is a disgrace. Now the virus is turning incarceration into a potential death sentence.

  • Newswire:Greene County lags in 2020 Census count


    As Census 2020 numbers continue to roll in, the latest results – reported via 2020census.gov – show that as of April 22, Greene County is at just 33.4 percent, which is below its 2010 self-response rate of 40.9 percent. Overall, Alabama is reporting a 50.3 percent response rate – well below the 62.5 percent total self-response rate in 2010. This is according to Kenneth Boswell of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) who heads up Alabama 2 Counts.
    “What does this mean? Plainly, we have work to do, and each county – especially those like Greene County – must do its part to ensure we exceed 2010 numbers so that Alabama keeps its current number of federal representatives, ensures it is provided the more than $13 billion in census-derived funding at stake, and continues to be considered for new and expanding economic development opportunities moving forward.,” says Boswell.
    If you haven’t filled out your 2020 Census form yet, do so now on line at uscensus2020.gov or phone 1-844-330-2020.

  • Newswire” Beyoncé highlights disproportionately deadly impact of pandemic on Black communities

    By Dominique Mosbergen, Huffington Post

    Beyonce Knowles Carter


    Beyoncé made a surprise appearance on Saturday during “One World: Together At Home,” a two-hour concert special organized by the anti-poverty movement Global Citizen to benefit the World Health Organization’s coronavirus efforts.
    The superstar singer delivered a poignant message to viewers, celebrating the “true heroes” of the pandemic — “those who are making the ultimate sacrifice to keep us all safe, fed and healthy,” she said.
    She also highlighted the disproportionately deadly impact of the virus on Black communities, and urged viewers to “keep the faith.”
    “To the doctors, the nurses and other health care workers who are away from their families, taking care of ours, we continue to pray for your safety,” Beyoncé said. “To those in the food industry, delivery workers, mail carriers and sanitation employees, who are working so that we can be safe in our homes, we thank you for your selfless service.”
    “Black Americans disproportionately belong to these essential parts of the workforce that do not have the luxury of working from home,” she said. “And African-American communities at large have been severely affected in this crisis.”
    The singer pointed to a recent report showing that 57% of coronavirus deaths in her home city of Houston were African-American people.
    “This virus is killing Black people at an alarmingly high rate here in America,” she said.
    Beyoncé concluded her message by asking fans to “stay encouraged.”
    “Please protect yourselves,” she said. “We are one family and we need you. We need your voices, your abilities and your strength all over this world. I know it’s very hard, but please be patient and stay encouraged, keep the faith, stay positive and continue to pray for our heroes. Good night and God bless you.”
    Beyoncé was one of many celebrities who lent their voices to the “One World” event.
    Comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon co-hosted the TV extravaganza. Lady Gaga, Elton John, Taylor Swift and the Rolling Stones were among those who performed, and Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates offered words of hope and wisdom.
    Global Citizen said Sunday that the event raised at least $127 million to go toward vaccine development and supporting health care workers. The organization said the funds will also support more than 100 local and regional charities.

  • Newswire: Renew commitment to environment on 50th anniversary of Earth Day

    Michele S. Byers, USA Today


    Fifty years ago, people took to streets and campuses across America to sound the alarm on pollution and demand stronger environmental protections.
    The occasion was the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, an idea conceived by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson after witnessing the ecological damage caused by a massive oil spill in California the year before.
    Across the country, an estimated 20 million people celebrated the inaugural Earth Day by taking part in cleanups, teach-ins, lectures and peaceful demonstrations. In New Jersey, the state officially launched the Department of Environmental Protection.
    The journalist Peter Benchley (who later went on to write “Jaws”) reported at the time, “Earth Day has accomplished what no individual or organization has been able to do in years — the unification of large and diverse segments of the American populace in common purpose.”
    Over the last 50 years, Earth Day has become a spring ritual, a time to teach children about the environment, plant trees and gardens, pick up litter in parks and on beaches, renew calls for environmental protection, and look for ways to live more sustainably.
    This year, Earth Day will be a subdued occasion due to the coronavirus pandemic. Schools are closed and organized cleanups and public celebrations — like the one planned in Trenton, New Jersey, for the Department of Environmental Protection’s 50th anniversary — have been postponed.
    Over the last 50 years, Earth Day has become a spring ritual, a time to teach children about the environment, plant trees and gardens, pick up litter in parks and on beaches, renew calls for environmental protection, and look for ways to live more sustainably.
    This year, Earth Day will be a subdued occasion due to the coronavirus pandemic. Schools are closed and organized cleanups and public celebrations — like the one planned in Trenton for the Department of Environmental Protection’s 50th anniversary — have been postponed.
    Proposed rollbacks include weakening automobile fuel efficiency standards, loosening controls on toxic ash from coal plants, relaxing restrictions on mercury emissions, eliminating some protections for migratory birds, and weakening the consideration of climate change in environmental reviews for most infrastructure projects.
    All told, these rollbacks could significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions and lead to thousands of more deaths from poor air quality every year, according to a report by New York University Law School’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center. Given the threat to our health from COVID-19, we can ill afford to roll back regulations that protect the public from the impacts of pollution.
    “The coronavirus is obviously not a good thing, and this catastrophe is not the way any reasonable person would plan on having the world lower its carbon footprint,” said Robert Routh, an attorney with the Clean Air Council, in an interview with PBS station WHYY. “But if anything, it should demonstrate that climate change is driven by human activity and our actions and behaviors, on a wide scale, affect emissions.”
    Why not put the right plans and policies in place to transition our electric, transportation, building and industrial sectors away from fossil fuels to clean sources of energy? This would rapidly and significantly reduce the emissions that harm our health and climate. Investing in a clean energy economy would also create thousands of good, local jobs and help put people back to work.