(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Black Kos, Week in Review: One of Hawaii’s great scientists [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-25 Commentary: African American Scientists and Inventors By dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor With the state of Hawaii in our thoughts and prayers because of the recent fires, I recalled one of Hawaii’s greatest scientist who worked to stop a different kind of disaster over 100 years ago. Her work and scientific discoveries were stolen and her role forgotten until a team from the University of Hawaii ensured she received proper credit decades later. Alice Augusta Ball was born in Seattle, Washington, in 1894, the child of a middle-class family in which both parents and a grandfather were photographers. At the time, developing and printing photographs was a chemically complex process, and Alice would have seen her family mixing and processing plates throughout her childhood, perhaps sparking her interest in chemistry. At the University of Washington, she graduated with bachelor’s degrees in both pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmacy. She also published her first scientific paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, still one of the premier chemistry journals in the world, as an undergraduate. Ball had lived in Hawaiʻi briefly with her family, where they’d moved hoping it would help alleviate her grandfather’s arthritis. When applying to master’s programs, she was offered a scholarship to the College (now University) of Hawaiʻi, and returned there to study chemistry. Her thesis on the Kava plant came to the attention of Dr. Harry Hollman, whose work involved chaulmoogra oil, the only treatment available for Hansen’s disease (leprosy) at the time. The oil was applied topically, or injected under the skin, or ingested orally, but all of these delivery methods had side effects that compromised the efficacy of the treatments. Most patients with Hansen's disease were hesitant to take the oil over the long term because it tasted bitter and tended to cause an upset stomach. Hollman asked Ball to work with him on finding a way to make the oil easier to inject, by making it soluble in water. At the time, a diagnosis of leprosy resulted in ostracism and often death in isolation in a “colony.” The fear of contagion and the stigma of the illness was so great that patients would be hidden from sight—in Hawaiʻi, it was on the island of Molokaʻi. Ball devised a method of chemically modifying the oil that made it water soluble , so it could be injected and absorbed more easily (by isolating the ethyl esters of the fatty acids in the chaulmoogra oil). The success of this method resulted in the first patients ever to be discharged from the hospital and allowed to return to their families—but Alice Ball died in 1916, before she could publish her results. Another chemist at the University of Hawaii, Arthur L. Dean, continued her work and began producing large quantities of the injectable chaulmoogra extract. In 1918, a Hawaii physician reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that a total of 78 patients were released from Kalihi Hospital by the board of health examiners after treatment with injections. The isolated ethyl ester remained the preferred treatment for Hansen's disease until sulfonamide drugs were developed in the 1940s. Credit for the discovery was stolen from Alice Ball, until Hollman reclaimed it in a publication in 1922. Her success was then forgotten again, until archivists and librarians at the University of Hawaiʻi sought out her work in the school’s archives. Read more here → ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The March on Washington of 1963 is remembered most for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech — and thus as a crowning moment for the long-term civil rights activism of what is sometimes referred to as the “Black Church.” At the march, King indeed represented numerous other Black clergy who were his colleagues in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. But the march was the product of sustained activism by a broader coalition. Black and white labor leaders, as well as white clergy, played pivotal roles over many months ahead of the event. Moreover, the Black Church was not monolithic then — nor is it now. Many Black pastors and their congregations steered clear of civil disobedience and other nonviolent confrontational tactics in the civil rights era, just as some now steer clear of the Black Lives Matter movement and shun progressive Black pastors’ engagement on behalf of abortion rights and LGBTQ+ rights. “The issues are multiracial. It’s too simplistic now to say, “Black church/white church,’” said the Rev. William Barber, who in 2018 became co-chair of a national anti-poverty initiative called The Poor People’s Campaign. It took its name from a movement launched by King and other SCLC leaders in 1968 shortly before King’s assassination. Barber, now director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School, admires King immensely yet is critical of those who “water down the March on Washington to one man, one speech.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The right-wingers who attacked the policy at the college level set their sights on even younger Black students. The Root: Are Elite High School Admissions The Next Affirmative Action Fight? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two months after the Supreme Court gutted affirmative action, conservatives are launching an attack on high school admissions policies. On Monday, a conservative legal group petitioned the Supreme Court to look into whether a Virginia high school’s admissions policy is racially discriminatory. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, the school at the center of the lawsuit, is routinely ranked as one of the country’s best high schools. In 2020, the Virginia Fairfax County School Board instituted a series of policies geared at diversifying the school system without giving preferences for race. The school board eliminated its standardized admissions test, capped the number of students from each middle school, and guaranteed spots to top students from each middle school. Research has repeatedly found that standardized tests exacerbate educational inequities for Black and Latino students and are generally poor predictors of future academic success. Following the elimination of standardized testing, Black and Latino admissions to Thomas Jefferson increased. However, Asian student enrollment dropped from 54 percent to 73 percent. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Florida school district officials apologized Thursday for an elementary school assembly in which Black students were singled out for a presentation on low test scores. Officials at Flagler County’s school district in northeastern Florida said at a news conference that the assembly at Bunnell Elementary School was a “horrible, horrific mistake” that shouldn’t have happened, and that the school’s principal has been put on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. “The Flagler School Board does not support segregation,” said Cheryl Massaro, the school board’s chair. Bunnell Elementary staff members last Friday pulled Black fourth- and fifth-graders out of their regularly scheduled activities to attend a PowerPoint presentation about low standardized test scores. The presentation led by two Black teachers noted that Black students had underperformed on standardized tests for the past three years. They also discussed how students with higher grades had a better chance of going to college, while those with lower grades had a higher chance of going to jail, getting shot or getting killed, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The man who ended affirmative action in college admissions isn't done yet. Bloomberg: Conservative Attacks on Diversity Efforts in Corporate America Keep Coming ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Before the US Supreme Court did away with affirmative in college admissions, corporate America was bracing itself for attacks on its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. They have begun — and there will likely be more to come. This week, the American Alliance for Equal Rights (AAER), a group created by conservative activist Edward Blum, filed complaints against two law firms over their diversity fellowships. Three weeks ago, AAER sued Fearless Fund, an Atlanta-based venture capital firm, over a grant program it created for Black women. And in July, 13 Republican state attorneys general warned the chief executive officers of large employers like Microsoft Corp. and Walmart Inc. against introducing race-based practices in hiring and contracting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A judicial doctrine that has denied justice to an untold number of plaintiffs may be founded on a centuries-old scrivener’s error. The New Republic: Qualified Immunity Faces an Existential Threat at the Supreme Court ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What if qualified immunity isn’t real? I don’t mean to say that qualified immunity doesn’t exist. The judicial doctrine, which allows state and local officials to be immune from federal civil rights lawsuits under certain circumstances, is regularly invoked in courtrooms across the nation. The Supreme Court has signed off on it over and over again despite widespread criticism from legal scholars, judges, and even some of the justices themselves. But qualified immunity may be built on an even shakier foundation than many of those critics previously thought. And a new lawsuit at the high court hopes to force the justices to confront how qualified immunity may be not just misguided but also outright unlawful. “Compelling new evidence suggests that this court’s qualified-immunity doctrine is fundamentally flawed,” Kevion Rogers, the plaintiff in the case, told the justices through his lawyers in a petition for review filed last month. “This issue impedes recovery for thousands of litigants every year, disproportionately affects the disposition of federal law, and will raise profound and troubling questions about the rule of law in this nation until this court resolves this question.” The case, Rogers v. Jarrett, involves a model prison inmate in Texas who was injured while in the state’s custody. Rogers enjoyed a rare degree of autonomy from prison officials due to his long track record of good behavior, including the ability to work unsupervised. One of the jobs he was allowed to perform was taking care of hogs in the prison’s hog barns. According to legal filings, Rogers went into a barn one day to care for some piglets. After he entered the barn, part of its roof collapsed and struck him on the head, knocking him unconscious. Another prisoner found Rogers, woke him, and brought him to Jeffrey Jarrett, a prison agricultural specialist. Rogers asked to go to the prison infirmary, but Jarrett rebuffed him because he thought Rogers appeared to be uninjured. When Rogers tried to continue his workload that day, he reportedly began to drift in and out of consciousness and was clearly unwell. Other prisoners summoned prison officials, who dismissed their concerns and directed Rogers to lie down in his bunk. While en route to his dormitory, Rogers collapsed and his condition grew worse. Jerry Greenfield, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, speaks during an event on police reform and ending qualified immunity, outside of the U.S. Supreme Court in May 2021 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/25/2189097/-Black-Kos-Week-In-Review-One-of-Hawaii-s-Great-Scientist Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/