(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Black Kos, Week In Review [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-20 Commentary: African American Scientists, Explorers and Inventors By dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor Theodore Roosevelt Mason "T. R. M." Howard (March 4, 1908 – May 1, 1976) was a Civil Rights leader, entrepreneur and surgeon. He also helped mentor activists such as Medgar Evers, Charles Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Amzie Moore, Aaron Henry, and Jesse Jackson. Howard founded Mississippi's leading civil rights organization in the 1950s, the Regional Council of Negro Leadership; and played a prominent role in the investigation of the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till. He was also president of the National Medical Association, chairman of the board of the National Negro Business League, and a leading national advocate of black businesses. Howard was born in 1908 in Murray, Kentucky to Arthur Howard, a tobacco twister, and Mary Chandler, a cook for Will Mason a prominent local white doctor and member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Dr. Mason took note of the boy's work habits, talent, ambition, and charm. He put him to work in his hospital and eventually paid for much of his medical education. Howard later showed his gratitude by adding Mason as one of his middle names. Because inpatient care was nonexistent for most African-Americans in Mississippi, several black fraternal organizations built and staffed their own hospitals. One of these, the Taborian Hospital, was established in the all black town of Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in 1942. Theodore Roosevelt Mason Howard, MD, arrived as Chief Surgeon of the Taborian Hospital in 1947. Howard was not only a surgeon but also an entrepreneur, orator, politician, big game hunter, and “raconteur”. His enterprises included a thousand-acre plantation, a home construction firm, an insurance company, the first swimming pool for blacks in Mississippi, a restaurant with a beer garden, a small zoo, and a hospital that gave affordable care to tens of thousands. He angered whites by his success, flamboyant lifestyle, and outspoken civil rights activism. With Mississippi National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leader Aaron Henry, he organized the Regional Council of Negro Leadership in 1951 and sponsored visits to Mississippi by black leaders and celebrities unpopular with whites. In 1954, Howard hatched a plan to fight a credit squeeze by the White Citizens Councils against civil rights activists in Mississippi. At his suggestion, the NAACP under Roy Wilkins encouraged businesses, churches, and voluntary associations to transfer their accounts to the black-owned Tri-State Bank of Memphis. In turn, the bank made funds available for loans to victims of the economic squeeze in Mississippi. In 1955, he took up the cause of Emmett Till, who was lynched and thrown into the Tallahatchie River because he wolf-whistled at a white woman. Howard decried “the slaughtering of Negros in Mississippi,” financed a private investigation of Till’s murder, and joined Eleanor Roosevelt and Adam Clayton Powell at a rally in support of Till at Madison Square Garden. He denounced the investigation of Till by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and provoked a public rebuke from J. Edgar Hoover. By this time, he had turned his mansion into an armed fortress, complete with a Thompson machine gun,and traveled with armed bodyguards. When the local authorities put Milam and Bryant on trial for murder in September, Howard turned his home into a refuge for Till’s mother (Mamie Till Bradley), black reporters, and witnesses, several of whom he had helped to track down. Every day, he escorted Bradley to the trial in an armed caravan. In the end, none of it really mattered. On Sept. 23, an all-white jury deliberated for an hour and a half before finding the defendants not guilty. According to one of the jurors, “If we hadn’t stopped to drink pop, it wouldn’t have taken that long.” Howard was not surprised. Shortly before the verdict, he had predicted that “a white man in Mississippi will get no more of a sentence for killing a black person as he would for killing a deer out of season.” Greenville newspaper editor Hodding Carter wrote that he would not gamble on Howard’s survival much longer in the Delta. In the final months of 1955, Howard and his family were increasingly subjected to death threats and economic pressure. He sold most of his property and moved permanently to Chicago. Howard helped to found the Chicago League of Negro Voters. The League generally opposed the Daley organization and promoted the election of black candidates in both parties. It nurtured the black independent movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which eventually propelled four of Howard's friends to higher office: Ralph Metcalfe, Charles Hayes, and Gus Savage to Congress, and Harold Washington as mayor of Chicago. In the two decades after the 1958 election, Howard had little role as a national leader, but he remained important locally. He chaired a Chicago committee in 1965 to raise money for the children of the recently assassinated black leader, Malcolm X. Later, he was an early contributor to the Chicago chapter of the SCLC's Operation Breadbasket under Jesse Jackson. In 1971, Operation PUSH was founded in Howard's Chicago home, and he chaired the organization's finance committee. Through this period, he became well known as a leading abortion provider. He was arrested in 1964 and 1965 for allegedly performing abortions in Chicago but was never convicted. Howard regarded this work as complementary to his earlier civil rights activism. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Black Americans are critical of news coverage of Black people and say educating journalists would make coverage fairer. The Pew Center: Black Americans’ Experiences With News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Black Americans see a range of problems with how Black people are covered in the news, and few are hopeful that will change in the foreseeable future, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of nearly 5,000 Black adults. On several questions, Black Americans are far more likely to view news coverage of Black people in a negative rather than positive light: Almost two-thirds of Black adults (63%) say news about Black people is often more negative than news about other racial and ethnic groups; 28% say it is about equal and 7% say it is often more positive. 57% say the news only covers certain segments of Black communities, compared with just 9% who say it covers a wide variety of Black people. Half say coverage is often missing important information, while only 9% say it often reports the full story. 43% say the coverage largely stereotypes Black people, far higher than the 11% who say it largely does not stereotype. An additional 43% say both of these things happen about equally. These critical views of coverage of Black people are widely shared within the Black population, regardless of age, gender and even political party affiliation. The survey asked Black Americans if they ever come across news that is racist or racially insensitive about Black people in some way. About four-in-ten (39%) say they see this kind of racially problematic news extremely or fairly often, and an additional 41% say they sometimes see such news. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Organizers said there’s a clear need for the project, pointing to research showing that less than 2% of genetic information being studied today comes from people of African ancestry. The Grio: People of African ancestry are poorly represented in genetic studies. A new effort would change that ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scientists are setting out to collect genetic material from 500,000 people of African ancestry to create what they believe will be the world’s largest database of genomic information from the population. The hope is to build a new “reference genome” — a template to compare to full sets of DNA from individuals — and better understand genetic variants that affect Black people. It could eventually translate into new medicines and diagnostic tests — and help reduce health disparities. The initiative was launched Wednesday by Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as Regeneron Genetics Center, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk and Roche. The pharmaceutical companies are providing the funding, while the data will be managed by a nonprofit started by Meharry, called the Diaspora Human Genomics Institute Organizers said there’s a clear need for the project, pointing to research showing that less than 2% of genetic information being studied today comes from people of African ancestry. “We are going to bridge that gap, and this is just the beginning,” said Anil Shanker, senior vice president for research and innovation at Meharry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The lessons two African countries offer on ending intractable conflicts. The Economist: How Liberia and Sierra Leone ended their cycles of violence ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The election on October 10th in Liberia may have seemed a sleepy affair. But it was far more remarkable than it appears. Just 20 years ago the west African country was emerging from two devastating bouts of civil war in which drug-addled commanders forced child soldiers to kill their parents, among other atrocities. The war killed perhaps 250,000 people—roughly a twelfth of the population. As with every poll since the war, this election took place amid some fears of violence and a few deadly clashes. Yet on the day the voting was calm, helped by a pledge by all political parties to ensure a peaceful election. After a tight race there will be a run-off between the incumbent, George Weah, once a famous footballer, and Joseph Boakai, a former vice-president. Though some worry that violence may yet erupt if the result in the next round is close, it has so far been the fourth generally peaceful and broadly fair presidential election since the civil war, and the first since un peacekeepers left in 2018. Liberia and neighbouring Sierra Leone, where another bloody civil war ended in 2002, are poor, troubled countries with ropy democracies. Yet both are in much better shape than 20 years ago. The level of extreme poverty has plummeted. Both countries were resilient enough to remain stable through an Ebola crisis in 2014-16. Since the wars, power has changed hands peacefully between rival parties once in Liberia and twice in Sierra Leone. No post-war president in either country has sought to flout constitutional term limits, as has happened in several other countries in west Africa. Unusually, neither country has fallen back into war, whereas many other poor ones—from Cameroon and Congo to Somalia and Sudan—have been stuck in a “conflict trap” of recurring violence. What can Africa and the world learn from these two countries? First, long conflicts rarely end in decisive military victories, so diplomacy and negotiations are needed. The wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone both ended in agreements, signed under heavy diplomatic pressure, that tried to tackle the root causes of the violence. In Sierra Leone, some fighting resumed after the agreement until a small British military intervention pushed the rebels towards a version of the deal they had already signed. Another lesson for peacebuilders is how to disarm combatants. Some 180,000 fighters handed in their guns across the two countries, but unlike in other conflicts, they were not integrated wholesale into the regular army. This was sensible, argues a forthcoming book by two experts: Alan Doss, who was the un’s top person in post-war Liberia and before that its number two in Sierra Leone, and David Harris of Bradford University. In Liberia the army was disbanded. Sierra Leone’s was restructured and downsized. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since those groups generally started with less wealth than white and Asian households, small changes have an outsize impact. Market Place: Black, Hispanic household wealth grows, but stubborn gap persists ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Federal Reserve just published data that could help explain why Americans have kept spending through economic turbulence and warnings of a possible recession. According to the Survey of Consumer Finances, American households saw a record 37% rise in their net worth between 2019 and 2022. That trend was particularly pronounced for Black and Hispanic households, whose wealth grew by 61% and 47% respectively during the pandemic. Historically, the U.S. has had a wide and stubborn racial wealth gap. So what does this new data mean? Most of that broad increase in American households’ net worth can be explained by one asset, said senior economist Kayla Bruun with Morning Consult. And, she said, home values went up a lot from 2019 to 2022. But there was no surge in Black or Hispanic homeownership during the pandemic. So why did those groups’ wealth grow so much faster than that of white and Asian households? Bruun pointed to the pandemic labor market. “Jobs growth was increasingly benefiting sort of those lower-wage sectors because that’s where more of the recovery was still taking place from the pandemic. Things like leisure and hospitality and food service,” she said. Sectors where Black and Hispanic workers are overrepresented. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/20/2200208/-Black-Kos-Week-In-Review?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web 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/