“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition. It becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” Carter G. Woodson
Featured Articles
Are We Still the United States of America
Much of our national dialogue seems
more divisive than unifying. Can the
nation remain united states in face of
such divisiveness? Can it be healed?
Pass the History On
With the many challenges, and
struggles, facing Blacks today,
Dr. King would likely agree with
the change...
A Vulnerable Covid Population
The CDC published results of a study
that found, by June 2021, more than
140,000 U.S. children had lost either
a primary or secondary caregiver due
to the COVID-19.
Quote of the Week:
"Stand for something or you will fall for anything. Today’s mighty oak is yesterday’s nut that held its ground." -Rosa Parks
Celebrating Women's History Month
How different United States history would be today had it not been for these courageous women: Sacagawea, Susan B. Anthony, and Rosa Parks. These, as well as other, will be highlighted and celebrated in Blogs during the month.
A Journalistic Legacy Continues
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Paul Jervey, director of the North Carolina Black Publishers Association who, with his wife, is co-publisher of The Carolinian, an African-American newspaper founded by his father, P.R. Jervay Sr, in 1940. As many know, the Jervey family is legendary in the field of journalism and publishing. While teaching at Williston Senior High School, I had the opportunity to speak with Tom Jervey, publisher of the Wilmington Journal on several occasions.
Mr. Jervey, Jr. continues the journalism tradition. As The Carolinian begins its eighty-second year of serving the Black community, it remains the state's only African-American newspaper published twice weekly. To be transparent, The Carolinian has been a constant news source of my family's legacy since its inception.
To learn more about The Carolinian and to stay inform about what is happening that affects our community, visit them on their Facebook page or at their website at https://caro.news/ Subscriptions are also available.
Truth's Voice's 3 Films Celebrating Women
This list of movies celebrates the courage of women who step out of their comfort zone to bring about racial, social and academic change. Many have never seen nor likely ever heard of these before now; however they are worth watching. Included are streaming services carrying them.
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Bright Road stars Dorothy Dandridge as a new teacher in the 50's rural South who takes interest in a bright but rebellious student. The film also stars Harry Belafonte in this 1953 black and white film. It can be rented through VUDU, AppleTV, Prime, etc.
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Sophie and the Moonhanger centers on a naivesingle mother who is devoted to the white family she works for until seeing who they really are. Made in 1996, the film stars Lynn Whitfield and Patricia Richardson. Free on YouTube and FilmRise.
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The Long Walk Home is historical fiction set in 1955 at the onset of the Montgomery, Alabama boycott. Its focus is the effect the boycott has on two families: a black maid's and her white employer's. Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek star. Free on Pluto, Roku, Tubi, etal.
Archive Articles
A Tale of Two Countries The Covid pandemic seems to have bared the widening divide that has grown in the country. Whether the divide is yes vaccine or no vaccine or yes mask or no mask, the divide reminds us of a Charles Dickens' classic.
Evangelicals,Help Me Get It One of the unifying causes that most evangelicals agree on is their support of Israel and all things Israeli except for one belief and that is most interesting.
A Case for the Covid Vaccine For skeptics who have concerns about the Covid vaccines, here is a perspective to consider .
Vote! It's Not an Option...It's a Necessity In the 2020 election, the wise will weigh consequences. It is a time wherein sacrifices for voting rights in the past are intersecting with our need to vote now.
The struggle is real: Why these Americans are still getting left behind in the recovery Americans with college degrees fully recovered all pandemic job losses by May, Black women are still the least recovered.
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To My Brothers and My Sisters:
Another Case for Getting a Covid Vaccine...
A few weeks after the horrific news of September 11, 2001, I faced my own horrific news. I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Having known my gynecologist for decades, I felt a sense of relief to finally get a definitive answer to concerns that had been growing for weeks.
After discussing treatment options, within hours, the decision was made on how to precede. Listening to my gynecologist talking on phone with the oncologist, I heard an urgency in his voice. Surprisingly, it settled me.
Upon meeting and conferring with the oncologist, I gained a better understanding of what the treatment would involve. I felt I had made the right decision to go with an “aggressive” treatment.
Two chemotherapy meds, carboplatin and Taxol, were prescribed. Although I had no knowledge of either at the time, I accepted two foreign substances as agents to work in tandem with my faith, prayers and supportive family to defeat a death threat.
Without time for extensive investigation, I accepted my oncologist’s advocacy over my concerns. And so, chemicals about which I knew nothing of their components and minimal of their efficacy were intravenously injected in my body. I had relied on the word of a highly respected oncologist in the field who had impeccable credentials but whom I had only known two weeks.
Today scientific and medical information is more accessible than in October 2001. However the problem today is the proliferation of disinformation and misinformation, as with Covid vaccines, putting many at risk of a possible death threat.
None of us can see into the future what may be the long term effects of any medication. I could not know with the first drip of chemo if they would be effective or if their side effects would be worse than the cancer, or if I would survive even with chemo. All I knew was this was a viable recommendation. So I took it.
Yes, I am persuaded prayer, faith in God, and a supportive family were the greater sources of strength which allowed the chemo to work as it should.
Decisions are often personal. For me, listening to a doctor I had known for decades and an expert I had known only weeks help inform mine, and I am thankful twenty years later.
Likewise, I chose to accept the Covid vaccines when offered in March. In September, I eagerly scheduled the booster only to have it suddenly tempered. A few minutes before leaving to get the booster, I was devastated by news that a very precious young relative had succumbed to coronavirus minutes ago. Two days prior, a younger cousin had succumbed to the same.
I offer these cases and invite anyone who has not gotten a Covid vaccine to seriously and rationally consider it. Yes, it will be an individual decision, but I can personally affirm such individual decisions are consequential.
fisherbaldwin
NOTE: Race and ethnicity are risk markers for other under-lying conditions that affect health, including socioeconomic status, access to health care, and exposure to the virus related to occupation, e.g., frontline, essential, and critical infrastructure workers.
Center for Disease Control Februar 2022
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Find out just what any people will quietly submit to, and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. Frederick Douglass