Urban News Features

Sickle Cell Disease, Discovered 106 Years Ago, Still Afflicts African-Americans

Sept. 4, 2016

Sickle Cell Disease, Discovered 106 Years Ago, Still Afflicts African-Americans
By Glenn Ellis

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - September is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month. First officially recognized by the federal government in 1983, National Sickle Cell Awareness Month calls attention to sickle cell disease (SCD), a genetic disease.

Most people who are diagnosed with Sickle Cell Anemia are African-Americans. And about one in every 365 African-American children are born with it. Sickle cell disease is a blood disorder that's inherited — meaning it's passed down from parents to their children. Babies are born with sickle cell disease when they inherit two abnormal genes (one from each parent). These genes cause the body's red blood cells to change shape.

It's a chronic disorder causing pain in the extremities and back, infections, organ failure and other tissue damage, skin infections, loss of eyesight, severe blood clots and strokes.

Normal red blood cells are shaped like discs or donuts with the centers partly scooped out. They are soft and flexible so they can easily move through very small blood vessels and deliver oxygen throughout a person's body.

Sickle cells are stiffer. Instead of being disc shaped, they're curved like crescent moons, or an old farm tool known as a sickle. That's where the disease gets its name.

While sickle cell disease primarily affects persons of African descent, it is also present in Portuguese, Spanish, French Corsicans, Sardinians, Sicilians, mainland Italians, Greeks, Turks and Cypriots. Sickle cell disease also appears in Middle Eastern countries and Asia.

1910 is regarded as the date of the discovery of sickle cell disease, so 2010 was the 100th anniversary of that discovery, but just what does it mean to say the disease was “discovered”?

The disorder we call “Sickle Cell Disease” often abbreviated as SCD, had been present in Africa for at least five thousand years and has been known by many names in many tribal languages. What we call its “discovery” in 1910 occurred, not in Africa, but in the United States. A young man named Walter Clement Noel from the island of Grenada, a dental student studying in Chicago, went to Dr. James B. Herrick with complaints of pain episodes, and symptoms of anemia. Herrick was a cardiologist and not too interested in Noel’s case so he assigned a resident, Dr. Ernest Irons to the case. Irons examined Noel’s blood under the microscope and saw red blood cells he described as “having the shape of a sickle”. When Herrick saw this in the chart, he became interested because he saw that this might be a new, unknown, disease. He subsequently published a paper in one of the medical journals in which he used the term “sickle shaped cells”.

Originally from Africa and brought to the Americas by the forced immigration of slaves, it is more frequent where the proportion of African descendants is greater. Carriers of the sickle cell trait have some resistance to the often-fatal malaria. This is why it is found more frequently in persons of Middle Eastern, Indian, Mediterranean and African heritage because those geographic regions are most prone to malaria.

However, in areas such as the US, where malaria is not a problem, the trait no longer provides a survival advantage. Instead, it poses the threat of SCD, which occurs in children of carriers who inherit the sickle cell gene from both parents.

There are several types of sickle cell disease, and the most common one is sickle cell anemia. It makes you feel tired, because your blood cells don't last as long as other people's do.

Normally, red blood cells live about 120 days. New ones that replace them are made in the soft, spongy center of your bones called the marrow. If you have sickle cell anemia, your red blood cells start dying after only 10 to 20 days. Your bone marrow can't replace them fast enough, which causes anemia. Red blood cells carry oxygen around your body, which gives you energy. If you don't have enough of them, you'll get tired and you might also feel short of breath.

SCD patients learn to function in a constant state of pain and when that pain becomes debilitating, they often end up in the emergency room. What brings people to the emergency room is called a crisis; in which the blood can’t deliver oxygen to the extremities. It is a sudden onset of severe, excruciating pain, which people describe as feeling as if all their bones are breaking. The pain is so bad and sudden that people require high doses of opioids.

Contrary to the belief of many in the medical profession, there is no data to support that sickle cell patients have any more likelihood of being addicted than anybody else.

Acute and unpredictable pain, severe enough to require large doses of narcotics, is a well-documented feature of sickle cell disease. When many sickle cell patients arrive at emergency rooms, they often have great difficulty getting the treatment they need.

Racism and the disease stigma itself are two barriers that you just can’t get away from. Clearly we can’t pretend that racism doesn’t play some part in this. If this were a white disease, people still wouldn’t be dying in their forties. That’s the bottom line. Sickle cell was “discovered” 106 years ago and there is only one drug, hydroxyurea, and blood transfusions to treat it.

There has been progress in Sickle cell disease. People didn’t used to live to be adults. Kids would die of stroke or of really bad infections before they were 20, and in some countries they still do.

Remember, I’m not a doctor. I just sound like one.

Take good care of yourself and live the best life possible!

The information included in this column is for educational purposes only. It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult his or her healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation or if they have any questions regarding a medical condition or treatment plan. Glenn Ellis, is a Health Advocacy Communications Specialist. He is the author of Which Doctor?, and Information is the Best Medicine. A health columnist and radio commentator who lectures, nationally and internationally on health related topics, Ellis is an active media contributor on Health Equity and Medical Ethics. Listen to Glenn, every Saturday at 9:00am (EST) on www.900amwurd.com, and Sundays at 8:30am (EST) on www.wdasfm.com. For more good health information, visit: www.glennellis.com

South African School Ban on 'Untidy' Afros Sparks Student Protests

Sept. 4, 2016

South African School Ban on 'Untidy' Afros Sparks Student Protests

zulaika patel

Zulaika Patel

(TriceEdneyWire.com/GIN) – A government-run school has been accused of racism for regulating the look and length of Black students’ hair.

Protests erupted at the Pretoria High School for Girls, once an all-white institution, when 13 year old Zulaika Patel, who wrote an essay on black women “suffering at the hands of white privilege” was reprimanded by her teacher because “her afro was unruly”, the Al Jazeera news service reported.

As news of the incident spread, students began collecting signatures on petitions, holding silent protests, dressing all in black and wearing headwraps. A twitter feed called #StopRacismAtPretoriaGirlsHigh was set up.

In an interview with the Dally Maverick, student Malaika Maoh Eyoh said that in Grade 9 she cut her relaxed hair and grew a small afro. Her teacher called the cut “distracting,” that it would keep other students from learning.

According to the school’s code of conduct: “Cornrows, natural dreadlocks and singles/braids (with or without extensions) are allowed, provided they are a maximum of 10mm in diameter. Singles/braids must be the same length and be the natural color of the girl’s hair… No patterned cornrows.”

Leago Mamabolo, 18, said she was one of several girls singled out for a hair style compared to a “bird’s nest” because of her dreadlocks. “It’s not just about hair,” said Mamabolo. “You’re in fear when you go to school because you know you’ll be policed.”

Further, students said, the school has little tolerance for black South African languages.

The provincial education official, Panyaza Lesufi, held meetings with school management and with students. “Feeling unwelcome in your own school ends here,” he told them. “You have my support and I will protect you, whatever it takes. Just remain cool.”

Fana Mokoena, spokesman for the Economic Freedom Fighters party, called it “deeply saddening that 22 years into democracy there are still institutions of any kind that would suppress blackness in its aesthetics and culture.

He said, “This (White minority) culture is as old as slavery itself and does not belong in a democratic dispensation such as ours.”

GLOBAL INFORMATION NETWORK creates and distributes news and feature articles on current affairs in Africa to media outlets, scholars, students and activists in the U.S. and Canada. Our goal is to introduce important new voices on topics relevant to Americans, to increase the perspectives available to readers in North America and to bring into their view information about global issues that are overlooked or under-reported by mainstream media.

Teachers Need Public Support By Julianne Malveaux

Sept. 3, 2016

Teachers Need Public Support
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - While millions of children (and teachers) welcome the call to go back to school in August and early September, all is not well in classrooms and school districts around the country. While every school district is not facing challenges, many urban school districts – where the majority of African American and Hispanic students are enrolled – face challenges that may either disrupt children’s education or affect the terms and conditions of work for teachers. Meanwhile, some school districts are experiencing teacher shortages and an unhealthy reliance on substitute teachers. Teachers are leaving the profession more rapidly than before. And teachers of color, especially men of color, are woefully underrepresented in the ranks of K-12 teachers. Indeed, African American men represent just 2 percent of all teachers. Eighty-three percent of all teachers are white, despite the fact that inner-city classrooms, particularly, are overwhelmingly black and brown.

In Chicago, teachers have returned to school without a contract for the second year in a row, and the Chicago Teacher’s Union will take a strike vote, proposing a strike in October. Meanwhile, the CEO says that unless the CTU agrees to concessions, there will be classroom cuts. The Chicago Public School district has already “tightened its belt” by laying off more than 500 teachers and 500 school-based workers. These workers may not be out of jobs, as they can apply for other open jobs in the Chicago Public School district, but leaning of a layoff in July is not the best way to approach August with a positive attitude. Chicago is not the only school district with challenges. Dozens of school districts have financial challenges, which is partly because cities and states have implemented austerity budgets that are allocating insufficient funds to schools.

One of the major challenges for school districts and for teachers is the way that teacher pay lags behind pay in other professions. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “public school teachers’ weekly wages were 17.0 percent lower than those of comparable workers – compared to just 1.8 percent lower in 1994.” Those who teach must have a passion for their profession, and for students, but passion can often be dampened by low pay. Some young people who would be great teachers choose alternative, better paying, careers. And veteran teachers, who may have experienced pay freezes because of fiscal austerity, may choose to make mid-life career changes because more attractive financial opportunities beckon.

Why can’t we pay teachers fairly? If the teaching profession is considered as important as any other (and some might argue that it is more important than many) why does teacher pay lag so much behind other professions? As Lawrence Mishel and Sylvia Allegretto note in their EPI study, “An effective teacher is the most important school-based determinant of education outcomes.” The teaching profession needs to offer pay at a level to attract the best and the brightest to our nation’s classrooms. Otherwise, as a recent study shows, few students aspire to be teachers – only 5 percent of college-bound students were interested in pursuing a career in education in 2014. Is there any wonder? Nationally, teachers earn just 77 percent of what other college graduates earn.

Meanwhile, public education and public school teachers are often under attack. Charter schools are seen as preferred alternatives; while most research shows that charter school vary in quality. The good ones are great, but the bad ones rival the worst public schools. And school bureaucracies often snuff the creativity out of the best teachers by burdening them with preparation for stifling standardized tests that do little to engage students intellectually.

There are some who believe that “anybody can teach”, which is why the Teach for America model is so troubling. Teach for America takes bright undergraduates and, after six weeks or so of training, throws them into inner-city classrooms, implicitly undermining the preparation that many take to get a degree in education. This notion that “anybody can each” leads to the disdain that some have for classroom teachers, and the resulting low pay that they earn.

There are a myriad of challenges in K-12 education, a major challenge is that teachers are not too often paid sufficiently. Teachers deserve more public support than they get now. They need better pay and more autonomy. And they need to be unshackled from the frequency of the standardized tests that they must too-regularly administer. We need a pro-teacher movement.

Julianne Malveaux is an author and economist. Her latest book “Are We Better Off? Race, Obama and Public Policy” is available via www.amazon.com for booking, wholesale inquiries or for more info visit www.juliannemalveaux.com

Taking a Stand While Sitting By Dr. E. Faye Williams

Sept. 4, 2016

Taking a Stand While Sitting
By Dr. E. Faye Williams

TriceEdneyWire.com - Rosa Parks and Colin Kaepernick got tired of racism and sat down to protest it. While some of us stand up for a cause, standing is not the only answer for calling attention to an issue. Rosa and Colin chose sitting. Protesters choose their own methods.

Are we all required to stand up and put our hands over our hearts when we’re not feeling so good about what the flag has represented historically for us? Most of us can rattle off a lot of flag wavers who are certified racists and they don’t mind going to any extreme to prove it. Their actions often are far more dangerous and distasteful than sitting.

We’ve come a long way toward equality, but we are not there yet. Whether we wave a flag or not, there is no rational argument against African Americans being the most loyal citizens in this country under difficult circumstances. Even when we’ve been denied the basic right of being treated as human beings and when our ancestors were enslaved, we worked hard to build this country. Black soldiers have fought and died on the front lines for this country. I do stand when the national anthem is played, but not because I am feeling that I’ve had such great treatment or been the beneficiary of all the privileges of citizenship. When I stand, I don't see the need to put my hand over my heart. Maybe that’s my protest! Colin chose to sit. That’s his right.

Yes, I would rather live here than any place I’ve ever visited, but that does not mean I’m required to forget about how my people were enslaved, how they suffered under Jim Crow laws, how they were denied opportunities through segregation, and how to this day, we've had to fight for simple rights that others enjoy simply because they are Americans. There are days when we might feel good about America, like when America, with strong help from other non-white and a few white people, elected President Barack Obama, but there are days when we don't feel so good about America with good reason.

Our nation was built upon protest. Around the world, we profess to be a free country with human rights, with the right to differ from our government. Are we what we say we are if we deny some the right of protest? I support Colin Kaepernick's right to sit or stand, but more than that, I support him on the issue for which he chose not to stand. How he chose to express his concern is not nearly as important to me as the reason for which he remained seated—simple equality for all Americans.

Just listen to the news each day to see how disrespectful many Americans are to non-white people. Many of us have stopped counting the times and the ways we’ve been disrespected simply because we’re not white, and others disrespect most women because we’re not male. Being both a woman and African American, there’re some pretty rough days for many of us in this country. Even white women are still trying to gain the same rights that men get, and continue to express the need for an equal rights amendment in the US Constitution. Can you believe we are still half slave and half free in the land of the brave and home of the free? And now, there are those who object to our right to object!

Just as I applaud protesters for civil and human rights, women's rights, immigrant rights, workers’ rights and more, I applaud Kaepernick exercising his right to protest, showing that he knows more about what it means to be an American and the definition of freedom than his critics.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is National President of the National Congress of Black Women. 202-678-6788. www.nationalcongressbw.org)

Kaepernick’s Protest: African-Americans Should Not Squander This Opportunity by Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

August 31, 2016

Kaepernick’s Protest: African-Americans Should Not Squander This Opportunity
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

The Real Identity of Francis Scott Key and the Hidden Words of the National Anthem

Dr. Wilmer Leon

PHOTO: The Library of Congress

NEWS ANALYSIS

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “And where is that band who so vauntingly swore -That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, A home and a country, should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave - From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave…” - The Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key, September 14, 1814 3^rd Stanza

In order to intelligently assess Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand during the National Anthem it is important to understand what motivated Francis Scott Key to write the poem in 1814.

Francis Scott Key wrote the "The Star-Spangled Banner" during the War of 1812 (aka the “Second War for Independence') which was an armed conflict between the United States and Great Britain. After Britain banned slavery with the Somerset case in 1772, the American colonists were afraid that slavery would be banned in the Colonies (Read Dr. Gerald Horne's The Counter Revolution of 1776) hence the American Revolution and subsequent conflicts. The offensive language as referenced above demonstrates that Key was celebrating the defeat of the British Corp of Colonial Marines, a unit of enslaved Blacks who fought for the British with the promise of freedom. Their defeat in Baltimore ensured that slavery would continue to be practiced on American soil.

It is also important to know that Key was a wealthy attorney and slave owner. According to Smithsonian.com “Key not only profited from slaves, he harbored racist conceptions of American citizenship and human potential. Africans in America, he said, were: “a distinct and inferior race of people, which all experience proves to be the greatest evil that afflicts a community.” This is the factual and historic basis of Kaepernick's position.

Colin Kaepernick has clearly stated that he will no longer stand during renditions of the national anthem. "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Colin Kaepernick should be applauded and supported by the African-American community for his well thought through and effective protest. For the African-American community and its leadership to take any other position is another squandered opportunity. African-American athletes and coaches should show their support for him. Imagine the narrative during mainstream American news programs if a significant number of athletes and fans “sat with Kap” during the National Anthem.

Some have been very adept at distraction and clouding the issue by turning his clearly articulated stand against racial oppression into an insult of veterans and disrespect for the flag. Our community cannot be misled by the likes of confused athletes like Victor Cruz who said, "I think, personally, the flag is the flag… you pledge your allegiance to the flag and sing the national anthem with your team."

Cruz wraps himself in the flag while the US Navy used the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico (his mother is Puerto Rican) as a bombing range and waste dump of used fuel oil and contaminated munitions. Also, the U.S. Congress has failed to restructure Puerto Rico’s debt which is bankrupting the island. Or Jerry Rice who is stuck-on-stupid with his “all lives matter” Tweets and “So much going on in this world today. Can we all just get along! Colin, I respect your stance but don't disrespect the Flag.” Jerry, obviously with African-Americans being murdered by the police in the street like dogs we all can’t get along. If all lives mattered Colin would not have to take the stance you “respect” but still seem to take issue with.

What is really at the crux of this “outrage” is that “Kap’s” refusal to stand for the anthem and comments about the flag are perceived to be an attack on a highly valued ritual and a symbol of America. Symbols and rituals are the glue and thread in the fabric that help to hold a culture together. By sitting during the anthem, Kaepernick" threatened the very core of American ritual and culture. If a significant number of African-Americans “sat with “Kap”” that would send a chilling message. Not because of the act itself but because it would demonstrate the collective mindset that colonial powers fear the most and have worked to ensure never occurs. The colonizer always fears when the colonized find and demonstrate a common collective mindset.

Imagine the message that would be sent to the powers that be if a significant number of African- Americans chose to keep their seats at future sporting events! Or, heaven forbid, chose not to attend at all and put that ticket, concession and paraphernalia money into community banks. This would clearly instill fear into the hearts of America.

The late Gil Scott-Heron said the revolution is not the activity you see in the street. The revolution is when you change your mind, when you change the way you look at things. All “Kap” did was keep his seat! Mrs. Rosa Parks kept her seat. Dr. King demonstrated the impact of passive resistance. John Carlos, Tommy Smith raised their fists and Peter Norman stood in support. No guns, no swords; non-violent direct action. It's about the power of the collective!

Read FBI Document - COUNTERINTELLIGENCE PROGRAM BLACK NATIONALIST - HATE GROUPS RACIAL INTELLIGENCE 3/4/68 – “For maximum effectiveness of the Counterintelligence Program, and to prevent wasted effort, long-range goals are being set. 1. Prevent the COALITION of militant Black Nationalist groups. In unity there is strength; a truism that is no less valid for all its triteness…2. Prevent the RISE OF A "MESSIAH" who could unify, and electrify, the militant Black Nationalist movement…” America has always feared an African-American collective mindset committed to freedom, justice and equality. It’s not that “Kap” is Dr. King, Mrs. Parks or Mrs. Hamer but America fears his action could become a spark and in this very hot and dry season that spark could become a raging inferno for justice and equality.

Have you noticed that whenever African Americans speak in the context “pro us” it gets spun into being “anti-them”? Why is that? It’s not about what white people think and what makes white people comfortable. That’s the trap we always fall into. It’s about our understanding history and demanding that the story is told correctly; the record gets straight and those who engage in bigoted racist behavior are held accountable and pay the price for the crimes they commit.

The issue should not be why did “Kap” not stand for the National Anthem? The issue should be, why was a poem written by a slave-owning bigot who extolled the “virtues” of oppression and inhumane treatment accepted as the National Anthem of the “land of the free and home of the brave”?

As Dr. King said, “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy…It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.” Now is the time for the community to take a stand, or in this instance take a seat, sit with “Kap”. If you don’t it will be a great opportunity squandered.

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon,” on SiriusXM Satellite radio channel 126. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com. Dr. Leon has a doctorate degree in political science with an expertise in Black politics and public policy.