Study Reveals Blacks are Less Likely than Whites to Get NIH Grants

NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins has assigned further investigation into disparity.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A new study has revealed that Black scientists are significantly less likely than White researchers to be awarded grants from the National Institutes of Health, according to a new report.

The finding, based on analysis of submissions from 40,000 researchers who submitted more than 80,000 grant applications between 2000 and 2006, confirmed that Black applicants were approved only about 16 percent of the time, compared to White scientists.

The results indicate possible race bias and that race is likely a key factor in deciding who gets funding for research on diseases that disparately plague African-Americans, including diabetes, cancer, heart diseases and other health problems. The NIH is a major funder of biomedical research.

Thought Black scientists comprise about 12 percent of the U. S. population, only 1.4 percent of the applications were submitted from black scientists, according to the study. Black scientists received poorer scores than white scientists, lessening their chances for getting funded.

As a result of the report, NIH advisory groups have reportedly been assigned to continue investigating. They include a diversity task force from the NIH and a Diversity in Biomedical Research Working Group.

According to reports, NIH Director Francis S. Collins told reporters, “This situation is not acceptable … This data is deeply troubling.”

August 28, 2011

Georgia Medical Examiner: SCLC President Died from Fall

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

Rev. Dr. Howard Creecy Jr.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A Georgia medical examiner says Dr. Howard Creecy Jr., the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, died of blunt force trauma to the head after falling down stairs at his Atlanta home.

Early speculations were that the 57-year-old minister had died of a heart attack July 28. But, a spokesman for the Fulton County medical examiner's office has said that Dr. Creecy's death is listed as an accident. Authorities are unsure what caused Dr. Creecy to fall down the stairs.

Dr. Creecy, pastor of The Olivet Church in Fayette County, was elected SCLC president in January after Rev. Bernice King, daughter of the organization's co-founder, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., declined the position.

The SCLC has named Isaac Newton Farris, Jr., nephew of Dr. King, as its president. Dr. King co-founded the civil rights organization in 1957.

SCLC officials also announced that Bernard LaFayette Jr., co-founder of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, has been named national board chairman. He replaces the Rev. Sylvia Tucker of Disputanta in Prince George County, Va., who resigned.

The SCLC board also named Don Cash, a Washington, D.C., labor official, as vice chairman and Louisiana attorney Randal L. Gaines as acting vice president.

August 22, 2011

Too Many African-Americans Lack Work, Hope, and Opportunity

By U. S. Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.)

COMMENTARY

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - As our nation grapples with wars on three fronts, enormous budget deficits, a stagnant economy, chronic unemployment, and an ever-widening wealth gap, it seems that communities of color bear the brunt of the costs.  We must ask some questions: Who is fighting the wars?  What communities are experiencing depression-era levels of unemployment?  Whose families depend most on Pell grants, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – the first programs on the chopping block when Republicans talk of cutting government spending?  Which households have seen their assets decline in large part because most of their personal wealth is tied to their homes’ value?

In Congress, I have been deeply involved in the talks aimed at reducing our nation’s debt and deficits.  I was one of the six congressional participants in the talks convened by Vice President Joe Biden to bring together Democrats and Republicans from the House and Senate to try to forge a bipartisan consensus.  Although it did not work out as well as we had hoped, Senator Harry Reid said that our work formed the basis of the legislation that he and Senator McConnell finally agreed to.   

I have recently been appointed to the 12-member so-called “super committee” – the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction.   That panel - six Democrats and six Republicans, six Senators and six Members of the House - has until Thanksgiving to produce a bipartisan plan before the “trigger” in the law kicks in with massive across-the-board budget cuts that could devastate Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and severely cut defense spending.  As a Member of Congress who represents communities that depend both on military bases and constituents who rely on our nation’s safety nets, I am not willing to let either group suffer these painful and avoidable cuts.

I am hopeful that the prospect of those massive reductions will be a strong incentive for bipartisan cooperation to forge a balanced plan with real shared sacrifice, a plan that asks the well off to contribute to solving our nation’s economic crises rather than heaping more of the burden on the most vulnerable among us or our middle income families.  Too often, the human side gets lost in the Washington debates about our nation’s debts and deficits.  I will seek to keep those interests on the table.

All options must remain on that table as we begin our deliberations.  There should be no lines in the sand and no hiding behind campaign pledges made to fringe political groups.  Regretfully, a number of my Republican colleagues have signed a no-tax pledge to some D.C. partisan operatives who are using that pledge to argue against closing loopholes in the tax code that shield billionaires from paying their fair share.  That makes no sense.

We need to use the opportunity provided by this powerful new panel to enact economic growth policies that will get our country moving again.  Too many Americans, especially in our African-American communities, lack work or any hope for opportunity.  We need to get about fixing that.

We still await the official dedication of the memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. When that ceremony occurs, it will commemorate the 48th anniversary of Dr. King's memorable speech expressing disbelief that the vault of opportunity in this great country was empty.  Yet in 2011, the gap is widening between those who enjoy great wealth and those who struggle to get by with little thought of ever getting ahead.

I look forward to working on this committee to seek solutions to securing our nation's financial future in a fair and balanced way that requires shared sacrifice and creates opportunities for all Americans.

U. S. Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) is assistant Democratic leader and the highest ranking African-American member of Congress.