How Second Amendment Rights Have Long Had Racist Origins

Gun control laws have long been predicated on the fear of armed Black people.

Written By NewsOne Staff

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Featured Politics

Rep. Rush: ‘I sincerely apologize’ for my vote for 1994 Violent Crime Bill

By Elliot Booker — 5 years ago

When then-President Clinton signed the violent crime bill in September 1994, the bill was originally written by then Senator Joe Biden, supported by Hillary Clinton, voted for by Bernie Saunders and the misleadership of the Congressional Black Caucus of the 103rd Congress. The former president said in July 2015 that the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act he signed in 1994 put too many people in prison for too long. Telling a NAACP Convention audience in Philadelphia in July 2015, Clinton said he wanted to ‘admit’ his role in imprisoning so many Black Americans, Clinton said: ‘I signed a bill that made the problem worse – and I want to admit it.’ It didn’t sound like in his exchange with Black Lives Matter protesters in Philadelphia on 4/7/2016 that he was sorry for anything. Bobby Rush apologizes in this video, other Black Caucus members who were party to it need to do the same, and fight to their last breath to correct this atrocity against the Black family.

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Culture News Featured

Black Americans living longer, but racial gap remains, CDC says

By Elliot Booker — 4 years ago

Nurse Visiting Senior Male Patient At Home

When it comes to the overall health of black Americans, there’s good news and bad news, according to a report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.

The good news is that the overall death rate for black people in the United States has declined about 25% in recent years.

The bad news is that, although blacks are living longer, a racial disparity remains: The life expectancy of blacks is still four years less than that of whites.

Younger blacks are more likely to live with or die from conditions typically found in older whites, such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes, according to the report.

Type of illness, race can lead to end-of-life care disparity

The new report included health data and age-adjusted death rates for black and white Americans from 1999 to 2015. Additionally, age-specific data and death rates were examined. The data were analyzed for age-specific trends among four adult age groups: 18 to 34, 35 to 49, 50 to 64 and 65 and older.

The data came from the US Census Bureau, the National Vital Statistics System and the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.

The data showed that from 1999 to 2015, death rates decreased significantly in both black and white populations, and the racial disparity in death rates between the two populations fell from 33% in 1999 to 16% in 2015.

Common causes of death, by county

What are major causes of death in your county? New data show surprising trends and differences in county-level mortality rates across the United States. Click on your state and select your county to find leading causes of your death in your neighborhood, with mortality rates measured by the number of deaths per every 100,000 people.

‘Many of the disparities … are largely preventable’

Black Americans saw notable declines in age-specific deaths related to heart disease, cancer and HIV from 1999 to 2015, said Timothy Cunningham, an epidemiologist at the CDC Division of Population Health and lead author of the new report, at a telebriefing Tuesday.

“Death rates from HIV among blacks went down about 80% in 18- to 49-year-olds,” he said.

Dramatic decreases in HIV deaths were seen among whites too, the data showed. Yet a racial disparity remains, as blacks are still more likely to die from HIV, according to the report.

The data also showed that blacks in the 18 to 34 and 35 to 49 age groups were nearly twice as likely to die from heart disease, stroke and diabetes as whites.

For blacks 18 to 64, the data showed that they were at a higher risk of early death than whites.

“These findings are generally consistent with previous reports that use the term ‘weathering,’ which suggests that blacks experience premature aging and earlier health decline than whites and that this decline in health accumulates across the entire lifespan and potentially across generations. This happens as a consequence of psychosocial, economic and environmental stressors,” said Leandris Liburd, director of the CDC’s Office of Minority Health and Health Equity.

Liburd was not an author of the new report, which was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

For adults 65 and older, the racial death rate gap appeared to close, the data showed. In general, the leading causes of deaths for blacks are heart disease, cancer and stroke, Liburd said.

“I can’t say enough that we need to continue to understand both the relationship between social and economic conditions and how they impact health disparities and then identify ways that we can work to improve those conditions,” she said. “African-American health is improving, and many of the disparities we see in the chronic diseases are largely preventable.”

‘Where we live determines our health’

The new report pointed to social and economic conditions, such as poverty, limited access to health care, educational attainment and home ownership, as factors influencing the racial health gaps that remain.

For instance, “disparities in premature deaths associated with heart disease, stroke and diabetes are due to our inability to provide adequate disease management for blacks who are diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes,” said Darrell Gaskin, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions and a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was not involved in the new report.

“We see similar disparities in treatment for cancer patients,” he said.The new CDC report showed that blacks have the highest death rate for all cancers combined compared with whites.Also, in all age groups, blacks were more likely than whites to describe not being able to visit a doctor in the past year due to cost, according to the report.”The good news is that disparities in mortality rates are narrowing in the major categories. However, we have long ways to go,” Gaskin said about the report.The National Urban League, a civil rights group, released a separate report Tuesday titled “State of Black America 2017: Protect Our Progress.”The report notes that President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act could disproportionately burden the black community, which already faces a disparity in access to care.

All in all, Gaskin would call the racial health disparities in America a “crisis,” he said.

“It is like a massive wildfire that is burning the African-American community, and society has not devoted sufficient resources to control it, much less extinguish it,” he said.

Gaskin proposed that community resources — such as access to public safety, quality foods, public recreation and medical care — could help diminish such disparities.

While individual behaviors, such as eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly, are important, investing in black communities and expanding access to care also remain important for improving overall health, said Cunningham, the report’s lead author.

“What we do know from other studies that have documented changes in mortality and changes in life expectancy over time is that they are often associated with improvements in health care access, such as screening for chronic conditions, regular followup visits, taking medication regularly,” Cunningham said at the news conference.

“Where we live determines our health; it determines our quality of housing, the schools we attend, our employment opportunities,” he said. “Individual behaviors are important, but one challenge we face is that we have to invest in the places where people live.”

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http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/02/health/african-american-death-rates-cdc-study/

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Culture News Featured

Top 10 African-American Owned Businesses

By Elliot Booker — 4 years ago

There are about 8 million minority-owned businesses in the United States, according to a 2012 survey by the Census Bureau. Of these, about 2.5 million are owned by African-Americans. African-American-owned firms account for about 10 percent of the approximately 27 million in total of U.S businesses. These black-owned firms raked in more than $185 billion in gross receipts and had more than a million people on their payrolls, the Census Bureau reports. This compares to total gross receipts of $1.6 trillion for all minority-owned firms, and $33.5 trillion for all U.S. firms.

Here’s a look the top revenue of these black-owned businesses for 2014, by revenue, based on a ranking by Black Enterprise magazine. Several of these firms are suppliers to the automotive industry, while there are also a few enterprises in the food services industry. (See also: Auto Parts Suppliers Benefit From Growing DIY Trend.)

World Wide Technology, Inc., a Maryland Heights, Mo-based IT products and services firm, was started in 1990 by David Steward, who remains chairman of the board. This firm enables its customers to implement technology. With more than $6 billion in revenue at the end of 2013, the firm employs about 3,000 people.

ACT-1 Group, Inc. a business founded by Janice Bryant Howroyd in 1978, is a global firm that helps other businesses manage their workforce and employment needs. Based in Torrance, Calif., the firm started off as an employment agency. As of 2013, the firm employed more than 2,000 people and its revenues were about $2.2 billion.

Bridgewater Interiors, LLC a Detroit-based firm, is in the business of supplying automotive parts. Founded in 1998 and led by CEO Ronald Hall, Sr., the firm is a joint venture between Epsilon Technologies and Johnson Controls, Inc. With an employee base of about 1,500, the firm generated $1.5 billion in revenue at yearend 2013.

Modular Assembly Innovations LLC is another firm in the automotive parts manufacturing business, Modular Assembly Innovations is based in Dublin, Ohio, with CEO Billy Vickers at the helm. The firm employs about 250 people and enjoyed revenues of about $1.2 billion at the end of 2013.

Manna Inc., a Louisville, Ky.-based company makes its money as a fast food franchise business. Led by CEO Ulysses Bridgeman, Jr., this firm is now the second-largest Wendy’s franchise owner in the United States, according to Louisville Business News. Employing about 14,000 people, the firm enjoyed revenues of about $630 million in 2013.

The Anderson-Dubose Company is another black-owned firm whose success is based in the food industry. This Lordstown, Ohio-based firm is engaged in the business of providing food and paper supplies to McDonald’s and Chipotle restaurants. Under CEO Warren E. Anderson, the firm employed about 400 people and generated about $545 million in revenue in 2013.

Detroit-based Global Automotive Alliance, LLC an automotive parts supplier, started off in 1999 as an alliance of participating companies that did business with automobile manufacturers. Under CEO William F. Pickard, the company employed about 1400 people and made about $520 million in revenue as of 2013.

Reston, Va.-based Thompson Hospitality is in the food services and restaurant business, providing contracted food services to corporations and also running its own restaurants. CEO Warren Thompson started off in 1992 by buying up 31 restaurants. As of 2013, the firm employed more than 4,000 people and had about $485 million in revenues.

While Radio One, Inc. (ROIAK) is a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of about $90 million, listed on the NASDAQ exchange, Black Enterprise reports that the majority of the company’s voting stock is held by African-Americans. This Silver Spring, Md.-based company is primarily in the radio broadcasting business, with African-Americans as its core target audience.The firm, whose CEO is Alfred Liggins, III, employs more than 1,000 people. In 2013, the firm’s revenues were about $450 million.

10. Based in Warren, Mich., SET Enterprises, Inc., provides metal processing services. Its customer base is primarily in the automotive industry. Under the leadership of CEO Sid E. Taylor, the firm employed around 400 people and generated about $400 million in revenue as of 2013.

Another black-owned business to watch, even though it is not big enough right now to make the Black Enterprise list, is Patti LaBelle’s food empire. LaBelle’s sweet potato pies have been selling very fast this Thanksgiving season, generating about $1 million in sales at Walmart stores just over one November weekend. Also of note, Harpo Productions Inc. is a multimedia empire founded by renowned entrepreneur and celebrated media celebrity Oprah Winfrey.

The Bottom Line

Black-owned businesses account for about 10 percent of U.S. businesses, and about 30 percent of all minority-owned businesses. Looking at the top 10 black-owned businesses by revenue, a number of these firms find their success in the automotive supplies niche and the food industry. Most of these firms were established in the last few decades, and many are still led by their entrepreneurial founders. Annual revenue of these top 10 firms ranges from a high of $6 billion to a low of around $400 million. Most of these companies are based in the Midwest, South, or Washington, DC metropolitan area, with an exception being ACT-1 Group, Inc based in Torrance, California and founded by notable female entrepreneur Janice Bryant Howroyd. Other remarkable black female entrepreneurs include Patti LaBelle and of course Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful and successful media entrepreneurs in American history.

To read more click or copy link: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/121615/top-10-africanamerican-owned-businesses.asp

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