Author: Carma Henry

Carma Lynn Henry Westside Gazette Newspaper 545 N.W. 7th Terrace, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33311 Office: (954) 525-1489 Fax: (954) 525-1861

Wells Fargo is working on a daily basis to put measures in place to sup-port the needs of customers impacted by COVID-19 in the most effective ways possible. Wells Fargo is sus-pending residential property foreclosure sales, evictions and involuntary automobile repossessions. The company also is offering fee waivers, payment deferrals and other expanded assistance for credit card, auto, mortgage, small business and personal lending customers who contact the company.

Today, Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony provided details on what the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) is doing to ensure the safety of its personnel and the public it serves. Regarding Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Sheriff Tony explained that all deputies have PPE and if they require any extra PPE during a shift, it is provided accordingly. BSO dispatchers are asking a series of questions to identify possible COVID-19 cases before BSO arrives on the scene. That information is relayed to first responders so that they can use the appropriate PPE gear for the call. Additionally, BSO’s civilian staffers are working from home when practical and possible. All employees are screened prior to entering any BSO facility, and work areas are being cleaned on an enhanced schedule.

     We must not forget the many ways that Black bodies were used for medical experiments, from the use of Black women’s genitalia to develop gynecology through the Tuskegee syphilis studies that lasted from 1932 through 1972. Black people’s lives have too often been white people’s experiments. It is not paranoid, but merely cautious, to wonder who will get the ventilators, and whose needs will be sidelined. Now the words “Black Lives Matter” take on a more pointed meaning.

     Black Enterprise Founder and Publisher Earl G. Graves, Sr., the quintessential entrepreneur who created a vehicle of information and advocacy that has inspired four generations of African Americans to build wealth through entrepreneurship, career advancement and money management, has died. According to his son, Black Enterprise CEO Earl “Butch” Graves Jr., he passed away quietly at 9:22 p.m. on April 6, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. Graves was 85.

     Michigan has been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 virus. A Flint, Mich. Bishop and pastor in the area both died after recently falling ill after contracting the coronavirus. Bishop Robert Smith Sr., 83, and Pastor Kevelin Jones Sr., 72, with the Bountiful Love Ministries Church of God in Flint, both had their lives cut short by COVID-19. Both died on March 26. 

     Bill Withers, whose smooth and soulful voice brought decades of positive messages of upliftment with his award-winning music, has died, according to a report from the Associated Press. He was 81. The cause of death was attributed to “heart complications,” the AP wrote.