To slow the virus’s spread, youth lockups nationwide have shut down school programs. Solitary confinement and other forms of isolation, which in recent years had largely been eradicated in juvenile jails, have resurged in an effort to socially distance, according to lawsuits in five states, interviews with staff and statements from youth. In most facilities, with family visits canceled and only “essential” employees—typically just guards—on the job, teens are increasingly alone.
Browsing: Feature
Dr. William Alexander Morris was in the business of making people feel better for over a half century in Fort Lauderdale, and he did so with a quiet dignity and seriousness of purpose, which reflected his mission in life. Dr. Morris passed away May 13, 2020. He was 87.
“They don’t have culturally competent messages for us,” Karenga said, claiming that at least 46 percent of coronavirus victims are Black. “Even though Black people are in the emerging hot zones… Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, New Orleans…we lack the ethnic data. Who’s tested positive? Who has died? We don’t have any of that.”
On that Friday, March 27th, things took a drastic turn for the worse, as it relates to my health. I began to cough, and what I thought would be regular phlegm coming out, turned out to be a significant amount of bright red blood. As this continued to happen, I made the decision to call Dr. Varon and share my update. After hearing my status, Dr. Varon implored me to come to the UMMC Emergency Room (ER) immediately, which I prepared to do. Before I got off the phone with him, however, he hit me with the update I was anxious to finally receive, but with some news I was definitely hoping and praying not to hear. Dr. Varon informed me that I had tested “POSITIVE” for the Coronavirus.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Campaign, Muslim Advocates, NAACP, and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, along with 110 additional organizations committed to racial justice and civil rights, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to open a full and thorough hate crimes investigation into the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. The groups also called on the DOJ to conduct a federal civil rights pattern or practice investigation into the local district attorneys, as well as the Glynn County Police Department, for systemic constitutional abuses.
Soul singer Betty Wright has died from cancer, according to reports from multiple media outlets.
On Monday, May 4, The Transformative Justice Coalition (TJC) and the Voting Rights Alliance held a tele-townhall titled, “The Fight for the Vote 2020: Our March to the Ballot Box. Broadcast over Facebook Live, the presentation featured panelists who agreed that the election process would be severely hindered unless strategies are developed for more robust voter outreach and empowerment.
Fighting to live while eating to die:
According to state data that is updated daily, for Marion Correctional, as of May 1, staff members who reported positive results are 175; COVID-19 related staff deaths are 1; staff who have recovered are 98; units in quarantine include the full institution; inmates in quarantine are 430; inmates in isolation are 2016; inmates currently positive for COVID-19 are 2016; probable COVID-19 related deaths are 0; confirmed COVID-19 related deaths are 8; inmates who have pending results are 190; and inmates who have recovered are 69.
Aside from my family’s personal experience and startlingstatistics, historically, Black people collectively, have never had reason to fully trust America’s health care system. Statistics prove that Black people are dying from the coronavirus in disproportionate numbers to white people. Seventy percent of those who contract COVID-19 nation-wide and die of it are Black.