Global warming more harmful to low-income minorities
July 24, 2008
Lea Radick, Medill Reports
- Blacks are more likely to be hurt by global warming than other Americans, according to a report issued Thursday.
The report was authored by the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, a climate justice advocacy group, and Redefining Progress, a nonprofit policy institute. It detailed various aspects of climate change, such as air pollution and rising temperatures, which it said disproportionately affect blacks, minorities and low-income communities in terms of poor health and economic loss.
“Right now we have an opportunity to see climate change in a different light; to see it for what it is, a human rights issue on a dangerous collision course of race and class,” said Nia Robinson, director of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative. “While it’s an issue that affects all of us, like many other social justice issues, it is disproportionately affecting African-Americans, other people of color, low-income people and indigenous communities.”
CoverMe Foundation to assist uninsured African-Americans find health insurance
July 24, 2008
- The CoverMe Foundation, a national non-profit organization, has announced it will offer a free comprehensive program that helps locate health care coverage available to the uninsured and underserved groups such as the elderly, disabled and pregnant women.
The CoverMe Foundation wants to help improve the quality of life for all Americans nationwide, particularly African-Americans.
The number of uninsured African-Americans is approaching crisis stage. Of the approximately 35.5 million African-Americans in the U.S., more than seven million, or about 20 percent, are uninsured, compared to the 11 percent of non-Hispanic whites who lack health coverage. Of those seven million uninsured African-Americans, 1.6 million are children, accounting for one out of every seven African-American children.
“The number of underinsured and uninsured African Americans is very disturbing,” said Alec Shea, president of The CoverMe Foundation. “We think that everyone in the United States should have access to healthcare coverage and services regardless of race and economic status. Our goal is to also make the application process as easy as possible for African Americans without health care insurance with our toll-free number and Web site.”
The CoverMe Foundation’s goal for long-term health for African Americans also includes information on prescription assistance programs and medical treatment programs.
“The comprehensive assistance is at the heart of the foundation’s work in trying to close the health care gap between America’s 47 million uninsured and the health care resources that are available to them,” Shea added. “We work hard to make the difference, to always be there for our communities.”
The CoverMe Foundation is funded by a $2.5 million grant from The WellPoint Foundation Inc., which supports innovative programs that help cover the uninsured.
“We are proud to support the The CoverMe Foundation, an organization that is dedicated to improving the health care of our communities and working with uninsured individuals and their families to actually get them insured,” said Caz Matthews, president of The WellPoint Foundation Inc.
For more information on The CoverMe Foundation and its services, or if you are an organization or individual interested in partnering with CMF in its efforts to help America’s uninsured population, please call 1 (877) NSUREME-1 or visit the Web site at http://www.covermefoundation.org.
Cancer researchers call for ethnicity to be taken into account
July 21, 2008
Imperial College London
- Breast cancer research needs to investigate how a person’s ethnicity influences their response to treatment and its outcome, according to a new Comment piece in 18 July’s Lancet by researchers from Imperial College London.
Emerging evidence suggests that particular drugs may benefit people from one ethnic group more than others, because of differences in their genetic makeup. However, most key trials looking at treatments for breast cancer have been carried out in predominantly white populations in Europe, North America and Australasia.
Other populations might not respond to a drug in the same way as the white populations in these trials, argue the researchers writing today. They suggest that clinical trials should record participants’ ethnicity and analyse whether there are differences in how patients from particular ethnic groups respond to a particular therapy.
Iraq official says US troops could leave by 2010
July 21, 2008
Associated Press
- Iraq’s government spokesman is hopeful that U.S. combat forces could be out of the country by 2010.
Ali al-Dabbagh made the comments following a meeting in Baghdad on Monday between Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, who arrived in Iraq earlier in the day.
The timeframe is similar to Obama’s proposal to pull back combat troops within 16 months. The Iraqi government has been trying to clarify its position on a possible troop withdrawal since al-Maliki was quoted in a German magazine last week saying he supported Obama’s timetable.
The Iraqi government later said the prime minister’s remarks were misinterpreted.
Jailed Black Panther demands retrial
July 21, 2008
AFP
- Black Panther-turned human rights campaigner Mumia Abu-Jamal has requested a retrial on his conviction of murdering a police officer, after his death sentence was overturned in March, his lawyer said Sunday.
A three-member Philadelphia appeals court on March 27 voted two-to-one to overturn the former radio journalist’s death sentence, while upholding his conviction for the 1981 murder of Daniel Faulkner.
The court said Abu-Jamal, 54, should face a new sentencing hearing or have his sentence commuted to life in jail.
Abu-Jamal, 54, has always claimed his innocence while on death row for 25 years. While in jail, he became a leading campaigner against the death penalty.
In his request for a retrial, Abu-Jamal’s lawyer Robert Bryan asked for a decision by a full panel of 12 judges, not a three-member court like Philadelphia’s.
“Even though the federal court granted a new trial on the question of the death penalty, we want a complete reversal of the conviction,” he said.
“If unsuccessful, we will proceed to the United States Supreme Court,” Bryan added.
Abu-Jamal has argued that he was denied a fair trial in 1982 because the prosecution barred 10 qualified African-Americans from sitting on the jury, which in the end consisted of 10 whites and two blacks.
The Philadelphia appeals court had rejected his arguments on lack of evidence of any racist intent on the part of the prosecution.
Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence in March was automatically commuted to life in jail, which could be overturned if he is granted a new trial.
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