By Saeed Shabazz
Special to the NNPA from The Final Call

NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - Hundreds of members of the diverse Muslim communities in New York City gathered for a January vigil and press conference in the Jackson Heights neighborhood in Queens to call attention to ongoing violence targeting Muslims in the city.

The December subway pushing death of an Indian immigrant at a Queens subway station was the fourth incident of violence against members of the Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian communities in two months, according to protesters.

“As bias motivated crimes occur with more regularity, it is time for our policy and decision makers to acknowledge that hateful rhetoric and discriminatory policies can lead to violence,” Muneer Awad, executive director of CAIR-NY told the gathering.

“The common theme between these incidents is the effect of the hostile environment on the minds of the perpetrators,” noted Kazi Fouzia, a racial and immigrants rights organizer for DRUM (Desis Rising Up & Moving), a co-sponsor of the event.

Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm, chairman of the Committee on Immigration, said: “We must respond quickly and condemn these reprehensible acts. These heinous ideas simply have no place in one of the most diverse and tolerant cities in the world.”

Shahina Parveen, a DRUM member speaking at the gathering, said, “We have to ask why these incidents keep happening again and again.”

As if answering her own question, she noted, “In the last 12 years, the policies of our government and institutions have created a hostile environment against Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians.”

These policies stoke the fears that affect the minds of the public in the city of 8 million people, she added.

Some analysts say such policies as the New York City’s Special Registration program that requires men from Muslim nations register with government agencies, NYPD surveillance programs and creation of an atmosphere of guilty until proven innocent; and Federal Bureau of Investigation manufactured terrorism plots are part of the problem.

Activists also place blame for the city’s Islamophobic atmosphere on mainstream media and the entertainment industry with movies such as “Zero Dark Thirty,” which justifies torture of Muslims and the television series “Homeland” that provides ideological justification for the global war on terror.

“We must find a way to challenge the hostile anti-Muslim environment in New York City which engages people to participate in violence against Muslims,” Fahd Ahmed, legal director for DRUM told The Final Call. It is exasperating that political leaders such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg refuse to speak out against the violence against Muslims, he said.

Some say Mayor Bloomberg missed an opportunity to condemn the violence when speaking to the press after the death of the Sikh mistaken for a Muslim as the mayor urged New Yorkers to keep the tragedy in perspective and he touted lows in city homicide and shooting deaths.

“It’s a very tragic case, but what we want to focus on today is the overall safety in New York,” Mayor Bloomberg told the press.

Mr. Ahmed said activists would be taking steps in the future to deal head-on with government agencies such as the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the NYPD, however, he did not reveal what actions would be taken.

The MTA continues to allow anti-Muslim ads and billboards to be placed in subway stations, saying the ads reflect freedom of speech. Pamela Geller, who helped created concern over the so-called “Ground Zero” mosque in 2010, sponsors the negative billboards.

“We will continue to remain vigilant against these acts of violence against Muslims cease in this city,” Mr. Ahmed said.

Calls to Mayor Bloomberg, the MTA and the police commissioner’s office were not returned by press time.

Other organizations taking part in the gathering included the Interfaith Center of New York, Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York and Jews Against Islamophobia.

By Maya Rhodan
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Thursday, Feb. 7, will be observed as National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. And according to activists, there is plenty that African-Americans need to observe.

There are more than 1.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States, including more than $510,000 African-Americans.

“It has been 31 years since the Centers for Disease Control made the public aware of what HIV/AIDS is and we’re still seeing Black community disproportionately impacted,” says C. Virginia Fields, the president and CEO of National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS ( NBLCA).

Although Blacks represents only 12 percent of the U.S. population, they account for 44 percent of new cases of HIV every year and 44 percent of those living with HIV. According to the CDC:

Black women account for 64 percent of all new AIDS among women; most African-American females are infected through heterosexual relations;

Although Black teens represent only 15 percent of all U.S. teenagers, they account for 70 percent of all New AIDS diagnoses among teens;

The rate of diagnosis of AIDS among adults was the highest among Black gay and bisexual men. Younger men (13-29) accounted for 60 percent of new HIV infections among Black gay and bisexual men, compared to 28 percent among Whites.

“We’re looking at young population—of gay men and young Black women, mainly of child bearing age, who are most impacted,” says Fields, who is spending the week in Tampa, Fla. to help address local issues surrounding HIV. “They did not grow up seeing the horrors of HIV/AIDS impact in early 80s, late 70s and into the 90s. They did not see the fights to bring the attention to the forefront, and absence of that feeds into this sense of complacency.”

In 2008, HIV was the third leading cause of death for African American women and the sixth leading cause of death for Black men ages 25-44.

Adds Fields, “People believe that all they have to do is pop a pill and they will get cured. There is no cure yet.”

Although medical advances now allow HIV positive people to maintain a higher quality of life longer than ever before, Fields is right—there is no cure.

Despite the fact that those who get treated for the virus can significantly reduce the likelihood of transmitting it to others, 72 percent of those living with HIV are not keeping the virus under control through treatment.

Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative, a partnership between the CDC and minority organizations, and the Black AIDS Institute, based in Los Angeles, believe the Affordable Care Act will help lessen the disparities between those in and out of care while living with HIV.

“The full implementation of the Affordable Care Act will ensure that HIV-positive people have access to the care and treatment they need to live full lives,” says Leisha McKinley-Beach, the director of stakeholder engagement at the Black AIDS Institute.

Implementing the Affordable Care Act in its entirety is, however, just one of the ways the Black AIDS Institute believes the African-American community and all communities affected by the virus can really work toward ending the epidemic.

In their latest report, “Light At The End Of The Tunnel: State of AIDS In Black America,” released on National Black AIDS Day, the Black AIDS Institute lays out a five-point plan they believe will help stop the virus in its tracks.

Plans include retooling African American organizations to better address the evolving needs of those living with and fighting against contracting HIV and AIDS and increasing the demand for treatment.

One major point recommends supporting those living with the disease to come out and disclose their status.

“A part of that disclosure is having people who are HIV positive to share their stories and help maintain a support system,” says McKinley-Beach. “We also know that those who disclose are more likely to be in treatment, which makes them less likely to transmit the disease.”

In an effort to increase disclosure, the Black AIDS Institute has also developed “Positively Out,” a program to help people living with the disease get the tools they need to know when and who to tell their status.

Despite all the efforts to educate and uplift, HIV still remains a serious issue for the African American community, one that can’t be deemed important just one day out of the year.

In a December 2012 CDC report, the rate of incidence among African American women had decreased by 21 percent, although among Black men who have sex with men, the rate had gone up by 22 percent.

“It doesn’t mean that we need to stop being diligent, doesn’t mean we should take our eyes off the ball,” says Fields. “There’s much more work to do and each one of us can do a part in taking on that work.”

By Maya Rhodan
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – For 97 years, the Association for the Study for African American Life and History has been commemorating the accomplishments of African Americans through Black History celebrations.

In 1915, Carter G. Woodson founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History and sought to expand the understanding of Black history beyond slavery.

What began as a weeklong celebration that coincided with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln has developed into a highly anticipated month of events, television programs, headlines, and lectures that connect the trials and triumphs of African Americans to the people of the community.

“From the beginning, Carter G. Woodson was of the opinion that a lot of Black people did not have a great enough appreciation of who they were because they didn’t know what they had accomplished,” says Daryl Scott, president of ASALH. “But today, Black people care more about history than any other people in America. The fact of the matter is Americans don’t care about history at all.”

It’s true. In general, Americans don’t know the basics of the nation’s history.

In a 2009 national survey by the American Revolution Center, more Americans could identify Michael Jackson as the person who wrote and sang the song “Beat It” than could identify the Bill of Rights as a part of the U.S. Constitution.

After the adoption of No Child Left Behind in 2001, which some says ushered in a period of “teaching to the test,” if it didn’t appear on a standardized test, it didn’t get taught in many schools.

Consequently, some fear students graduating from high school today may know how to pass a test but lack the knowledge that makes them well-rounded citizens.

Among children, according to the 2010 Nation’s Report Card presented by the National Center for Education Statistics, only 20 percent of fourth graders, 17 percent of eighth graders and 12 percent of 12th graders perform at or above “proficient” levels, meaning they obtain more knowledge than basic levels, in U.S. History.

In a land where history is not deemed as important, how does an organization based on the idea that history, specifically Black history, is of the utmost importance stay relevant?

Scott says it does because it must.

“[African Americans] are the only ones who really tell the story of American history on a consistent basis,” explains Scott. “We promote American history in a serious way.”

He adds, “One of the downsides of the age in which we live is that new media favors the talking head, the person, the celebrity who can send out a tweet. There’s a way in which, no matter how much tech we have, until people meet with people the problems we have will not be addressed. We’re not going to tweet our issues away, it’s only going to change with human-to-human contact.”

The mission of ASALH is to promote, research, preserve and disseminate information about Black culture to the world. The organization publishes three journals on African American life and is housed at Howard University.

Scott, who is also a history professor at Howard, remains unapologetic about the work he does with ASALH.

“You can’t celebrate Black History without American history and vice versa,” says Scott. “Unless you think that our freedom came out of a box than not through struggle, then you know that it was through an experience. You can’t understand the state of America without understanding the struggles between Blacks and Whites.”

Every year since 1926, the year of the first Black History celebration, ASALH has also sets the themes for the month. This year’s theme is “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington.”

This year marks the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington.

“These events are like parables because the lessons we learn from them are simple, but very potent and powerful,” says Scott. “Freedom did not come to us with the stroke of a pen, we had to strike out and search for our freedom.”

The lessons from these events and the act of “striking out and demanding freedom” have played a key role in events as recent as the re-election of Barack Obama.

“We’ve witnessed ourselves on the verge of disenfranchisement,” Scott says. “It stunk of the need of people of African descent to stand up for rights to make sure they always have those rights.”

As Black History Month begins, so does the “busy season” for ASALH which includes countless events and culminates with a luncheon in Washington, D.C. However the goals of the organization will remain the same as they approach their centennial in 2015.

“My goal is to the lay foundation so association is able to sustain itself for another 100 years,” says Scott. “That means engage the community in a better way to make history increasingly relevant.”

By Carey Biron, IPS
Special to the NNPA from The Final Call

WASHINGTON – U.S. citizens suffer from poorer health than nearly all other industrialized countries, according to the first comprehensive government analysis on the subject.

Of 17 high-income countries looked at by a committee of experts sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the United States is at or near the bottom in at least nine indicators.

These include infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted infections, and adolescent pregnancies, as well as more systemic issues such as injuries, homicides, and rates of disability.

Together, such issues place U.S. males at the very bottom of the list, among those countries, for life expectancy; on average, a U.S. male can be expected to live almost four fewer years than those in the top-ranked country, Switzerland. U.S. females fare little better, ranked 16th out of the 17 high-income countries under review.

“We were stunned by the propensity of findings all on the negative side—the scope of the disadvantage covers all ages, from babies to seniors, both sexes, all classes of society,” Steven H. Woolf, a professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University and chair of the panel that wrote the report, told IPS. The report was released Jan. 9.

U.S. citizens have for decades been dying at younger ages than those in nearly all other industrialized countries. The committee looked at data going back to the 1970s to note that such a trend has been worsening at least since then, with women particularly affected.

“A particular concern with these findings was about adolescents, about whom we document very serious issues that, again, stand out starkly from other counties,” Prof. Woolf says.

“Not only do they risk being killed in greater numbers, but they are also experiencing illness, and a variety of mental health concerns, at far higher rates than similar cohorts in other countries. These include significant implications for tomorrow’s adults.”

The unusually high levels of population who lack health insurance in the U.S. would certainly seem to be one factor at work here. In 2010, some 50 million people, around 16 percent of the population, were uninsured—a massive proportion compared with the rest of the world’s high-income countries.

Barack Obama winning of a second term, coupled with a decision by the Supreme Court, will now undercut most attempts by critics to roll back the president’s new health-care provisions.

And yet, according to the new findings, the insurance issue has relatively little impact on the overall state of poor health in the United States.

“Even advantaged Americans—those who are White, insured, college-educated, or upper income—are in worse health than similar individuals in other countries,” the report states.

Indeed, some of the few categories in which U.S. citizens are found to do better than their peers include smoking less tobacco and drinking less alcohol. They also appear to have gained greater control over their cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

At the same time, Americans have begun to suffer inordinately from a host of problems that can contribute to additional health concerns.

Sky-high obesity rates, for instance, are undergirded by findings that people in the U.S. on average consume more calories per person than in other countries, as well as analysis that suggest that the U.S. physical environment in recent decades has been built around the automobile rather than the pedestrian.

Americans not only record far lower health indicators on average, but also score far lower on seemingly unrelated issues—for instance, experiencing inordinate numbers of homicide and car accidents.