Black Doctor Who Delayed Retirement To Fight COVID-19 Dies Of The Virus
The coronavirus pandemic has created so many heroes who have given their time and for some, their lives, to help others. One particular Brooklyn doctor, who delayed his retirement to help those affected by COVID-19, has died from the virus, according to MSN.
Dr. James Mahoney, 62, worked as a pulmonary and critical care physician at the University Hospital of Brooklyn during the day and did double duty at Kings County Hospital Center at night. The esteemed professional died on April 27 after his own battle with COVID-19.
The doctor died with his closest colleagues, who were his second family, at his side. From the time he took himself to the hospital’s emergency room, suffering from shortness of breath, he was treated by his colleagues in the same hospital where he had worked and studied since 1982.
His family insisted that he follow through on his retirement plans, including his brother Melvin Mahoney, who is also a doctor. The doctors were allowed to take a step back since they were at higher risk of suffering complications from the novel coronavirus.
He ultimately passed away at Tisch Hospital, which had more sophisticated blood-oxygenation equipment, and where Mahoney’s boss, Dr. Robert F. Foronjy, and four of his closest colleagues personally escorted him from Brooklyn to Manhattan traveling in two ambulances.
“He gave everything to that hospital,” Melvin Mahoney told The Washington Post. “He gave his life for that hospital.”
“There are two hospitals crying. Nonstop,” Mahoney continued. “I’ve heard men crying like you wouldn’t believe. That’s how much they loved my brother.”
“We were all his relatives,” Dr. Foronjy said. “He was a very openhearted person, really emotionally accessible to people as well, which is one of the reasons a lot of us are having a hard time coping with this. It just seems so unjust that someone who was this benevolent, this selfless, this kind, this skilled could be brought down by this disease.”
Foronjy has started a GoFundMe so he can help finance tuition for an aspiring African American doctor, an effort to carry on his friend’s legacy.
Mahoney is survived by his three children, four siblings, his father, and his longtime girlfriend, who is a nurse.
Over 5 Million People Could Contract Coronavirus by July If States Fully Reopen According to Wharton Model
A new model shows reopening states and ignoring the pandemic could result in more than 5 million people contracting coronavirus.
According to Yahoo Finance, a Penn Wharton Budget Model shows reopening states could cause positive coronavirus cases in the U.S. to jump to 5.4 million by the end of July. The model, which assumes states reopening May 18, explores various scenarios under which states reopen.
The model also includes lockdowns, a partial reopening, and takes into account whether social distancing rules would continue to be adhered to or are relaxed.
If states fully reopen with no social distancing rules in place, the model shows as many as 5.4 million people could contract coronavirus. If states reopen while still practicing measures of social distancing, the number drops to nearly 4.3 million. Partially reopening the states with social distancing rules in place would result in nearly 3.2 million positive cases, according to the model.
The current death toll in the United States is more than 91,000, according to Johns Hopkins. With states under a full lockdown, the model still projects the death toll at just over 156,000, an increase from its previous forecasts of 117,000.
A Penn Wharton Budget Model from May 1, showed more than 200,000 deaths related to coronavirus pandemic.
Although the model predicts a significant rise in cases and deaths, it does show that the economy will rebound faster if states are reopened. According to the model, if states stay in lockdown with social distancing orders in place, the U.S. GDP will shrink by 10.8% year over year by July 24.
However, reopening states will save the country from severe economic losses. If states reopen, the GDP would decline by 7.7% compared to 2019. If social distancing is reduced, GDP would decline by 6.6%.
Reopening states in spite of the coronavirus would also benefit job growth. More than 30 million Americans are currently unemployed. But if states reopened, 1 million jobs would be created by the end of July. If states aren’t reopened, millions more will join the unemployed ranks.
Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James Considered Playing for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys
Arguably the best basketball player in the NBA considered trying his skills on the gridiron at one point.
Yes, LeBron James, during the NBA lockout in July 2011, started to shift how he worked out to possibly prepare for playing football. “The thoughts came into my mind,” James said on The Uninterrupted’s “After Party” show. “I had no idea how long the lockout was going to be.”
The NBA lockout had begun in July 2011 and wasn’t settled until December. When October came around, James and his personal trainer, Mike Mancias, began adjusting the workouts to prepare for football.
“We really started to actually train to be a football player,” James said. “We started to clock our times with the 40s. We started to add a little bit more with the bench press and things of that nature. We started to add a little more sled to our agenda with our workouts.”
With the two being Dallas Cowboys fans, Mancias, a Texas native, began encouraging James while teasing him with the thought of actually playing for the NFL team.
“It’s crazy because I actually never run on the field in my dreams,” James said. “It always gets to the point where I’m either in the locker room or getting dressed or talking about or seeing the fans and as soon as I’m about to run on the field, something else happens in my dream. It’s like something that it always happens like that.”
The NBA player received an offer to play for the team from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, but, according to James’ business partner and friend, Maverick Carter, that contract was never signed.
“I know he got a contract from Jerry Jones,” Carter said on the show, “that he framed and put in his office.”
Shocking Video Shows Police Officers Harassing and Trying to Tase Ahmaud Arbery in 2017
Just as people began to celebrate the small wins and progress being made to move forward with the Ahmaud Arbery case, a shocking video obtained by The Guardiansurfaced.
In 2017, Arbery was approached, profiled, and harassed by Glynn County police officers Michael Kanago and Dave Haney, who attempted to tase Arbery.
The police report obtained by The Guardian from the 2017 incident outlines officer Kanago’s experience with Arbery, but the video from his body camera is telling of how the incident went. Officer Kanago alleged that Arbery was smoking marijuana in his car while parked at a park.
In Kanago’s report, he wrote, “veins were popping from [Arbery’s] chest, which made me feel that he was becoming enraged and may turn physically violent towards me.” Kanago proceeded to request help from a second officer. When Haney arrived, the encounter quickly escalated and resulted in him attempting to tase Arbery, but his device malfunctioned.
After being questioned about why he was in the park, Arbery shared that he was relaxing on his one day off and was rapping in the car minding his business.
“You’re bothering me for nothing,” Arbery said to Kanago, according to body camera footage. After Kanago told him he was looking for criminal activity, Arbery said “criminal activity? I’m in a f–ing park. I work.”
He went on to say, “I get one day off a week…I’m up early in the morning trying to chill,” Arbery told the officers as he sat on the ground. “I’m just so aggravated because I work hard, six days a week.”
Viewers Discretion Advised
The exposure of this video has many wondering what everyday life was like for Arbery, who lived in a community policed by a troubled and controversial department.
In a joint statement to The Guardian, lawyers working for the Arbery family said, “This appears to be just a glimpse into the kind of scrutiny Ahmaud Arbery faced not only by this police department, but ultimately regular citizens like the McMichaels and their posse, pretending to be police officers.”
While Arbery had a past, it is typical for the black men and women to be put on trial after their own murders in America. And the Arbery family lawyers are working diligently to make sure that is not the case for their loved one.
Top Money Managers Share Investment Strategies for a Pandemic-Driven Market
So just how do top asset managers make investment decisions in a pandemic-induced market? How can their unique perspectives help guide your own portfolio management? As the COVID-19 crisis continues to produce market uncertainty and investor anxiety, John Rogers Jr. and Mellody Hobson, co-CEOs of Ariel Investments L.L.C. (which ranks No. 1 on the BE 100s ASSET MANAGERS list) assembled some of the nation’s most successful value investors for last week’s powerful, 90-minute roundtable discussion: “Invaluable Insights 2020, Managers Unplugged.”
Hobson, the program’s moderator, described the virtual event as a cross between CNBC’s Squawk Box and MTV’s Unplugged. Featuring top-ranked money managers who have “an average tenure of 34 years and collectively manage over $250 billion,” and who gave their take on everything from the state of the global economy to viability of sectors. The A-list panel included: Rupal J. Bhansali, chief investment officer, International and Global Equities, Ariel Investments; Staley Cates, vice chairman, Southeastern Asset Management, Inc.; Mario J. Gabelli, CFA, founder, chairman and CEO, GAMCO Investors Inc.; David G. Herro, partner and CIO, International Equity, Harris Associates; Bill Miller, chairman and CIO, Miller Value Partners; Daniel J. O’Keefe, managing director and founding partner Global Value, Artisan Partners; and Rogers, who also serves Ariel’s chairman and CIO.
To view the entire session, access the following link and register here. The following are highlights from the session:
Predictions on Economic Recovery and Market Performance
In the lively event opener, Hobson initiated a lightning round in which roundtable participants were asked to provide prognostications on the current environment. In response to her question related to how the nation will emerge from the economic downturn, Rogers was the only panelist to predict a V-shaped recovery characterized by a sharp decline followed by a speedy, sustained rebound while Bhansali, Herro, and O’Keefe believe it will resemble a U shape in which the economy takes longer to hit bottom before bouncing back. Cates and Miller said it would look like the “Nike swoosh,” marked by continual deterioration before a protracted comeback, while Gabelli maintained that due to the pandemic’s “second wave, it will be a W with a swoosh; a slow, extended recovery.”
In terms of domestic versus international equities, Hobson asked whether the S&P 500 or MSCI index “will outperform in the next three years?” Bullish on US stocks, Rogers, Gabelli, Miller, and O’Keefe endorsed the S&P 500 while Bhansali and Cates maintained MCSI will dominate. And five of the panelists voted that the Dow Jones Industrial Average would be higher over the next 12 months while Bhansali and Cates said the index would perform lower. As for the outcome of the US presidential election: All but one—Herro of Harris Associates—believe Biden would beat Trump.
Is Market Volatility Good or Bad for Investors?
Unemployment continues to climb to levels not seen since the Great Depression, surpassing more than 35 million. The federal government has already engaged in a whopping $2.2 trillion in stimulus spending to buoy the economy—and Congress seeks to inject another $3 trillion. And more than 30 states have begun the process of reopening their respective economies.
As these events began to unfold, roundtable participants shared their views on the nation’s re-emergence from the pandemic and the potential impact.
Bhansali says China’s example may provide an answer: “People are extremely uncomfortable, psychologically, to pull away from social distancing. That has implications for consumer discretionary spending. People are very concerned about their income level and are being frugal. We are going to have a lot of ups and downs.”
Rogers believes “the stimulus was very, very necessary…This could possibly be significantly inflationary.”
Despite such economic devastation and drastic measures to put the nation back on course, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, among other market indices, have realized appreciable highs since mid-March. This dynamic sparked Hobson to ask whether there seemed to be a disconnect between recent economic news and market performance. In response, Miller asserts: “The market predicts the economy, the economy doesn’t predict the market. The market is looking forward and we’ve had enormous stimulus. If things are getting better, then the market will be reasonably well underpinned as long as there is plenty of liquidity going around.”
In further evaluation of past turbulent markets, Hobson found that during the current pandemic, the U.S. stock market took 22 days to fall 30% compared to 250 days during the financial crisis of 2008 and 257 days for the dot-com collapse of 2002. “In hindsight, investing through all those periods, what was this period like versus those other times?”
Gabelli says the market demonstrated the “same violent, unexpected” manner as the October 1987 stock market crash. Rogers agreed: “It also felt like ‘87 to me because of the quick downturn and a quick recovery afterward. And only a short time to take advantage of the bargains.”
When asked how distressed investors should deal with market tumult, the panel’s response was that they should use such conditions to their investment advantage.
Cates argues that volatility offers “our whole opportunity set. All of us try to coach that with our clients, that volatility is our friend. And this is a time when that really, really comes through. But I think if you’re ready with a wish list, you sure love seeing it on the buy side.”
Offers Herro: “Volatility is uncomfortable, but it’s a good form of discomfort because it allows opportunities. You have to be ready and you can’t be a deer in a headlight…It ends up with a very desirable result if you’re patient, and you’re a true investor over a period of time.”
O’Keefe adds that “it’s always hard to see the other side when you’re right in the middle of it. You have to remove yourself from the emotional volatility and focus on the long-term value.”
Hobson’s challenged the panelists with questions related to the continuous debate over growth versus value investing as well as the significance of active versus passive investment management. Bhansali maintains that passive is “like the definition of a bubble someone told me, when a good idea is taken to an extreme. I just think a lot of people are buying into it, not understanding what they are buying, why they’re buying it. So you are telling me that you can make an assessment of value in thousands of stocks which are in the index but you can’t pick a handful of active managers who can actually pick the right value.”
As you would expect, not a single member of the roundtable included index funds among their holdings.
In fact, Rogers is confident that value is “going to have a great decade. It’s so extraordinarily cheap. Our portfolios are 11 times next year’s earnings versus the index at 20 times next year’s earnings. There are just extraordinary bargains there. So I think you’re going to have an explosive upside for value investing. It’ll be much like after the internet bubble burst, and so many of us did so well coming out of that change. I think there’s going to be a violent turn that’s going to give value investors a really great, great opportunity over the next decade.”
Finding Buying Opportunities Among Devastated Industries
The panel cited a number of industries ripe for buying opportunities. (Prior to the beginning of the session, attendees were given a disclaimer that the panel did not provide information “reasonably sufficient upon which to base an investment decision and should not be considered a recommendation to purchase or sell any particular security.”)
Rogers favors private equity, among other sectors. In fact, he says the mammoth firm KKR currently represents the largest position in Ariel Fund. “We have had a chance to talk to management and Henry Kravis. He’s excited about the amount of cash that they have to invest in this environment. They’ve also diversified around the globe, and in different products. So, it is a great, great sector, and we think it’s a great, great stock to own in this environment.”
Miller is drawn to FAANG stocks—Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Alphabet (a.k.a. Google): “I think they’ve performed so well because the companies are so extraordinary, in terms of return on capital, in terms of market share, in terms of defensible moats. If I look at Amazon or Facebook or Alphabet, Netflix is the most expensive in my opinion, but they’re not terribly expensive.”
Gabelli is bullish on content and responded to recent news reports that Amazon may merge with AMC Entertainment Holdings, which has had its stock price severely battered since it had to shut theaters across the globe due to the pandemic. “With Amazon, if I’m [Jeff] Bezos, what I want to do is understand how to get into content and how do I distribute it and accelerate that. I hope they put an X after the AMC and not look at the movie theater business recovery, and house content. So, there’s an AMC X that we own that we think is also very attractive.”
Rogers also embraces content, particularly ViacomCBS, the media conglomerate, which includes holdings such as cable outlets Showtime and Nickelodeon, Paramount Studios, and the “Tiffany Network.” He says: “They have really great content..and I think one way or another, they’re going to find a way to monetize all that content. And it could be one day that Apple or Amazon or someone else comes in and buys them, so they’ll have that content and not have to recreate it.”
Hobson shifted the conversation to an industry that has been largely grounded by the pandemic: airlines. In fact, she cited that Warren Buffet—all of whom admit being disciples of the man considered the world’s best investors—announced at his virtual annual meeting that he sold $6 billion worth of shares. “Delta and United are averaging 23 passengers per domestic flight, losing $350 to $400 million a day. Southwest, after 47 years of profitability this last January, is going to lose $30 to $35 million a day. American Airlines, trying to get its losses to $50 million a day, passenger traffic down 94%. [More than] half of the planes are parked. Interestingly, they got relief from the U.S. with stimulus, $25 billion for the whole industry, which I thought was a pittance compared to when you look at the global financial crisis, and each bank got $25 billion. So, what are you seeing that Buffett said, ‘I’m out?’ “
O’Keefe offers why his portfolio continues to fly high with Southwest: ” It’s got about $14 billion in cash on the balance sheet. It’s got about $8 billion dollars of unencumbered aircraft that it owns outright. It’s probably going to lose $4 billion or $5 billion this year but it can continue to operate for at least another year. It has enormous financial resources to survive, what I think most people would agree, is a temporary and anomalous situation. In other words, nobody’s flying. That can’t be normal and sustainable. You look at other periods of time, particularly in Asia, where you’ve had meaningful public health crises, we look at terrorist events. When the emergency is over, people will go back to doing what they’ve always done. People will fly again.”
Another highly challenged sector during the pandemic has been luxury retail. O’ Keefe believes a number of companies will weather the crisis and emerge stronger through radical digital reinvention. For instance, he cites Patek Phillipe. He says the leading ultra-luxury watch brands “which never sold anything on the internet, started selling watches directly to consumers on their website. So, what’s happening now is, obviously, we’re in this situation where if you want to do commerce, with a lot of brands, you have to do them online. And clearly, this is just going to accelerate.”
Bhansali’s take on the retail space: “Every business faces competition. So, yes, the retail industry faces competition from a new model of distribution, we think the supply chain. When we look at the exceptions to the rule [it is] Costco in the U.S. They are resoundingly successful, because they provide a value proposition that nobody else can beat. I think any company, whether it’s a retailer, whether it’s a bank, can define your own destiny. You can take on competition if you build a business model that gives value to your customers.”
NBC Sports’ On-Air Personalities Taking Pay Cuts for the Rest of the Year
Due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, NBC’s on-air personalities are taking a pay cut through the rest of the year, according to Variety.
“Our on-air personalities reached out to see how they could contribute to helping our company at this difficult time, and all have voluntarily accepted temporary pay reductions,” said Pete Bevacqua, president of NBC Sports Group, in a written statement. “It’s another reminder of the truly great team we have at NBC Sports, and how we’re all working together to get through this immense challenge.”
NBC Sports is responsible for Sunday Night Football as well as NHL games and Premier League soccer.
NBCUniversal and its parent company, Comcast, has outlined the challenges it faces due to the pandemic. The company’s theme parks have closed. The 2020 telecast of the Tokyo Olympics has been postponed and ad sales have slowed down in recent weeks. Senior executives at NBCU took a 20% cut in salary, while those being paid more than $100,000 saw their salary being reduced by 3%.
NBC is the latest network to agree to salary reductions in the wake of the nation’s coronavirus pandemic postponing all major sports. The pay cuts range from 5% to 10%. ESPN and Fox had previously asked much of their top on-air talent to take 15% pay cuts through July.
Last month, ESPN had asked its highest-paid sports commentators to take a 15% reduction in salary over the next three months to help cope with the losses attributed to the coronavirus pandemic.
The voluntary pay cuts were designed to help deter additional furloughs that would directly affect lower-paid network employees who might be more financially vulnerable. The network had already furloughed employees who work on live events.
Four White Missouri Police Officers Accused of Beating Elderly Black Woman and her Son (Video)
A lawsuit filed earlier this week accuses four white St. Louis police officers of police brutality on a 68-year-old black woman and her adult son, who claim the officers wrongly accused the pair of stealing a television, according to the Associated Press.
The incident took place on March 23 at a Sam’s Club store located in Des Peres, MO. Forty-three-year-old Derek Gray had purchased a 65-inch Sony Bravia flat-screen TV for his mother, Marvia Gray, along with some other items. When they got to his vehicle, all the items wouldn’t fit. The younger Gray went back inside the store and asked to hold the TV so he could pick it up later.
The lawsuit stated that someone at the store felt Gray was attempting to steal the TV upon his return; another employee interceded and confirmed that Gray had already purchased the TV and had come back to pick it up. Yet, Des Peres Police Officer Michael Clayborne followed Gray back to his vehicle and accused him of theft before being told by an employee that Gray had bought the TV.
Gray went back to his mother’s home and told her about the false accusations. They decided, because of the false accusation and the way he was treated, they would return the TV and get their money back.
While attempting to get a refund, the lawsuit alleges that four Des Peres police officers “without cause or adequate provocation and in the presence of countless witnesses, violently and physically seized Marvia Gray and Derek Gray, throwing them to the floor, beating them, handcuffing them, then arresting them.”
Marvia Gray of Creve Coeur, Mo. and Derek suffered serious and permanent injuries. Derek suffered a concussion, three shattered teeth, and other injuries when they were arrested, according to the lawsuit.
Andrew M. Stroth of the Chicago-based Action Injury Law Group, who is representing the victims, said, “Mrs. Gray thought her son was about to be another black man unjustifiably shot and killed by the police. You can see in the video that she is terrified with respect to what they’re doing to her son.”
According to KMOX, the Deres Police Department has issued a statement:
“The city was made aware today by the local media of litigation filed against the city and four (4) of its public safety officers alleging excessive force in an incident which occurred March 23, 2020, at SAM’s Wholesale in Des Peres. The city will confirm an incident occurred on March 23rd and that Derek Gray along with the arresting officer were injured in the incident and both treated at a local medical facility for injuries. Both were subsequently released after treatment. Charges remain under review by Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell who has been provided a copy of the store video and all incident reports by Des Peres police. The city will have no further comment at this time.
“The city has not received a copy of the lawsuit and is not in a position to respond at this time to any of the specific allegations in the claim. Des Peres Director of Public Safety Eric Hall has reviewed all reports and a video of the incident and unequivocally denies that officers used excessive force to “beat” the plaintiffs as alleged in the press release from the NAACP.”
The Des Peres Police Department also released a statement via its Facebook page on the day of the incident.
Maryland Teen Dies From Inflammatory Syndrome linked To COVID-19
A Maryland teenager has died after contracting COVID-19, the first death in Baltimore County from the pediatric inflammatory syndrome linked to the virus.
According to the New York Daily News, Dar’yana Dyson “had symptoms of an inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19 infection that has been documented in children in New York and other locations,” officials said in a statement Tuesday.
Dyson, 15, attended Milford Mill High School in Baltimore County and would have turned 16 next month. Dyson’s mom Kandace Knight said she never thought this would happen.
“It happened so fast. I never thought that taking my daughter to the hospital for a stomach pain that I wouldn’t be walking out of there with her,” Knight told the Daily News.
Knight said she took her daughter to the hospital on May 11 with symptoms including fever, stomach pains, and a loss of appetite. Dyson also developed an extensive rash.
“It was through her whole body, through her feet, her hands, her back and then it just disappeared. We never saw the rash again,” Knight said.
According to Knight, Dyson initially tested negative for COVID-19, but the doctors then tested her for antibodies.
“They took her back to an isolated room and said that she had tested positive for the antibodies of corona,” Knight said. “They said that somehow or another, she got both the coronavirus and the children’s one.
“She was too good for this world. She was so beautiful. She was too good for this world,” Knight added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a warning last Thursday stating some healthy children who tested positive for COVID-19 were coming down with a “multisystem inflammatory syndrome” with “Kawasaki disease-like features.”
Eight cases, including one death, have been reported in the UK. In New York City, 15 patients between the ages of 2 and 15 were hospitalized with the syndrome between mid-April and May 4, officials said.
COVID-19 has been hard on African Americans and Hispanics, both in terms of health and employment.
‘The View’ CoHost Meghan McCain Says Barack Obama Started a Culture War That ‘Ushered in the Era of Trump’
Meghan McCain, the daughter of late Republican Sen. John McCain, has essentially placed the blame for President Donald Trump‘s rise to the presidency on former President Barack Obama.
The conservative pundit and co-host on The View stated that the former president is the reason for “ushering in the era” of the Trump presidency.
McCain’s father was a frequent critic of President Trump. Sen. McCain also ran against Obama in the 2008 presidential election and lost, so it came as a surprise to some that she would put the blame for Trump’s political ascent on President Obama.
The remarks came after The View panel discussed the virtual commencement speech Obama gave this past weekend for the class of 2020. Obama, who has been mostly silent when it comes to criticism of his White House successor, took a rare shot at Trump’s leadership in his speech.
“More than anything, this pandemic has fully — finally — torn back the curtain on the idea that so many of the folks in charge know what they’re doing. A lot of them aren’t even pretending to be in charge,” Obama stated in his nationwide video address. “If the world’s going to get better, it’s going to be up to you.”
“I’m giddy about this,” co-host Joy Behar responded. “I’m really looking forward to watching the brilliant law professor take on the quasi-literate reality show host. This is going to be good!”
When Whoopi Goldberg handed her the mic, McCain initially stated that she didn’t have “a lot to say about this” before making the following statement. “Obviously, everyone on the left has basically appointed President Obama as nothing short of a saint,” she said and then stated she “obviously feels different” from the rest of the panel “as most Republicans and conservatives do.”
“I will say: The culture war that I believe is real and is raging in this country, I believe was ushered in with his administration and then exacerbated in the Trump administration,” she said. “and if the election were held today, I do believe Trump would be re-elected.”
“We have to start talking to each other in the middle, and we have to start talking about the faults on both sides because he was not a perfect president,” she said. “And I don’t think a perfect president would have ushered in the era of Trump.”
But Goldberg had to remind McCain that Obama had been viciously attacked and well earned his right to speak up about the current administration.
“Listen, this man has been battered by this particular guy in the White House for almost five years,” Goldberg stated.
“I don’t think people are holding up Obama. I think they miss him,” Goldberg continued. “They miss Clinton. You’ve heard people say they miss Bush,” she said.
“They miss that thing — whether you agree with somebody or not, you never questioned how they felt about the country,” she added. “You didn’t question it if you didn’t agree with them. But this is different. This feels different.”
“And this culture war — I’m sure it’s out there because I’m sure people were kind of shocked, I guess, when it turned out Obama — to be black,” Goldberg said. “Because I can’t see any reason other than that to spark a culture war.”
Caucus Leaders of Color Discuss Incarceration, Work, and Racism During Coronavirus
A webinar hosted by the Alliance for Safety and Justice featured members of the black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific American Caucuses speaking about the challenges their constituents are facing during the coronavirus pandemic.
The webinar, hosted Monday by Robert Rooks, CEO of the Alliance for Safety and Justice, featured one member from each caucus.
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass – Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus
Karen Bass said the Congressional Black Caucus is focused on the U.S. prison population. African Americans make up about 15% of the population in the U.S. but more than 40% of the prison population.
“From day one the Congressional Black Caucus was very concerned about mass incarceration period,” Bass said. “But the idea that you have hundreds of thousands of people in our prisons and jails around the country really amount to them being a petri dish.”
Bass added that while the Centers for Disease Control promotes social distancing, hand washing, and avoiding people, prisons across the country are overcrowded, unsanitary, and begging for the coronavirus to attack.
As a result, Bass and the Congressional Black Caucus have called for the early release of prisoners, particularly women and juveniles. The caucus is also calling for funds to be given to the Federal Bureau of Prisons for more testing and contract tracing in prisons. The caucus also wants employees to be tested for the virus as they’re also at a significant risk of being infected.
“We’ve also called for massive testing,” Bass said. “How do you not test people in a petri dish? Not just the inmates but also the guards and everyone that works in a prison.”
Bass also discussed the environment people are being released into, pointing out that many of the inmates that are being released are going to the same areas that are disproportionately being affected by the virus.
“We know that the Bureau of Prisons is not really testing, so in this last response bill we mandated it,” Bass said. “At the same time we’re calling for early release, we are also calling for massive funding for the Second Chance Act. It’s one thing to release people, but what are they being released to?”
U.S. Rep. Rubén Gallego – 1st Vice-Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Rubén Gallego expressed his concern for essential workers who are forced to continue working during the coronavirus pandemic while at the same time being underpaid and dealing with significant lapses in health insurance.
“COVID-19 has really exposed the structural racism that has caused the African American and Latino community to be some of the largest victims of the pandemic,” Gallego said. “Now, not only are the Trump administration ignoring how it’s affecting our communities, but they are also forcing us to go out and work and put their lives on the line. It’s very insulting.”
Many Latinos across the U.S are employed at low-wage positions that force them to continue to leave their homes, take public transportation, and interact with strangers every day. All of which increase the likelihood of being infected. Gallego also called out the Trump administration for its lack of urgency in helping minority populations.
“We see brown brothers and sisters that are exposing themselves to COVID-19 despite high infection rates and they don’t have health insurance and get paid barely minimum wage,” Gallego said. “Right now this administration is taking over factories under the Defense Production Act, basically making them essential workers but not treating them like essential workers.
“They’re not getting health insurance, they’re not getting tested most of the time and if they quit they’re not going to be eligible for unemployment insurance and if you’re undocumented, you’re not getting anything,” Gallego added.
Gallego said the caucuses are trying to protect the true working class of people in this country and trying to make sure there are protections for all workers in the coronavirus relief bill that passed the House last week.
U.S. Rep. Mark Takano – Second Vice-Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Mark Takano discussed the discrimination that Asian Pacific Americans have had to deal with since the coronavirus pandemic began. Additionally, Takano slammed the Trump administration for its racist rhetoric, which Takano said has normalized hate against Asian-Pacific Americans.
“We’ve seen officials double down on racist rhetoric when referring to COVID-19 including the president and not only have some members of his party aided and abetted him,” Takano said, “but they’ve actively participated in the kind of stereotypical characterizations of Asian Americans and have connected them to the type of mass blame and mass guilt to others in America being emboldened to verbally and physically threaten others in America.”
According to the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, more than 650 cases of discrimination against Asian Pacific Americans related to coronavirus have occurred in just the first two weeks of March and many are violent.
President Trump, who began calling the coronavirus the Chinese Virus in March doubled down on the term when he was pressed by the media.
“Given that this is Asian-Pacific Heritage Month, its’ a great time to elevate these issues in the API community, “Takano said. “In times like this, we really need to call out racism and remind the American people that words have power and not doing so would be a failure of leadership.”
