The Delta Variant and Other Facts About COVID-19

Image by GoLocalProv

By: Terrell George

One of the top questions on everyone’s mind as it relates to COVID-19 and the surge in Delta variant related infections is, whether or not getting a vaccine is safe and effective in preventing the risk of contracting the coronavirus? Concerns about the delta variant is putting COVID-19 on the forefront of everyone’s mind as it has spread to over 65 countries, making up more than half of all cases in the majority of those countries according to GISAID (GISAID is a database recording genetic sequences of the coronavirus). The Delta variant is what is also causing infection rates to exceed or even double the surges from the previous year. What is more important now, than ever, and what healthcare workers are trying to encourage are preventive methods to reduce the risk of getting infected. Looking back, prevention has always been a huge push but coupled with the spread of misinformation, presenting the facts is what Americans need to do to prevent COVID from becoming a part of everyday life. 

Delta variant and history of coronavirus

We’ve all seen the numbers the media highlights about the infection rate of the Delta variant and simply put it’s 2x more contagious than previous variants. Here’s what you need to know: “The Delta variant causes more infections and spreads faster than early forms of SARS-CoV-2”(CDC, 2021). There have been other variants such as Gamma, first identified in East Asia; Beta, first identified in South Africa; and most recently the MU variant. The Mu variant, or B.1.621, is a variant “of interest” for epidemiologists, but more research needs to be done to identify its severity and infection rate. Though just because the delta variant is taking over the narrative, vaccination is still the driving force we all need to get behind. 

Many Americans who are concerned that the COVID vaccines are not safe and effective, have not done their research. The COVID-19 vaccine seemed to come out quicker than expected. It is true the vaccine came in what seemed to be record time but it’s as a result of previous lessons learned. The FDA has been monitoring and amending vaccine research since the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and 2012 MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) epidemics, respectively. Both MERS and SARS were highly transmissible viruses emerging from the novel coronavirus. 

Before SARS, the coronaviruses caused a variety of fatal diseases in animals. Scientists were already working on a spike protein to identify a vaccine. In fact, SARS 1 vaccine was developed in a lab at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (where U.S presidents receive medical treatment). Funding was an issue to continue the development of a vaccine, but testing a vaccine also requires the disease to still be active. Frankly, the 812 deaths from SARS and 866 from MERS didn’t push pharmaceutical companies to invest in what was seen as a rarely used vaccine. 

Which vaccines are available and how effective are they?

To date the current vaccines approved and authorized in the United States are: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen. These are all safe, effective, and considered to highly reduce risk of severe illnesses. With the Pfizer vaccine showing “efficacy of 95% at preventing symptomatic COVID infection after two doses” (Statnews, 2021). Moderna comes in second place at 94.1 percent according to Statnews. As of August 2021 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave full approval of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for ages 16 and older. 

To completely answer the question prior, are vaccines safe and effective in preventing the possibility of contracting covid-19? Yes. 

Getting a vaccine does not guarantee you will not contract the virus, simply because none of the vaccines available in the United States or around the world provide 100% guaranteed protection. The CDC has stopped collecting data on breakthrough cases considering how rare it occurs. There are currently no states in the US with above 0.01 percent of COVID breakthrough cases. 

What ingredients do these vaccines compose of?

I am sure someone reading this is on the fence about getting a vaccine because they don’t know what’s in it. I know this to be true because the Mayo Clinic is tracking U.S. COVID-19 cases and as of October 1st we have yet to reach the President’s goal of 80 percent inoculation –64.8% at least one dose; 56.3 fully vaccinated (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Even those vaccinated surely want to know what’s in the vaccine they took so here’s a comprehensive breakdown. 

Image by UC Health, 2021 

The great thing about this vaccine are the common everyday ingredients you can find in your home. What you will not find in the picture above is key ingredients found in the vaccine that helps the body fight the virus and develop immunity: mRNA or “spike protein.” Messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is composed of proteins that trigger our immune system to fight against future infections. With the COVID-19 vaccine our bodies use spike proteins to create antibodies which specifically help fight 

future infections. Getting the vaccine will only help our bodies fight future COVID and actively provide protection to our bodies today. 

There’s also one difference with the Johnson and Johnson as it does not use mRNA but takes the virus found in common cold to communicate with COVID-19. The common cold or adenovirus doesn’t cause the cold but is created to communicate genetic information from COVID-19 to spike proteins. From there the spike proteins do the work of creating antibodies specific to fight COVId-19, should we ever become infected with the virus. 

Are there COVID-19 vaccines for children under 12 years old yet?

COVID vaccinations for children under 12 have not received a green light from CDC or U.S. FDA. The good news is, considering Pfizer’s full approval it opens the opportunity to manufacture off-label use which potentially allows for young kids to get a vaccine. However, by the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics who released a statement “discouraging clinicians to give the vaccines off-label to kids under 12” due to lack of evidence surrounding suitable dosage for children (CNBC,2021). Therefore, the recommendation is for children to wear masks in public spaces and the same for those who have yet to be vaccinated

Is Global Warming A Crisis As Global As Covid-19?

By: George Ngigi

Nothing is as irritating as it is frustrating like to see nations do little to avert an unkind situation, even worse after having been warned about it for a countless number of times.

As scientists have hinted, the reality of a looming disaster is just ten years away, when the cruel hand of global warming would begin taking its toll on human lives and property.

Already, the effects of climate change can be felt right across the world. And no one can deny that those effects are rearing their ugly head in all manner of ways, from destruction of property and infrastructure, which cost awful lots of money to restore, to loss of human lives. We are left with no choice but to respond to the emergency.

Global warming phenomenon is not new to us. A good number of years have gone by, since we first heard about the systematic destruction of the ozone layer by greenhouse gas emissions (GHGS).

Which begs the question: What have we done so far to combat climate change that is wagging its tail across the globe? The saddest thing is that no proper measures were put in place to curb and reverse the trend. Me thinks we have become so used to the tendency of acting only when a calamity has occurred.

We cannot afford to sit down and do nothing about it like people who are  expecting a miracle is going to happen any time to change that reality. The world has between now and 2030 to give priority to what needs to be done to curb the growing trend of global warming. That is the stark reality.

For to do otherwise, would be the height of hypocrisy. As soon as the alarm bells were sounded, the world ought to have begun making compromises. We should be thinking of going for the long haul in the fight against global warming.

Which implies interrogating our own national standpoints and interests, by asking ourselves as individual nations what we can do for the world instead of what the world can do for us, just to paraphrase what a former US president once famously said.

As we speak now, what there is to show in terms of progress towards the attainment of the set target of keeping global average temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius has all the makings of a failed plan of action. Things should never be allowed to run as though it is business as usual.

Fighting global warming

Just like the Covid-19 pandemic has prescribed a new normal to survive its wrath, a similar plan of action requiring an adaptation to a whole new situation brought on by greenhouse gas emissions, need be devised to counter global warming and the attendant climate change effects.

A new world order, in terms of bringing sanity to the ways we generate energy need be our guiding star. For us to avoid running into the danger of being eliminated by the effects of global warming, we should muster the courage, as community of nations of saying fair and square, that we need to go back to the drawing board if all else has failed.

There is no room for any more procrastination and there is nothing to stop us from acting proactively. Twenty three years are now behind us since the Kyoto protocol, 1997.

It did well by arming itself with global architectural plans meant to guide countries in their efforts to counter global warming. It enunciated the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in which countries would commit themselves to cut down on gas emissions.

The developed world would have the obligation to embrace binding gas emission-reduction targets. On the other hand, for developing world, those targets were to be set by the individual countries while keeping their development needs into consideration.

In other words, developing countries enjoyed an ’emission space ‘. To make the battle against global warming easier for everybody, the developed countries were duty-bound to provide assistance in the form of funds and technologies to the developing countries in order to allow use of clean energy for their development needs possible.

Contrary to what some people think, it was not a one standard for some and another for others. It was not a half-hearted commitment. Rather, it was a well thought out approach tailored to bring everybody on board in the ‘war’ effort against global warming.

It is necessary to categorically deny claims that it was a deliberate attempt to scuttle the process by making recommendations that were hard to implement and thus maintain the status quo.

The disappointment nonetheless, is that two decades down the line, the Kyoto protocol targets are yet to be met. The  half-hearted commitment by both the developed and the developing countries could be the reason for not achieving much.

Failure to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions is a worrying situation because a runway rise in global temperatures is enough to make all of us panic — rich and poor countries alike.

Paris agreement

The Paris agreement, 2015 on climate change, sought to set the momentum that would see countries aggressively pursue emission-reduction target strategies. It hoped to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius by 2100. To be on the safe side, participants (195 countries) agreed to keep instead, an average global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius on pre-industrial levels. However, it fell short of a time frame for achieving gas pollution reduction targets.

Suffice it to say, an enabling environment is needed to put the world set fair to win this war. Anything above 2 degrees Celsius of global temperatures would place the planet on the worst scenario of recording irreversible effects of global warming.

The world would begin experiencing a host of climate change issues that would go down in history as having no parallel in our times.

A slew of policy measures intended to help meet gas emission targets were faced with challenges right from the beginning. Those challenges stem from the all-familiar unchecked deforestation to the failure of weaning the world off the fossil fuels.

Aside from financing green-energy projects in the developing countries proving harder than anticipated, those same developed countries have difficulty in completely abandoning oil and coal mining to generate electricity and to power their industries and automobiles.

For purely economic and political reasons countries, both developed and the developing ones, have had to contend with the real issues on the ground like solving unemployment problem and delivering on promises made by the ruling political class on economic development agenda.

Yet for others, the fossil fuel is their economy’s cash cow as a country. Mere words can hardly be sufficient to urge such a country to abandon use or sale of fossil fuels and adopt other sources of energy measures without a broad-based economic support system.

What with a reluctance by the advanced world to fully implement the Paris agreement as stated on paper. In all honesty, as governments, they too have to bow to the pressure from their citizenry. Which is a major reason for not reducing or limiting the use of fossil fuels to manageable levels.

Checking on global warming and fighting climate change is a collective global challenge that requires an equally global effort in terms of political will and commitment by every country.

Making sacrifices and compromises in form of availing funds for investment in clean energy projects and, in helping developing countries to transition to power-generating solar and wind projects, among other alternative sources of energy, is necessary given the urgency and importance of the matter.

Thinking that global warming is not a priority or climate change is not  real, we would be deluding ourselves much the same thing as believing Covid-19 is not real. It is a battle ahead of us which must be fought and won because if it is not, we all stand to lose.

No country in the whole world can be too lucky to meet all its socio-economic development needs, because we live in imperfect world. However, that is not to say we can not get to our desired greenhouse gas emission-reduction levels.

No country is expected to do more than it can afford, in the sense that each one is unique in its own way in terms of its needs. And such needs cannot be satisfied any more than the prevailing circumstances and challenges can allow to be achieved.

Nevertheless, it is the developing countries that will be the most affected by the climate change even if they account for negligible amounts of global gas emissions. But pointing fingers at others will not help matters in any way.

Combating global warming begins with seeing ourselves, developed or developing countries, as partners with a unity of purpose. Just like there are global business partners in companies like Zinzino and others, so should countries treat and look up to each other as such.

Challenges and consequences

As already noted before, being cognizant of the fact that some countries are in dire need of support more than others would be a fair game. Due to the nature of their unique situations and varying stages of development, it is not surprising at all to discover that they need more time and assistance to adapt to the new requirements.

Admittedly, they cannot for instance, be expected to suddenly abandon their heavy investments in fossil fuels in favor of green energy and at the same time be able to sustain their own economic development plans. That would be near impossible to do even with the best of intentions. Such understanding will help to drive the common cause to greater heights of success.

Switching from traditional fossil fuels to the new sources of power generation is a challenge not just to the developing countries but also to the advanced world. These challenges notwithstanding, however, it would be a death wish for the world not to tackle global warming, itself a product of human civilization.

About 720 million people around the world will be forced into extreme poverty between 2030 and 2050 if the current trend is sustained while others lose their lives to natural calamities tied to hostile climate change. Over the years the world has been treated to very harsh outcomes of climate change.

Extreme weather conditions with far-reaching consequences continue to hit different parts of the world at will and with impunity. Barely a month passes without media coverage of global warming related disasters which manifest themselves as heatwaves, hurricanes, rainstorms, flashfloods, droughts and lightnings, sometimes claiming lives and causing destruction in their wake.

Granted, the threat of global warming and climate change is so real to everyone unless one does not care to look further afield if those effects are nowhere to be witnessed near where they live. Understandably, it may not be a world scare like the Covid-19 is today, but nothing can rule out the possibility of it becoming one in the years to come.

That is what all future meetings on climate change and global warming should have in mind when addressing this very serious challenge of the twenty-first century (21c). And the world has what it takes to deal with the challenge, with a mutually embraced commitment by all.

 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at the invitation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had this to say: ‘One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from the report is that we are already seeing the consequences of one degree Celsius of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes.’

A rise in sea level, in particular due to melting ice sheets would directly destroy coastal regions or submerge vulnerable islands and their inhabitants.

And this is how serious the matter is.

In other cases, parts of the world would be rendered uninhabitable due to extreme temperatures and an agricultural disruption of unprecedented levels would take its toll on populations, subjecting them to widespread food shortages.

 Large segments of world populations would be placed either on the verge of destitution or total destruction if a time-saving global strategy is not instituted. Their lives and livelihoods would be at stake whichever way you look at the emerging picture.

On the positive side, USA has rejoined  many other countries, in support of the global effort to continue with the struggle of finding solutions to the imminent crisis. Dropping ball in the fight against global warming by  the US was a big blow to the whole process. Since historically the US has been the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, now the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide after China; the assumption has always been the US should lead in this gas reduction struggle.

Taking care of our environment as individuals, communities, nations, and the world at large is the only weapon  we can use to turn around the possibility of terrible events happening and is what can save us from a global disaster so sure to come in the fullness of time.

Excuses or arguments and counter-arguments or taking a geopolitical stance to the matter will do no one any good. For no part of the world is safe.

As inhabitants of this world, we should refrain from destroying it because we have nowhere else to go to and we can not go to the moon to hide there or to Mars to make it our new home, when catastrophes come calling.

We look forward to seeing what comes out of the world climate change conference scheduled for November, 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom.

It is our hope that even as we battle Covid-19 pandemic, the world is not going to lose attention to global warming, a crisis in its own right, whose effects should attract equal concern by those in authority as we all very well know they are a threat to mankind.

Simple Rules To Kick Smoking Out Of You

By: George Ngigi

Smoking is not inborn, it is a habit like any other. Just like it has a beginning so does it have an end. It is not so easy though to quit smoking because of the addiction it causes to the smoker who needless to say, is a prisoner of war to the habit. 

There are several ways someone who wants to quit smoking can use to manage his or her craving for smoking. Your dose for countering the urge to smoke is to have more than one reason to stop it. But before exploring them think of why someone would like to stop smoking. 

Could be you want to quit smoking in order to save your family from inhaling a second hand smoke you know very well is a health hazard. It could be you want to save yourself from the enslaving habit of having to wake up in the middle of the night just to take a puff. Or it could be you realise that smoking is obnoxious to those around you and does no good to yourself either. 

Feeling Humiliated

You are travelling from point A to point B in a public transport vehicle and unlike in a private car, you feel uncomfortable when your smoking habit forces you to disembark. Just to be away from non-smokers.

That is, if you are lucky to get a chance to relieve yourself of a much persevered urge to smoke, after a long spell of waiting for the vehicle to make a stopover. Or it could be a case where the ingrained habit makes you feel like someone in a compulsory isolation center. Not because you are likely to infect the person next to you with Covid-19, but because those around you must be protected from nicotine and other disease causing chemical substances. 

You feel humiliated to be consigned in a designated smoking zone as the law requires, which lowers your dignity when passers-by look at you scornfully like if you are a criminal. Or it could be you realize that smoking is a foreign cultural lifestyle that does not add any value to your life in general and to your health in particular. 

So for those reasons and others, you want to do away with it. In other words, if the set of reasons you are armed with is not a sub-set of other people’s reasons, but your own, then you are more likely to own the quit smoking program to your advantage.

If your reasons are so strong that they outweigh the pleasure derived from smoking, your urge to light up a cigarette goes down and you are halfway on the road to success. 

Determination to win against addiction 

Like any other addiction, smoking is a habit that gets the brain hooked up. So consider enlisting the services of a professional who can walk you out of the habit through medication, counselling, and attending anti-smoking classes or hypnosis. 

Let us face it. Nicotine and other related addictive substances are the number one culprits behind smoking habit. You will therefore, find it hard to do without them. 

Acknowledging that it is going to be a tough choice, is but a surefire guarantee of succeeding in kicking out your smoking temptations. It is not going to be easy or a case of hoping for the best but one of preparing for the worst. There is a  big fight ahead of you. And this is why many who are victims of cigarette smoking addiction give up the fight.

Expect to face challenges but do not follow the route of failures, that can be the cause of you going cold turkey. 

With that in mind, once the program for stopping smoking is up and running, do not backslide. You will have to find methods you can apply to get around withdrawal effects such as headaches, mood-changes or feeling of loss of energy. 

A health caregiver can choose to prescribe drugs meant to fight withdrawal symptoms such as depression, loss of concentration, anxiety and related problems just to make you get less and less of the satisfaction you derive from smoking in case you light up. 

In particular, nicotine withdrawal can be replaced with nicotine gum, lozenges and other suitable substitutes to “keep your mug full” and curb the urge for nicotine intake. In actual fact, nicotine-replacement therapy is top priority in a quit-smoking program. 

Having said that, if you suffer a setback in your spirited effort to win the battle against smoking by lighting up, do not for one moment get discouraged. It is not the many times you slip up and fall that matters but it is the many attempts you make to get up after each fall that makes a difference. Eventually, you will be on your feet. 

Remember you are in a liberation struggle for yourself and no liberation struggle is won easily. Find out what went wrong and address the relapse. Up your game by making renewed commitment to the deserved goal of quitting smoking. Because you are not a chimney or an exhaust pipe to emit smoke. It is your right to keep your body free of contaminants. 

Support system 

Withdrawal symptoms are noticeable. So getting people close to you like your friends and family members or your colleagues at work aware, as your support system, of your resolve to quit smoking, is not a sign of weakness. 

These people are your safety net to fall back on when things go wrong. They are the ones to look up to for encouragement whenever the temptation to smoke proves hard to resist. 

They will help out by reminding you that you have an obligation to keep off smoking. And they will assist you in every possible manner in your endeavor to beat the odds that come with trying to stop smoking. Similarly, you will remind yourself that you made a promise not just to yourself but also to those around you, that you want to quit smoking and you do not want to get ashamed of yourself or even to let them down. 
Your kids, if you have them, are part of  your source of motivation. You will be surprised at how your wife and children will be of help to you. Testimonies about the success of fathers and mothers who quit smoking because of their children abound all around the world. And what more do you need. 

Make time to unwind 

Find new ways to unwind which have the potential to replace the relaxation you get from smoking. During your free times, make the most of what you love doing. Engaging in sports and/or activities you enjoy most is your best bet. Your hobbies come in handy. 

Go jogging or skating or even walk your dog. Treat yourself to a massage, go to a gym, tune in to your favorite music, watch your favorite movie or get an interesting book to read. When you work out, make sure you do not have any possibility for reaching for a cigarette.
Wear a track suit or sports attire to remind yourself that you are in serious business. Never go in the field in the wrong clothes. Equally important, when you do all these things make sure they are aligned with the times you know your craving for smoking is high. Leisure times are some of the most trying moments for people working to stop smoking. 

Psychologically, you should know better what works best for you especially when you make time to manage your smoking. For enhanced concentration, find conducive environments to ward off detractors. This is a healing process that seeks your personal intervention; so do not confuse it with a faith healing one which requires divine intervention. 

Do you take alcohol? If you do, and you often smoke when taking it, please avoid it by all means and so are the places where it is sold and served to patrons. 

Look for alternatives. If the temptation to smoke is associated with a hot drink like coffee or tea, go crazy with other drinks like soda, yoghurt, or juice which are cold drinks, by nature. 

Again, if the temptation is high when you come across things like ashtrays, remember what they say, out of sight out of mind. If your clothes or the house or even your car in general smell smoke and are the reasons you want to smoke, get them washed clean and applying air fresheners to your house and car helps to get rid of the familiar scents of smoke. 

A person who is trying to stop smoking is, with all due respect, a patient like any other. He or she is a person who suffers from addiction and addiction is a disease. They should be helped to avoid anything and everything that can trigger the urge to smoke.

However, it is good to remember that the primary responsibility for ensuring you succeed in quitting smoking is yours.

Low Minimum Wages – How it Affects Families

By: Shecondria Duncan

Monthly rent is steadily on the rise in every state in America. Yet, the federal minimum wage is still only $7.25 per hour. A full-time employee earning this amount has a gross monthly income of around $1,160. So how is it that families living on minimum wage can afford their monthly rent, utilities, and other necessary resources when the lowest average rent in America is around $700 or more a month? The answer is simple. They can’t. The truth is millions of families in America struggle daily to provide for their families due to low minimum wages. As a result, they often become homeless and have individuals at high risk of developing anxiety, depression, and nutrition-related health disorders.

Minimum Wage Puts Families at Risk of Homelessness

The most needed resource for any family is a place to call home. Our homes provide the foundation and support we need to function properly at work, school, and even in our relationships with our friends and coworkers. They are where we eat, sleep, and perform the tasks that build and support our self-confidence, like learning how to care for our personal hygiene. The current low minimum wage puts families at risk of losing these livelihoods and widens the gap of the poverty line for millions of Americans.

For a family of two, the poverty line is $17,420. If the family breadwinner only earns minimum wage, their yearly salary before taxes adds up to $15,080. That is $2340 below the poverty line. That gap increases to $11,000 for a family of four. So, not only are some families experiencing poverty, if they are earning $7.25 per hour, they are falling well below the current poverty line. Thus, making it impossible for them to afford rent, utilities, and other necessary monthly resources.

Anxiety & Depression Are Often Symptoms of Low Wages

Think about it, how would you feel if you could not afford your monthly expenses not because you’re unemployed but because your job does not pay enough. It would feel like adding insult to injury, right? Unfortunately, this is true for millions of Americans. They wake up early in the morning, bus their children off to school, and work for 8 hours or more five days a week at a job whose salary won’t pay their monthly bills. Inevitably, most of them fail into depression or experience anxiety more often than they desire. What’s more, their depression and anxiety can affect the way they raise their children.

According to a Yale Medicine article, parents who are depressed interact differently with their children, so much so that it affects the child’s development. They are said to use less emotion and expressivity in their language when interacting with their babies. In addition to that, they often use less eye contact. Unlike parents who are not depressed, they lack the energy and liveliness to interact with their children, hindering them from engaging in fun activities like playing outside or reading books.

Low Minimum Wages Put Families at Risk of Nutrition-Related Health Diseases

When you are down to your last few dollars the last thing on your mind is purchasing healthy food for your family. The biggest goal for families in this situation is simply to put food on the table. While this solves the problem of hunger, it does little for preventing nutrition related health diseases like diabetes. Many will argue here that most of these families receive some form of government assistance.  While this is true, even with government-funded food programs, many families still cannot afford to purchase high-quality foods for their entire families. Consequently, rather than having access to foods that are organic and free of genetically modified organisms or GMOs, low-income families often eat foods that contain unhealthy food additives like high fructose corn syrup and MSG, both found in most processed foods.

In short, besides the few states with an average rent of a little over $700, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in most states is $1080.00. This fact alone reveals that low minimum wage in America has upgraded from a crisis to an epidemic. Why? Because families who earn minimum wage can no longer meet their basic needs even as full-time employees. Before this epidemic gets further out of control, the federal government must take a stand and give the federal minimum wage the increase it deserves.

Building Character Through Youth Mentoring Programs

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By: Shecondria Duncan

Learning how to develop good character is vitally important to an individual’s overall success in life. Above all, possessing these skills early in life will help build stronger relationships, boost self-esteem, and improve school performance. One of the best ways to develop these skills at a young age is to join a youth mentoring program. For years, mentoring programs have helped youth and adolescence strengthen their interpersonal relationships, improve their behavior, and increase their enrollment into college. They have also played a role in decreasing the likelihood of youth substance abuse and gang activity. 

One such program, Horizons for Youth, in Chicago, IL, is helping to lead the charge in building character through youth mentoring. They serve youth from kindergarten through college through mentoring, as well as other programs and support services. Through their program, they have assisted a high percentage of disadvantaged youth in enrolling in college. In addition to this, they are using real-life experiences to enrich the lives of the youth they serve. Periodically, they take them on enrichment outings involving art, science, theatre, and civic engagement. These types of programs expand the experiences of youth in their community by providing them with a vision of what the world has to offer and who they can become.

Mentors Have Just as Much to Gain

The positive effects of youth mentoring programs go both ways. Mentors have just as much to gain as the youth who participate in these programs. Along with youth, mentors also experience enhanced self-esteem and stronger interpersonal relationships. Many report feelings of personal fulfillment and a better understanding of children, especially those that are disadvantaged.

ARE WE NEAR THE FINISH LINE OF THIS PANDEMIC?

By: Shecondria Duncan

What started as an epidemic in Wuhan, China, in 2019 quickly became a global pandemic. SARS-CoV-2, also known as Covid-19, caused citizens to be locked down for months, shut down schools and businesses, and has taken the life of many people across the globe. The only glimpse of hope amidst this horrific pandemic arrived when a vaccine became available late last year. However, since the development of this vaccine, four new Covid strains have surfaced, leaving most of us wondering if there is an end to this pandemic? 

COVID-19 VARIANT STRAINS 

As of June 2021, the CDC is monitoring four different strains of Covid-19. The strains Delta, Beta, Alpha, and Gamma are classified as variants of concern. Delta is now responsible for 83% of Covid cases in the U.S. Dr. Perry Wilson, a Yale Medicine epidemiologist, says, “Delta is spreading 50% faster than Alpha, which was 50% more contagious than the original strain of SARS-Co-V-2.” 

Who is being affected most by the Delta strain? According to new reports from health officials, unvaccinated people. This population includes kids and adults under 50, according to a recent U.K. study. This research showed that adults under 50 and children are 2.5 times more likely to be infected with Delta. 

IS A NEW SURGE IN COVID-19 CASES POSSIBLE? 

With Covid-19 cases beginning to rise again in the U.S., could we be facing another surge of this virus? The answer to that could be yes. According to health officials, if the Delta variant continues to move quickly across low-vaccinated populations, a new surge in Covid cases is highly possible. Worse than that, findings from a U.K. study showed that the delta variant is twice as likely to lead to hospitalization. 

As it appears, we may be facing this pandemic longer than expected. Until we reach the finish line, getting vaccinated may be the best solution to protect you against this deadly virus. CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, stated data suggests that 99.5 % of people who died from Covid-19 since January were unvaccinated. Dr. Walensky further said, “We also know that our authorized vaccines prevent severe disease, hospitalization, and death from the delta variant.” 

Staten Island University Hospital physician, Dr. Theodore Strange, agrees with this data. He agrees that the current vaccines work to prevent the infection of the disease and the spread of it. 

Overall, returning to a sense of normalcy appears to be highly dependent upon increasing vaccination rates amongst low-vaccinated populations.

Everything you Should Know About the Covid-19 Vaccines

Although there are more Covid 19 vaccines on the horizon, only three have been authorized and recommended by the CDC (Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen). They are all considered safe and the CDC has recommended that people get whatever vaccine is available to them when they get the chance rather than waiting on a specific one because they all do the same thing. But of course for people with allergies and serious health conditions, that isn’t always an option. One of the biggest questions when it comes to the difference between the vaccines is do they have the same efficacy, what’s in them and what kind of side effects do they produce? Here’s everything you should know about all three vaccines:

Pfizer (95% effective)

Name: BNT162b2

Manufacturer: Pfizer, Inc., and BioNTech

Type of vaccine: mRNA

Number of shots: 2 shots, 21 days apart

How given: Shot in the muscle of the upper arm

Does not contain:

• Eggs
• Preservatives
• Latex

For a full list of ingredients click here

The Pfizer vaccine has been recommended for people 16 years of age or older.

Do Not get the Pfizer vaccine if the following applies:

• If you have had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or an immediate allergic reaction—even if it was not severe—to any ingredient in an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (such as polyethylene glycol), you should not get an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.*
• If you have had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or an immediate allergic reaction—even if it was not severe—after getting the first dose of the vaccine, you should not get a second dose of either of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.*
• An allergic reaction is considered severe when a person needs to be treated with epinephrine or EpiPen^© or if they must go to the hospital. Learn about common side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and when to call a doctor.
• An immediate allergic reaction means a reaction within 4 hours of getting vaccinated, including symptoms such as hives, swelling, or wheezing (respiratory distress).

Additional Info:

• 94% effective in elderly patients
• 90% effective at preventing asymptomatic infection after the second dose
• In clinical trials, reactogenicity symptoms (side effects that happen within 7 days of getting vaccinated) were common but were mostly mild to moderate.
• Side effects (such as fever, chills, tiredness, and headache) throughout the body were more common after the second dose of the vaccine.
• Most side effects were mild to moderate. However, a small number of people had severe side effects—defined as side effects affecting a person’s ability to do daily activities.
• Although few people in the clinical trials went to the hospital or died, data suggest that people who got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were less likely to have these more serious outcomes compared to people who got the saline placebo.

Moderna (94.1% effective)

Name: mRNA-1273

Manufacturer: ModernaTX, Inc.

Type of vaccine: mRNA

Number of shots: 2 shots, one month (28 days) apart

How given: Shot in the muscle of the upper arm

Does not contain:

• Eggs
• Preservatives
• Latex

For a full list of ingredients click here

The Moderna vaccine has been recommended for people 18 years of age or older.

Do Not get the Moderna vaccine if the following applies:

• If you have had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or an immediate allergic reaction—even if it was not severe—to any ingredient in an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (such as polyethylene glycol),  you should not get an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine.*
• If you have had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or an immediate allergic reaction—even if it was not severe—after getting the first dose of the vaccine, you should not get a second dose of either of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
• An allergic reaction is considered severe when a person needs to be treated with epinephrine or EpiPen^©or if they must go to the hospital. Learn about common side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and when to call a doctor.
• An immediate allergic reaction means a reaction within 4 hours of getting vaccinated, including symptoms such as hives, swelling, or wheezing (respiratory distress).

Additional info:

• 86% effective in those over 65 years old
• An effectiveness of about 66% at preventing asymptomatic infection
• In clinical trials, reactogenicity symptoms (side effects that happen within 7 days of getting vaccinated) were common but were mostly mild to moderate.
• Side effects (such as fever, chills, tiredness, and headache) throughout the body were more common after the second dose of the vaccine.
• Most side effects were mild to moderate. However, a small number of people had severe side effects that affected their ability to do daily activities.

Johnson & Johnson

Name: JNJ-78436735

Manufacturer: Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson

Type of vaccine: Viral vector

Number of shots: 1 shot

How given: Shot in the muscle of the upper arm

Does not contain:

• Eggs
• Preservatives
• Latex

For a full list of ingredients click here

The J&J/Janssen vaccine is recommended for people 18 years of age or older.

Do Not get the J&J/Janssen vaccine if the following applies:

• If you have had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) or an immediate allergic reaction—even if it was not severe—to any ingredientexternal icon in the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine (such as polysorbate), you should not get the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 vaccine.
• An allergic reaction is considered severe when a person needs to be treated with epinephrine or EpiPen© or if they must go to the hospital. Experts refer to severe allergic reactions as anaphylaxis. Learn about common side effects of COVID-19 vaccines and when to call a doctor.
• An immediate allergic reaction means a reaction within 4 hours of getting vaccinated, including symptoms such as hives, swelling, or wheezing (respiratory distress).

Additional Info:

• 42% effective in those over 60
• About 74% effective at preventing asymptomatic infection 
• In clinical trials, side effects were common within 7 days of getting vaccinated but were mostly mild to moderate.
• Side effects were more common in people 18–59 years old compared to people 60 years and older.

The side effects for all three vaccines are essentially the same and are as follows:

• Pain
• Redness
• Swelling
• Tiredness
• Headache
• Muscle pain
• Chills
• Fever
• Nausea

The main difference between the vaccines is that Pfizer and Moderna are made using messenger RNA, or mRNA, a technology that delivers a bit of genetic code to cells and are done in two doses. This is a a recipe to make the surface protein (known as spike) on the SARS-2 virus. Essentially the proteins made with with the mRNA will activate the immune system, spiking protein as foreign and developing antibodies and other immunity weapons to fight.

The J & J vaccine is a viral vectored vaccine, which can be done in only one dose. The vaccine instructs human cells to make the SARS-2 spike protein ,triggering an immune response. Once the harmless adenovirus, the cause of many common colds, enters cells the code is used to spike proteins.

The consensus is that yes the vaccines are all very similar and as the CDC recommends many people may get the first one that is available to them, but for others health problems, allergies, age, etc. may play a part in which one they get. Remember that everyone is different and the vaccines/side effects may effect everyone differently.

*Note- A new CDC study found that Moderna and Pfizer were 80% effective in preventing Covid after a single dose and jumped to 90% effective two weeks after the second dose.

Address the Disconnect Series 1: Systemic Racism in Healthcare

It’s Worse Than You Think:

 The Fierce Spread of Covid-19 in Black Communities

The data came too late, the relief took too long, the word “essential” proved interchangeable with the words poor and desperate. Covid-19 unveiled the depths of systemic racism that cost Black communities profoundly.

By: Ally Christiani

Creator: Caroline Brehman | Credit: CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

In 2020, I started listening to podcasts, like everyone else, a new way to kill time. In my pursuit to uncover more truths on American history, I came across the 1619 podcast by New York Times writer Nikole Hannah Jones. It is the audio version of her famous 1619 journalism project released by the NYT in 2019, documenting the long suffering of African Americans since being transported to America 402 years ago. One of her episodes speaks explicitly on healthcare; its inception, errors, and biases.

She begins the episode with a personal story about the loss of her beloved Uncle to cancer. She explained how her Uncle was in pain for a while but could only afford to be seen by free clinics who misdiagnosed his pain. Free clinics are most Americans only option if they’re unemployed and therefore, do not have health insurance. After a while, he finally visits an ER where a doctor makes the decision to give him the X-Ray and CAT scan he needed. Those revealed the tumors that had been growing throughout his back. They learned he had Stage 4 terminal cancer.

With this diagnosis, he qualified for government provided disability aid that pays for medical treatment when your physical health is so bad you cannot work.

“It took my Uncle getting a death sentence before he was able to get health insurance.”

This story made me think about the poverty in this country. The way the poor are cast into this cycle that spins so uncontrollably; it appears built to be impossible to escape.

Not having access to adequate healthcare, education and housing, as well as unemployment, and the growing wealth gap are all bi-products of the poverty cycle. Unsurprisingly, implicit bias and racist antecedents are immersed in these determinants; and that is where we begin to understand the horrific realities that black communities have been facing in the age of COVID-19.

The “profile” Azar speaks of concerns the idea that there are certain underlying conditions that are more predominant in those dying from COVID-19. The conditions are hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes. Research has shown that black people develop these diseases at a greater rate and at a younger age.  In a study by the CDC, 90% of the hospitalizations with severe COVID-19 had at least one of these underlying conditions.

The reasons for the prevalence of these health conditions in the black community involve several factors. Studies have shown stress is related to immunity and black people have increased stress in their life that has a physiological effect on the body’s ability to defend itself. Stressors include; income inequality, discrimination, violence, and institutional racism. This type of stress has actually been identified by the medical community with a term called “weathering,” which concludes that “the stress of living as a member of a minority in itself takes a toll on the body, weakening one’s cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and immune systems.”

In addition to a higher rate of disease, when they develop the disease it is harder to get adequate healthcare. The hospitals in black communities are commonly underfunded—mainly based on the fact that the hospitals located in these particular communities are impoverished as a result of housing discrimination from the age of red-lining.  Red-lining originated in the aftermath of The Great Depression when the federal government set out to evaluate the riskiness of mortgages in major metropolitan areas of the country—black people were deemed by the housing market as high-risk buyers. This process of systemic racism in housing trapped black communities in underfunded, polluted, and unhealthier areas to reside. I will provide more on red-lining and housing discrimination in subsequent articles.

Past research also revealed the disparities in receiving medical treatment. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine’s report, Unequal Treatment, revealed this fact. “According to the report, minorities were less likely to be given appropriate cardiac medications or to undergo bypass surgery, and were less likely to receive kidney dialysis or transplants, compared with their white counterparts.” In addition, when modern medicine became more reliant on the use of technology in the 20^th century, racial biases engrained themselves into the coding.

“In 2019, an algorithm that helps manage healthcare for 200 million people in the US was found to systematically discriminate against black people. According to research published in the Journal Science, people who self-identified as black were given lower risk scores by the computer than white counterparts, leading to fewer referrals for medical care.”

Despite the black patients being sicker, the computer calculated that black people will receive fewer referrals for care because the costs on average were less over a year than white patients.

Some States including Michigan and California have taken action to decrease implicit bias in the medical field by making it mandatory to earn a State licensure on implicit bias training. Michigan approved the measure after analysing the data of COVID-19 in their black counties and taking note of the disparities that are apparent in their health system.

When it comes to employment and COVID-19, the black community is struck with a double-edged sword. Black people have higher rates of both unemployment and employment in jobs that do not include health insurance in their benefits package. The jobs deemed “essential” by society in this pandemic disproportionately affect black people who find themselves on the spectrum of these lower paying jobs including: fast food servers, grocery store clerks, nurses, teachers, and public transportation.

“In the U.S., according to the CDC nearly 25% of employed Hispanic and Black or African Americans work in the service industry, compared with 16% of non-Hispanic white workers. Black or African Americans also account for 30% of licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses.”

These occupations cannot be done remotely and require public interaction. They are considered “necessary” to allow other members of society to stay at home in an attempt to “flatten the curve.” These workers often travel either by car-pool or via public transportation; all of which increasing their exposure to the virus. Systematically, those working these types of jobs have less job options due to inequities in access to higher levels of education. According to the Census, 10.8% of the country lives in poverty (median yearly household income is $23,500 for a family of 4). Black people account for 20.8% of that figure.  A 2015 income report found that for every dollar a white household makes, a black family receives 59 cents. Anyone making that amount of money a year, is not afforded the comfort of taking time off work, even if they are not feeling well.

These disparities were already widely known, especially in the counties that are most affected; however, the data explaining how these conditions blend to create these spreading zones in communities of color came very late in the containment.

This delayed data, consequently, delayed aid. Andi Egbert, a senior researcher at APM Research Lab said: “We are in the midst of this tremendous crisis, and data is the best way of knowing who is suffering and how.” Egbert was one of the authors of the APM report that criticized the federal government for their inaction with collecting and categorizing data based on race. Some researchers believe that they could have gotten a better grip of decreasing spread in these communities if the data became available sooner and resources allocated appropriately. Necessary hospitals would have gotten the first flow of more funding and PPE like masks, gloves, Purell, would have been more fairly distributed to all essential workers.

               Egberts is skeptical of the now former administrations intention behind this lag, “I won’t speculate about motive, but I can’t believe in a modern economy that we don’t have a mandated, uniform way of reporting the data across States.”

               Researchers are anticipating changes in policies that can limit these disparities in society that are causing the poor to suffer unequivocally. A handful of States are already working towards mending this tear. Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist, was put in charge of specifically handling the racial disparities with COVID-19 in the State. Once Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was alerted of the disproportionate spread of COVID-19 in their predominately black counties, she sent a taskforce to go directly into the communities and provide mobile testing in hotspots and PPE distributed in nursing homes and homeless shelters. She also committed to testing all the incarcerated in her State.  New York, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland have made similar commitments.

The rise of racial justice awareness in this country last year could not have come at a more pressing time for black communities. As COVID-19 destroyed families and social injustices played out on our screens, society began to recognize the unequal suffering a large portion of our society endures. Acknowledging the connection of race and economic inequality as a vital explanation for why the virus is attacking black communities disproportionately, will hopefully continue to lead to constructive conversations of racism on a larger scale and therefore, new policy implementation. Understanding healthcare, as a basic human right, is what I hope this country will learn and evolve from this relentless pandemic.

Sources:

1. www.ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305290
2. www.povertyusa.org/facts
3. www.secure.jbs.elsevierhealth.com/action/getSharedSiteSession?redirect=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelancet.com%2Fjournals%2Flancet%2Farticle%2FPIIS0140-6736%2820%2932032-8%2Ffulltext&rc=0
4. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/racial-differences-doctors.html
5. www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/medical-racism-history-covid-19/
6. www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/07/medical-racism-history-covid-19/
7. www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32032-8/fulltext
8. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4194634/
9. www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html
10. www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/expert-answers/coronavirus-infection-by-race/faq-20488802
11. www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/racial-inequalities-in-covid-19-the-impact-on-black-communities#Making-sense-of-incomplete-data
12. www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/population-care/why-african-american-communities-are-being-hit-hard-covid-19
13. www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/podcast/2020/jun/why-are-more-black-americans-dying-covid-19
14. www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/covid19-racial-disparities
15. www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2020/05/27/covid-19-is-crushing-black-communities-some-states-are-paying-attention
16. www.cnbc.com/2021/01/12/factors-affecting-covid-19-spread-among-lower-income-communities.html
17. www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-01-14/racial-bias-in-medicine-a-barrier-to-covid-health-equity
18. www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047279720301769
19. Spotify: 1619 Project Episode 2: How The Bad Blood Started

The Challenges of Remote Learning

What have the challenges been and how do we keep students engaged in a difficult remote learning climate?

Remote learning is a role that parents and caregivers were thrown into with little to no warning or ways of preparing. There have been some success and some failure with the process. A big determining factor of whether or not parents have had any success with their children through remote learning plays a lot into the ways their children learn best. Some kids are thriving in remote learning and others work better in a classroom setting where they can be more social. Regardless of whether children are doing well in remote learning is the fact that some of the problems that have come up have been ones that are completely out of their control. Many parents and students in low-income families worried about how they would keep up without any access to the internet or laptops, computers and tablets. Some schools, including CPS, sent out tablets and provided hard copies to students who were unable to get their hands on internet access. Comcast even offered up free Wi-Fi to students with no internet access. Despite all this though, there were still many problems with remote learning that would cause many people to say that it was unsuccessful.

Online Training

Many teachers are trained to teach in the classrooms so transferring their teaching methods to online zoom calls hasn’t necessarily been easy. Some teaching methods may not be as successful online as they would be in person. It’s also harder for teachers to get students to engage and participate. It also makes it harder on the teacher to come up with homework assignments and tests/quizzes and actually ensure that the students are retaining the information.

Solution: Authoring tools have been very helpful for teachers because they provide them with software to create their own e-learning programs. Click here for a list of helpful authoring tools.

Technical Issues

When dealing with the internet it’s inevitable that problems will arise such as no Wi-Fi, bad internet connections, problems with apps and software and simply people not knowing how to work certain things. These things can be a headache on all parties involved (parents, students and teachers) and interrupt important learning lessons.

Solution: The biggest way to prevent any technical problems is to login to class early to ensure that you have a stable internet connection and your logins/passwords are working. It might also be helpful for schools to have technical support people on standby to help anyone that may be experiencing technical difficulties.

No One-on-One Time For Students

Some students require extra attention and may need to have a one-on-one with teachers to ask questions and get additional help. That is not entirely easy to do through e-learning, which may leave some students falling behind in the classrooms.

Solution: For students who need help during the e-learning session let them know how they can ask questions during class, i.e. using the “hand up” function or using the chat feature. It might also be helpful to have another person on standby to help answer the questions of students that need additional help. Aside from that teachers can elect to hold individual calls with a student if they need more help.

Even with addressing the problems above, remote learning still had some problems that were hard to solve. For starters many students were disinterested and failed to show up to class; and with parents too busy to keep track of their kids’ work and teachers not able to get in contact with them many students fell behind. Some districts even stopped requiring students to do any work at all or told them that no one wouldn’t fail either way, which in turn causes students to stop caring. Many teachers also were putting in minimal effort with their teaching methods hopping on calls for only a few minutes leaving parents to deal with the fallout of how to teach their children in something they weren’t trained for.

In the future, in order for educators to keep children engaged during remote learning the following needs to happen:

1. Allow students to feel like they are actually learning something rather than just doing busy work
2. More strategy and planning
3. Equal opportunity across the board for low-income families and families of color
4. Better support for students without internet access
5. Better support for students with disabilities
6. Unique and creative ways for students to learn and socialize besides sitting in front of the screen all day
7. More enforcement on making sure students are actually attending classes, engaging, learning and getting the help they need
8. More communication and effort between teachers and parents

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/local/305/2020/03/18/817691597/as-classes-move-online-what-happens-to-students-without-internet-or-computers

https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-coronavirus-remote-learning-lockdown-tech-11591375078

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/26/21304405/surveys-remote-learning-coronavirus-success-failure-teachers-parents

https://trainingindustry.com/articles/remote-learning/5-remote-learning-challenges-and-how-to-overcome-them/

The Legacy We Leave

The federal government has been executing federal inmates at an alarming rate. This article explores the racial bias that plagues this system and the history that it was built on.

An opinion piece by Ally Christiani

In college, my favorite part when it came to essay assignments was writing the introduction and conclusion. The introduction was like a palette cleanser, it prepared my reader for what was sure to be a lengthy argument.

I was taught to always make the conclusion powerful, encapsulating, and memorable. The word memorable is obviously subjective with its connotations.

After 4 years of divisive speech, erratic behavior, and misogynistic actions, we land on the question of the conclusion. President Trump has managed to at least prove consistency in the need to demonstrate power over responsibility. Sadly, the easiest way one can show power is through the oppression of the most vulnerable in society. He will exercise, without question, all the powers the Presidency entitles him to have, despite the moral consequences and declare it as the needs of the people.

President Trump broke a 130-year-old precedent of pausing federal executions during the transition period to a new President. Despite the voices of the people (A 2020 Gallup poll cited in the report shows the highest level of opposition to the death penalty among Americans since 1966, with 43% against it and 55% in favor of it.) and a global pandemic  (some States issued stays and no State-level executions took place past July 8)  10 executions have taken place so far in the past 5 month period with 3 remaining. President-elect Joe Biden (who opposes the death penalty) is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 20^th, President Trump has an execution scheduled for January 15^th.

In July 2019, now former US Attorney William Barr announced the administrations decision to resume federal executions after a 17-year pause. The federal death penalty was re-established by the Supreme Court in 1988, and since then only three federal executions have taken place, all of which occurred under the Bush Administration. Barr announced they would oversee 13 executions in 2020, the most in a year by any president since 1896.

Although the death penalty falls under the literal meaning of law, it is far from law and order. Capital punishment in America is amongst the most flawed system in the criminal justice system. Since its re-establishment, it has consistently been used disproportionately against African Americans.

“African Americans make up 42% of people on death row and 34% of those executed, but only 13% of the US population is black.” (as per the Equal Justice Imitative report on the death penalty).

The explanation for this racial disparity can be traced back to the Reconstruction Era (1865-1876), where its predecessor lynching was first introduced.  During this period, almost 2,000 African Americans were killed, with an additional 4,400 documented lynching’s post-Reconstruction (1877-1950). In 1972, Furman vs. Georgia, the Supreme Court first struck down the death penalty calling it “lynch law,” and said in their decision: “of these few to be sentenced to die…it is the constitutionally impermissible basis of race.” As attitudes and consequently, government evolved, new ways to oppress and discriminate hid themselves in legislation and precedents.

This years’ executions followed the trend of inherit bias and systemic discrimination that evolved from the past, and ingrained itself into the criminal justice system. Almost half of the defendants executed are people of color and 76% of the executions are for the deaths of white victims.

“As of October 2002, 12 people have been executed where the defendant was white and the murder victim black, compared with 178 black defendants executed for murders with white victims.” (as per as an ACLU report on the death penalty).

One of the more concerning flaws when it comes to the death penalty, is the number of inmates that are exonerated yearly after spending sometimes decades sitting on death row, awaiting an execution date, for a crime they did not commit. This error again, affects African Americans disproportionately.

The blockbuster movie Just Mercy brought death row stories to the big screen and forced people to face the widespread bias that reaches deep into the system. In death penalty cases, the rate of exonerations has steadily increased with 172 people being exonerated since 1973. 1,529 people have been executed in the US since 1973, 502 of those (including those this year) were African American. The Equal Justice Initiative reports that for every 9 people executed, one person on death row has been exonerated.52% of exonerees, were African American.

Despite public outcry, letters from victims’ families urging the administration to stop the executions, and activists tying up the phone lines of the White House, nothing has managed to slow down the Trump Administration’s agenda to exhaust the use of the death penalty. President- elect Joe Biden has vowed to eliminate the use of the federal death penalty and create incentives for the states who follow suit once he is sworn into office.

The death penalty in this country is nothing more than vengeance hidden through the idea of justice—an eye for an eye. It is possible that soon to be former President Trump is seeking his own vengeance, using these executions as his vessel.

Miriam Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor and executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, said the busy execution schedule in the last days of an administration is “a sad legacy to leave.”

But I am sure, this is the exact conclusion Mr. Trump wanted to write.

Sources:

1. www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/politics/federal-death-penalty-2020-trnd/index.html
2. www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/upcoming-executions
3. www.eji.org/issues/death-penalty/
4. www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55236260
5. www.aclu.org/other/race-and-death-penalty
6. www.nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/trump-cranks-up-executions-on-his-way-out-of-the-white-house.html
7. www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/03/law-officers-call-halt-executions-trumps-final-weeks/3806399001/
8. www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/dpic-and-black-history-month