An excerpt from Vox -
What Serena Williams’s scary childbirth story says about medical treatment of black women
Black women are often dismissed or ignored by medical care providers. Williams wasn’t an exception.
By P.R. Lockhart
A new Vogue profile of Serena Williams sheds light not only on the health risks that can come with childbirth, but also how those factors — coupled with racial bias in the medical field — can have dangerous, even life-threatening results for black women.
In Vogue’s February cover story, Williams recalls dealing with serious complications shortly after the recent birth of her daughter, Alexis Olympia. Williams explains that the problems started the day after her daughter’s birth by Cesarean section, when Williams felt short of breath. Due to her history of pulmonary embolisms (Williams underwent emergency treatment for a life-threatening embolism in 2011), the tennis star quickly alerted a nurse about her symptoms.
But the response wasn’t what she expected. Vogue writer Rob Haskell explains:
She walked out of the hospital room so her mother wouldn’t worry and told the nearest nurse, between gasps, that she needed a CT scan with contrast and IV heparin (a blood thinner) right away. The nurse thought her pain medicine might be making her confused. But Serena insisted, and soon enough a doctor was performing an ultrasound of her legs. “I was like, a Doppler? I told you, I need a CT scan and a heparin drip,” she remembers telling the team. The ultrasound revealed nothing, so they sent her for the CT, and sure enough, several small blood clots had settled in her lungs. Minutes later she was on the drip. “I was like, listen to Dr. Williams!”
Williams adds that she continued to have problems after this scare. Williams coughed frequently due to the embolisms, and the coughs were forceful enough to cause her C-section wound to rupture. When she went in for surgery, doctors found that a hematoma had filled her abdomen, a result of the blood thinners. A filter was placed into one her major veins to keep more blood clots from traveling to her lungs. When she finally returned home, Williams needed six weeks of bed rest.
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/1/11/16879984/serena-williams-childbirth-scare-black-women
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Friday, January 12, 2018
Yes Indeed!
From Very Smart Brothas -
10 Reasons I’m Glad I Was Raised in a Black Household
By Panama Jackson
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/10-reasons-i-m-glad-i-was-raised-in-a-black-household-1821891589
10 Reasons I’m Glad I Was Raised in a Black Household
By Panama Jackson
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/10-reasons-i-m-glad-i-was-raised-in-a-black-household-1821891589
A New Low
An excerpt from the New York Times -
‘The Lowest White Man’
By Charles M. Blow
Trumpism is a religion founded on patriarchy and white supremacy.
It is the belief that even the least qualified man is a better choice than the most qualified woman and a belief that the most vile, anti-intellectual, scandal-plagued simpleton of a white man is sufficient to follow in the presidential footsteps of the best educated, most eloquent, most affable black man.
As President Lyndon B. Johnson said in the 1960s to a young Bill Moyers: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
Trump’s supporters are saying to us, screaming to us, that although he may be the “lowest white man,” he is still better than Barack Obama, the “best colored man.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/opinion/trump-immigration-white-supremacy.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&src=me&WT.nav=MostEmailed
‘The Lowest White Man’
By Charles M. Blow
Trumpism is a religion founded on patriarchy and white supremacy.
It is the belief that even the least qualified man is a better choice than the most qualified woman and a belief that the most vile, anti-intellectual, scandal-plagued simpleton of a white man is sufficient to follow in the presidential footsteps of the best educated, most eloquent, most affable black man.
As President Lyndon B. Johnson said in the 1960s to a young Bill Moyers: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
Trump’s supporters are saying to us, screaming to us, that although he may be the “lowest white man,” he is still better than Barack Obama, the “best colored man.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/opinion/trump-immigration-white-supremacy.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage®ion=CColumn&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&src=me&WT.nav=MostEmailed
Thursday, January 11, 2018
Again?
From USA Today Network -
School's homework asked for 3 'good,' 3 bad reasons for slavery
By Darryl Enriquez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Administrators at a Lutheran school here apologized Wednesday for a fourth-grade homework assignment that asked pupils to write "3 'good' reasons for slavery and 3 bad reasons."
Trameka Brown-Berry shared the assignment Tuesday on Facebook asking if others found it offensive. Her son, Jerome Berry, is a fourth-grader at Our Redeemer Lutheran School.
The post set off a cry from Facebook respondents and a community leader that the assignment was insensitive and offensive.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/01/10/slavery-homework-assignment/1022098001/
School's homework asked for 3 'good,' 3 bad reasons for slavery
By Darryl Enriquez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUWATOSA, Wis. — Administrators at a Lutheran school here apologized Wednesday for a fourth-grade homework assignment that asked pupils to write "3 'good' reasons for slavery and 3 bad reasons."
Trameka Brown-Berry shared the assignment Tuesday on Facebook asking if others found it offensive. Her son, Jerome Berry, is a fourth-grader at Our Redeemer Lutheran School.
The post set off a cry from Facebook respondents and a community leader that the assignment was insensitive and offensive.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/01/10/slavery-homework-assignment/1022098001/
1968
From The Atlantic -
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/01/50-years-ago-in-photos-a-look-back-at-1968/550208/?utm_source=&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/01/50-years-ago-in-photos-a-look-back-at-1968/550208/?utm_source=&silverid=MzEwMTkwMTQ4ODk4S0
Wednesday, January 10, 2018
She's On Fire!
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
First Black Woman On U.S. Olympic Long-Track Skating Team Started Sport Only 4 Months Ago
Erin Jackson is black girl magic! ✨
By Taryn Finley
A 25-year-old long-track speed skater is gearing up for the 2018 Winter Olympics just four months after she first took to the ice.
Erin Jackson qualified for the U.S. team last Friday when she came in third place in trials for the 500-meter race behind two former Olympians, Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma.
The Florida resident finished her first run 39.22 seconds and clocked in at 39.04 in her second run. Jackson told NBC Sports that she was surprised she had made the squad.
“I really wasn’t expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can,” Jackson said. “I still don’t even know.”
Jackson became the third black athlete to make a U.S. Olympic speedskating team, and the first black woman to qualify for the long-track competition.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/first-black-woman-to-compete-on-olympic-speed-ice-skating-team-picked-up-sport-4-months-ago_us_5a54ed65e4b0efe47ebd4ef7
First Black Woman On U.S. Olympic Long-Track Skating Team Started Sport Only 4 Months Ago
Erin Jackson is black girl magic! ✨
By Taryn Finley
A 25-year-old long-track speed skater is gearing up for the 2018 Winter Olympics just four months after she first took to the ice.
Erin Jackson qualified for the U.S. team last Friday when she came in third place in trials for the 500-meter race behind two former Olympians, Brittany Bowe and Heather Bergsma.
The Florida resident finished her first run 39.22 seconds and clocked in at 39.04 in her second run. Jackson told NBC Sports that she was surprised she had made the squad.
“I really wasn’t expecting any of this, just coming in as a newbie, just trying to do the best I can,” Jackson said. “I still don’t even know.”
Jackson became the third black athlete to make a U.S. Olympic speedskating team, and the first black woman to qualify for the long-track competition.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/first-black-woman-to-compete-on-olympic-speed-ice-skating-team-picked-up-sport-4-months-ago_us_5a54ed65e4b0efe47ebd4ef7
Tuesday, January 9, 2018
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