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‘Antiracist public health approach’ needed to substance abuse, by Marc H. Morial
“He was a Hollywood star with an off-Broadway paycheck that mostly went up his nose. He was a pacifist with a barroom- brawl, razor scar down the middle of his face. He played a sneering killer but started his career in dance tights. On set, he was Omar Little, the Robin Hood of the hood feared by fictional street thugs who feared nothing else. Off it, he was an aimless soul begging for someone — anyone — to love and accept him for who he was, not who he played.” — Kevin Manahan, Newark Star-Ledger
Use stimulus aid for summer jobs for youths, by Marc H. Morial
“The Harlem Youth Action Project was a city-funded attempt to keep some of the smarter kids off the street ... the next time I saw JET magazine there I was, all the way in the top left-hand corner of a news photo, leaning over Dr. King with my trusty tape recorder in my hand, looking for the last word. I was anything but a Power Memorial junior; I was starting to feel like what I thought of as a man.” — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
D.C. statehood must be achieved, by Marc H. Morial
“Congress has both the moral obligation and the constitutional authority to pass the D.C. state- hood bill. This country was founded on the principles of no taxation without representation and consent of the governed, but D.C. residents are taxed without representation and cannot con- sent to the laws under which they, as American citizens, must live.” — Eleanor Holmes Norton, delegate to U.S. House of Representatives representing the District of Columbia
Juneteenth and confronting hard history by Marc H. Morial
“Slavery is hard history. It is hard to comprehend the inhumanity that defined it. It is hard to discuss the violence that sustained it. It is hard to teach the ideology of white supremacy that justified it. And it is hard to learn about those who abided it.
Pride Month and the Equality Act, by Marc H. Morial
“Rather than divide and discriminate, let us come together and create one nation. We are all one people. We all live in the American house. We are all the American family. Let us recognize that the gay people living in our house share the same hopes, troubles and dreams. It’s time we treated them as equals, as family.” — The late Congressman John Lewis
Tulsa: Legacy of white supremacism by Marc H. Morial
“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams,” she said. “I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history but I cannot.” — 107-year-old Viola Fletcher, survivor of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.
Biden-Harris at 100 days, by Marc H. Morial
One hundred days into their administration, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have made surprisingly bold inroads in confronting racial injustice and the COVID-19 pandemic, but significant challenges remain.
Standing on sidelines not an option by Marc H. Morial
In the long arc of the nation’s history of racially motivated voter suppression, 2021 will stand as a clear and distinct moment that changed everything that came after. Whether it will symbolize the demise of such suppression – or its shameful entrenchment – remains to be seen.
Justice Department protests powerful, by Marc H. Morial
The decision in late December not to charge the officers who shot and killed a Black child on sight encapsulates everything that is wrong with the U.S. Department of Justice under the current administration.
COVID-19 relief measure inadequate, by Marc H. Morial
“I wish they would put themselves — the White House and Congress and everybody else making these decisions — in the shoes of us, the normal working people, who need help due to no fault of our own. I’m asking to be able to keep my apartment. To be able to live, and not live on the street. I’m not asking to be put in a golden apartment or anything. I just want to be able to live.” — Unemployed teacher Stephanie Lott, quoted in The Washington Post
The first 100 days, by Marc H. Morial
The 77.5 million votes for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are the most ever cast for a presidential ticket, breaking the previous record set in 2008 for President Obama.
Keep politics out of vaccine approval process, by Marc H. Morial
“Maintaining the American public’s trust in the FDA is vital. If the agency’s credibility is lost because of real or perceived interference, people will not rely on the agency’s safety warnings. Erosion of public trust will leave consumers and patients doubt- ing our recommendations, less likely to enroll in clinical studies or to use FDA-regulated products when they should to maintain or improve their health. This is problematic under normal circumstances but especially if we are to ultimately overcome COVID-19.” — Senior FDA executives Patrizia Cavazzoni, Peter Marks, Susan Mayne, Judy McMeekin, Jeff Shuren, Steven Solomon, Janet Woodcock and Mitch Zeller
Black women leading, by Marc H. Morial
The selection of U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris to be the Democratic vice presidential nominee represents many “firsts” — the first Black woman to be nominated on a major party ticket. The first vice presidential candidate of South Asian descent. The first nominee to be an HBCU grad. More importantly, though, her candidacy is emblematic of this unprecedented moment of racial reckoning in America and the outsized role that Black women are playing in leading the nation through this period of crisis.
