In Maryland, the Montgomery County Council has introduced a resolution deeming racism a public health crisis.
In an interview with Cheddar, councilmember Will Jawando says disparities the black community faces are staggering. Recent social uprisings might have lit the flame under Jawando to introduce the resolution but the issue of racial inequality goes back hundreds of years, he said.
"Racism is the direct result, for 401 years, we've been either property or legally discriminated against for most of that time," Jawando told Cheddar.
In Montgomery County, systemic racism is not limited to just over-assertive and sometimes lethal policing of the black community, he said. It's also running rampant in the healthcare system. As COVID-19 continues to ravage communities of color nationwide, 18 percent of the black population in his county makes up a quarter of the deaths related to the virus.
For Jawando, racism in the Washington DC suburb is simply a reflection of society on a smaller scale.
"If you look at maternal health and childbirth, black women die at three times the rate," he said. "When they come in with problems, often doctors — look at Serena Williams — don't believe that they're sick."
Introducing the resolution, which he expects to pass next week, is a first step for curing the public health crisis in his county, Jawando said, but he hopes the measure is eventually recognized on both the state and federal levels. He also supports other methods of combating racism including the growing call to defund police departments nationwide.
"We shouldn't have stats driven by policing," he explained. "De-escalation, that should be rewarded just as much as we reward arrests and tickets."
The Senate voted to acquit the president on both counts, 52-48 on abuse of power and 53-47 on obstruction of Congress, after a 12-day impeachment trial, the shortest ever.
An institution that often calls its interest-rate stance “data-dependent,” the Fed is increasingly recognizing that some privately produced data is nearly as accurate as — and often timelier than — the government reports that it has long depended upon.
Romney called Trump's actions — the president was impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstructing Congress— "perhaps the most abusive and destructive" violation of oath of office that I can imagine."
Minneapolis City Council member Andrea Jenkins discussed her range of issues including city services, the LGBTQ community, communities of color, infrastructure, economic development, and the future of the U.S. presidency.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, February 5, 2020.
Tonight President Donald Trump gets to issue his third State of the Union address to lawmakers and guests on Capitol Hill. Cheddar is keeping track of the night's best moments.
Democratic state Rep. Robert "Renny" Cushing told Cheddar that the Granite State, surrounded by adult-use legal states, needs to get with the times.
Democratic Party officials in Iowa have released more than 60 percent their delayed caucus results. Confusion and chaos still hang over Iowa and its first-in-the-nation presidential contest.
Technology companies and banks led a broad rally for U.S. stocks in midday trading Tuesday following solid gains overseas. China took more steps to soften the financial blow of the virus outbreak and its main stock index rose following a plunge a day earlier.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, February 4, 2020.
