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."
President Donald Trump on Thursday broke convention when his holiday call to troops took an unusually political turn. On his call with a general stationed in Afghanistan ー and during the questions with reporters that followed ーTrump made controversial comments on the courts, trade, and the caravan of migrants heading toward the border between the U.S. and Mexico. "This is a highly politicized environment, especially with President Trump ー that's his style," Nick Givas, a reporter at the Daily Caller, told Cheddar on Friday.
As Americans hit the road in record numbers this holiday, low gas prices are poised to act as a boon for consumer spending. Drivers are already saving $100 million a day at the pump over just last month, according to GasBuddy.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018.
As Canada battles a nationwide marijuana shortage, Massachusetts dispensaries opened to recreational users on Tuesday. Regulatory bottlenecks and unforeseen demand have caused disruptions in Canada's marijuana supply ー but don't expect the trouble to cease next year. Khurram Malik, CEO of cannabis supplier Biome Grow, said he anticipates disorder in Canadian cannabis well into 2019.
With news that the White House Correspondents' Dinner will break a long-standing tradition by replacing a comedian host with a historian, Jon Levine, media editor at The Wrap, discusses whether the event should even exist anymore.
What role exactly does Facebook play in society? Does it do more good than harm ー or more harm than good? Is it too big to control? Existential questions like these are beginning to circulate as the world's largest social network finds itself embroiled in yet another state of crisis.
Apple talks a big game on customer privacy -- but that hasn't stopped it from making billions through its partnership with ad-based search engine Google. In an interview with Axios on Sunday, Apple ($AAPL) CEO Tim Cook defended his company's relationship with the world's leading search engine, and discussed the potential for regulation in tech, which he considers inevitable.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018.
Tubi Daily News Powered By Cheddar for the Afternoon of 11/19/18
The clamor to impeach President Trump has increased in volume since Democrats won back the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this month ー and one member of the chorus is former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, who said the president's term recalls another dark period in American political history.
