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."
Marc Lotter, former press secretary to Vice President Mike Pence, says Omarosa Manigault Newman's decision to record a conversation with White House Chief of Staff John Kelly in the Situation Room was a violation "of every protocol
[and] procedure." He also says allegations in Manigault Newman's book contradict the former "Apprentice" contestant's previous statements about President Trump.
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Spike Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" opened nationwide on Friday, on the eve of the anniversary of the Charlottesville riots ー and that's no coincidence. The movie recalls the true story of Ron Stallworth, a black Colorado Springs police officer who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s.
In an election year when a record number of women are running for Congress, one of New York's two Democratic Senators says women voices ー and their votes ー "couldn't be more important." Senator Gillibrand also told Cheddar's Hope King that women should lead the opposition to Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.
These are the headlines you Need2Know for Friday, Aug. 10.
These are the headlines you Need2Know.
Allegations that Wilbur Ross stole millions from colleagues and employees may not cost him his job as Secretary of Commerce, says Dan Alexander, the Forbes writer who reported on Ross's business dealings. "I don't see him as somebody who is likely to step down because of embarrassment or anything like that," Alexander says.
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Rick Wilson, GOP strategist and author of "Everything Trump Touches Dies," believes the Democratic Party could have a solid midterm election season. An endorsement by Trump for Republican primary candidate is "magic," he said. But in a general election, "it's a boat anchor around your neck in deep, deep waters."
Rep. Darren Soto of Florida says Republicans are running a campaign "on fear and on division" because President Trump's policies have failed to address voters' economic insecurities. GOP candidates pushing xenophobic immigration policies are trying to "scare people to the ballot box," Soto says.
