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 Times reported this week that the U.S. military was quietly preparing for the possibility of war with Pyongyang. Joel S. Wit, Senior Fellow at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins and author of "Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis," joins The Hive to discuss what Americans need to worry about...and what they don't.
Apple is planning to invest big in the U.S. economy over the next five years. Amazon announces a list of 20 candidates for its HQ2. Carter Reum, entrepreneur and author of the new book "Shortcut Your Startup," joins us to share his tips on turning your idea into a successful business. Plus, we get the latest on the fight to preserve net neutrality.
Michael Harriot, columnist at The Root, discusses the future of DACA as funding for the government is set to run out soon.
Sarah Morris, Director of Open Internet Policy at New America's Open Technology Institute, says nearly a million people called Congress to complain right after the FCC voted to repeal net neutrality.
Facebook, Twitter and Youtube testify on Capitol Hill about combating terror. 21 states challenge the Net Neutrality repeal. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continue to fall. Steve Bannon faces two subpoenas over the Russia investigation. Elon Musk announces his new $5 million initiative to bring healthy food and gardens to city kids. Karamo Brown stars as the ‘culture guy' of the Fab 5 in the Netflix reboot, “Queer Eye." Online sharing community Imgur is on a mission to provide an uplifting user experience, and differentiate itself from other social platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Former White House advisor Steve Bannon testified in a closed-door hearing on Tuesday with the House Intelligence Committee. The hearing about questions surrounding ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Axios' National Political Reporter Jonathan Swan explains what he's learned about Bannon's testimony, and the way members of Congress are reacting.
Government shutdown looms, Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) on his proposed "Stable Genius Act," Drake Bell's new music, Eric Roberts' new movie. With GameSpot, Daily Kos, and Hot Air.
Google's Arts and Culture App takes top spot in the App Store, the latest efforts to save net neutrality, and YouTube's efforts to regain advertisers' trust.
Women and men across the country are gearing up for the second annual Women's March this weekend, and that means a sea of pink hats. Krista Suh, the Founder of the Pussyhat Project, gives her take on where women's rights stand a year into the Trump administration.
President Trump may have gotten a clean bill of health from the White House physician, but that’s not enough for one Democratic lawmaker. Congressman Brendan Boyle (D-PA) is introducing legislation that, if passed, would require all future presidential nominees of a major party to get a physical and cognitive examination from a presidential physician, to insure they are in a proper physical and mental state to govern. He calls it the Stable Genius Act
