Issuu

December 27, 2020

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

Vol. 25, Issue 49

“Our vote and our money are the two most powerful things we have. Be careful who you give them to.” “Addressing Current & Historical Realties Affecting Our Community”

- Roy Douglas Malonson

SIX ELEMENTS THAT CONTROL THE WORLD By: Roy Douglas Malonson

HOUSTON -- Whether you believe the pandemic is a “sign of the times” that either the Bible, Koran or Nostradamus predicted, the shakeup felt by all has rocked the Earth to its epicenter. Many are scratching their heads and cursing the ground we are walking upon asking “why,” while others are falling to their knees praying for a better tomorrow and a solution. People are poor, sick, unemployed and desperate, and it appears that conditions, like spirits, are declining every day. To better grasp what’s currently going on, you should understand there are six elements that control the world, and the domino effect of occur-

rences that can happen when they’re disturbed. What are the elements? Health, economy, politics, religion, education and the media. To illustrate these principals, we show the effects of the disturbance of the elements in relation to the current global health crisis. HEALTH COVID-19 shut down America’s everyday operations when in March, governors and other elected oﬃcials scrambled to implement statewide guidelines to protect its residents from what was then a novel (new) virus. Horrifying scenes were playing out in emergency rooms across the globe with an overflow of people dying in hallways, packed ICU beds and bodies being stacked in big rigs to be hauled off to morgues. The virus

was swift and deadly, with African Americans being hit hardest and dying at disproportionately higher rates, primarily due to congested inner-city or impoverished conditions and lack of health care. President Donald Trump downplayed the virus, mocked the Chinese he blamed as the source of it, attacked reporters during press conferences who dared to question his plans on handling it, and told Americans that masks were for the weak. All along, he withheld the fact that he knew months before the general public that the deadly virus had reached America, a revelation that was made public in an interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward. That withholding of information could have possibly contributed to the more than 300,000

deaths in America, to date, with more than 25,000 of them in Texas. ECONOMY Sick people can’t work, and dead folks can’t pay bills. And likewise, when a highly contagious, airborne disease is plaguing the globe, businesses must shutter their doors. According to reports, the COVID-19 pandemic and associated closures created a crisis for all workers, but the impact was greater for women, Blacks and Hispanics, lower-wage earners, and those with less education. In December 2019, women held more nonfarm payroll jobs than men for the first time during a period of job growth, but by May 2020, that was all reversed, due in part to job losses in the restaurant, leisure and hospitality industry, where women account for 53 percent of

workers. Meanwhile, President Trump spent his days challenging Centers for Disease Control experts and the advice of his own Coronavirus Task Force, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, on mask mandates and social distancing guidelines while holding campaign rallies with people packed in public venues, which leads us to our next element. POLITICS There is evidence that the pandemic affected public approval of leaders around the world, depending on how those leaders responded to the virus. Due to their swift action, government approval ratings rose in Italy, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. And in the U.S., state governors like New York’s Andrew Cuomo, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, and Gover-

nor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan saw an increase in approval ratings, but President Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus ultimately cost him re-election. To many, it appeared Trump was out for his own self-interests, rather than the protection of the people. And it’s not like he hadn’t been warned beforehand. During a 2014 speech, then-President Barack Obama warned about the need for the U.S. to cast aside partisan differences to prepare for an upcoming pandemic. “We have to put in place an infrastructure, not just at home but also globally. That allows us to see it quickly, isolate it quickly, respond to it quickly,” he

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December 27, 2020

EDITORIAL

President/Chief Editor

Tristar

Griselda Ramirez: Production

Partin’ the Waters By Omowale Luthuli-Allen

Office: (713) 692-1892 Wednesday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Demystifying Vaccines Although I am not a public health scientist, I do know that I don’t want to go on a ventilator because of a COVID-19 infection. Nor do I want to die alone. During the late 1980’s, the shingles virus came upon me like a horde of armed bandits without mercy. Shingles established a ring of fire from my belly button to my spine on one side of my body. When I researched the shingles virus, I

Elements cont’d said in a briefing. “So that if and when a new strain of flu, like the Spanish flu, crops up, five years or a decade from now - we’ve made the investment and we’re further along to be able to catch it.” After successfully dealing with the Ebola which began in West Africa - and H1N1, Obama called for more preparedness to deal with something possibly “airborne in transmission” that could head our way. His prediction was correct. Coronavirus has proven to be way more deadly than any epidemic seen

GREATER HOUSTON EDITION

learned that it could be one of the most painful diseases known to humankind. Guess what, there was not a vaccine and the pain-relieving medicines were not very good. Prayer helped my attitude and determine to persevere until relief arrived. Yes, I suffered. A few friends have asked me, should I take the vaccine for shingles. My response has been “get your beautiful self to the nearest pharmacy and beg them to inoculate you.” Of course, check with your trusted physician for advice, but keep in mind the alternatives can be life changing. Skeptical about vaccines? Consider that when I was in elementary school, diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough were feared and killed

thousands of children before the vaccine. Not only did science create vaccines for pneumonia, polio, German measles and smallpox, science is on the cusp of creating a vaccine for forms of cancer and HIV-AIDS. Again, TRUTH MATTERS, FACTS MATTER and HONESTY MATTERS. Although we don’t know all the long-term effects of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the element of risk is small compared to the benefits. Ex-POTUS Barack Obama and George Bush, and Dr. Anthony Fauci will put points on the board by taking the vaccine. For those readers with a scholarly inclination, know that germs and society’s response can change the course of his-

tory. Meditate on this excerpt from a recommended book, “GUNS, GERMS and STEEL,” by author Jared Diamond. “The importance of lethal microbes in human history is well illustrated by Europeans conquest and depopulation of the New World. Far more native Americans died in bed from Eurasian germs than on the battlefield from Europeans guns and swords. Those germs undermined Indian resistance by killing most Indians and their leaders and by sapping the survivor’s morale.... 1519 600 Spaniards facing fiercely militaristic Aztec empire with a population of millions... “What gave the Spaniards a decisive advantage was smallpox, which reached Mexico in 1520

with one infected slave arriving from Spanish Cuba. The resulting epidemic proceeded to kill nearly half of the Aztecs... Aztec survivors were demoralized by the mysterious illness that killed Indians and spared Spaniards...By 1618, Mexico’s initial population of 20 million had plummeted to about 1.6 million.” Ignorance can become deadly when it pushes against science. If we don’t get a grip on “Lord COVID-19,” unnecessary millions will perish. Our struggle for freedom, justice and equality will stall because we will lose too many leaders and fighters and become demoralized as a community.

in recent history. But the country under the Trump Administration did not rally together to lead in the fight. COVID-19 seemingly became a political power struggle between the “haves and the have-nots,” the Democrats and the Republicans, and the fight over election poll procedures such as the drivethru polling locations in Harris County, a safe and successful initiative led by former Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins. RELIGION The Coronavirus has tested the Faith and strength of congregations as many pastors, priests, reverends and other

Faith leaders have died from the disease. Prayers have now been focused on health of family and friends, and money to pay bills as the world fights to survive. According to a Gallup report, that the halting of in-person worship “is one of the most significant sudden disruptions in the practice of religion in U.S. history.” Many churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples are now offering worship services, Sunday School and other programs through livestreams. The churches have also served as centers for dispatching life-saving resources, in-

cluding disinfection supplies, face shields, masks and gloves, in addition to serving as free COVID-19 testing sites. “Online Giving” has replaced the traditional collection plates with virtual methods of tithing, including CashApps, Quick Pay, Zelle, etc. EDUCATION Mostly all K-12 students in the U.S. are currently missing face-to-face instruction due to COVID-19. While many parents and educators are worried about protecting their kids from the virus, they remain somewhat helpless as families in underserved communities suffer from the digital

divide. The shift is harming all involved as teachers scramble to adapt content for online platforms, parents juggle work responsibilities (if not enduring unemployment) with caring for and educating their own children, and students face isolation, anxiety and fears of an uncertain future while grades drastically slip. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) -- the state’s largest school system -alarmingly confirmed

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EDITION DATE: December, 2020 (Vol. 25) ISSUE

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