Silence is NOT an option – 7/21/20 (7/22/2020)

1) UC Admits Record Setting Diverse Freshmen Class

Latinos represent the highest number of prospective freshmen accepted into the University of California for fall 2020, part of the most diverse first-year class ever admitted, according to preliminary UC data. Latinos slightly eclipsed Asian Americans, making up 36% of the 79,953 California students offered admission. Asians made up 35%, white students 21% and Black students 5%.  Read more…

2)  Before the pandemic, Black Americans faced the greatest housing insecurity — as measured by paying unaffordable rent and mortgages — compared with white people, according to census data. Now, along with Latino workers, they face the greatest job losses. Disparities driven by past and present racism have left them more vulnerable to high housing costs and economic downturns, especially one that’s disproportionately affected people who can’t work from home.

3)  Milwaukee County Executive Signs Resolution Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis

From cradle to grave, Black Milwaukeeans were suffering. The infant mortality rate was nearly three times that of white people. The life expectancy was about 14 years shorter, on average. Life in between offered its own hardships — from gaping disparities in education to income — officials realized years ago, in what was among the most racially segregated and inequitable cities in America.

The county executive at the time, Chris Abele, knew there was something insidious at work, something hard to tame or fix. He placed blame on centuries of deeply-rooted anti-Black racism — and the crushing chronic stress it caused. The result was remarkably different life experiences and health consequences for Black and white residents.

So Milwaukee tried something bold to fight the statistics. They declared racism a public health crisis, and vowed to combat it with the same vigor they would a disease outbreak.

4)  In Memoriam:  Representative John Lewis, who died Friday at age 80, will be remembered as a principal hero of the blood-drenched era not so long ago when Black people in the South were being shot, blown up or driven from their homes for seeking basic human rights. The moral authority Mr. Lewis exercised in the House of Representatives — while representing Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District for more than 30 years — found its headwaters in the aggressive yet self-sacrificial style of protests that he and his compatriots in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee deployed in the early 1960s as part of the campaign that overthrew Southern apartheid.  Read more…

5) Resources for Coping with Race Related Trauma: