Get Up! Stand Up. Prophet Bob Marley in Munich (corrected)

35 views
Skip to first unread message

Gloria Emeagwali

unread,
Apr 29, 2020, 10:47:55 AM4/29/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.e...@gmail.com>

8:21 AM (33 minutes ago)
to usaafricadialogue
Well let me kill three birds with one stone, so to speak. First of all, to OA who has assumed rather  too confidently that marijuana causes schizophrenia.
But what if it is the other way around, namely, that some folks with schizophrenia use marijuana as a coping mechanism and a therapeutic device? 


Distinguishing the evangelical and secularist use of the term prophet is helpful. 

As for the disproportionate percentage of African American  deaths to Covid 19, mentioned by the poetic OKELLO OCULI, the following comes to mind, granted that it relates to a segment of the AA population, and not the whole:


1.  Lack of access to sound affordable medical care in normal times, and the dismantling of Obama’s health care initiative.

2. Inherited dietary deficiencies  and practices - perpetuated by the fast food chains, low income, and decades of inattention to obesity generating foods.

3.  Excessive exposure to Covid-19 in nursing homes - and jobs as CNA  workers, hospital aides, 
delivery etc. - that are detrimental in the era  of Covid 19. High -paid medics and nurses are also at risk.

4. Crowded residential areas,  in densely populated  cities that preclude social distancing procedures.

5. A narcissistic President, slow to act in securing protective gear
for exposed individuals - believed to be outside loyalist voter -catchment zones.

6.  Blind faith, crowded churches -that initially defied social distancing measures. 

We  all  have to guard against the covert  eugenical use of Covid 19 by politicians - worldwide.

GE


Biko Agozino

unread,
Apr 29, 2020, 11:35:38 AM4/29/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
On #2, Du Bois cautions against any assumption that African Americans are less fit to survive due to inherited genes, contrary to such unscientific allegations by some scholars. His analysis shows that African Americans may be over-represented in some cities but that whites remain overwhelmingly more likely to die from an epidemic such as the tuberculosis or consumption epidemic that killed more whites in the South than Blacks in the North. In agreement with all your other points, he concluded that race is not the cause of the deaths but implied that racist policies or institutionalized racism may be to blame. In The Philadelphia Negro, he was critical of the poor diets and the lack of ventilation in the homes and the churches where the windows remained shut all year round during an epidemic of tuberculosis or consumption at a time that it was illegal for African Americans to walk in the public parks. Today, architects are thinking of retrofitting homes and offices to emphasize the free flow of natural air as one of the defense mechanisms against COVID-19 instead of relying on energy-efficient mechanical recirculation of air, though poor inner-city dwellers and care home residents may remain reluctant to open their windows due to air pollution outside from cars, noise pollution, and fear of burglary or fear of pollen dust or fear of cold air or fear of hot air, all year round. See Du Bois on the myth of African American excessive death:


Biko

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAMkN8arnpztyxVzn-fR3iGXa3UFWNuc8rFSNBj27N5dB5YJRFA%40mail.gmail.com.

Gloria Emeagwali

unread,
Apr 29, 2020, 12:40:07 PM4/29/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Biko,

Covid19  is in a different time zone from Du Bois.

 Inherited dietary deficiencies are not genetically and biologically based but as you know sociological in origins.
The last time I visited Johannesburg, I noticed in the hotels I stayed in, that many of the South African middle class elite were rushing to eat
sausages and bacon with abandon, foods with carcinogenic and obesity dangers.

So dietary deficiencies come from various sources, including relentless adverts and misinformation by marketing agencies, questionable role models, and in some cases, inherited patterns of consumption.


Thanks for your comments.

GE


Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 29, 2020, at 11:35 AM, 'Biko Agozino' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



Harrow, Kenneth

unread,
Apr 29, 2020, 4:53:36 PM4/29/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
i agree with gloria on most of her points.
the only areas i have knowledge and opinions about, that i know from living here in michigan, are detroit and suburbs, and of course mid michigan.
in detroit, there is no public transportation besides buses, and they are packed in. it isn't because of dense urban situations in detroit, but the opposite: an enormous space, where what was once a city of more than 2 million is now 700,000. detroit is 80% black, and gloria's descriptions account for much of the impact of the virus on local folk. i wouldn't say that most of the workers are health care workers, but people working minimal wage jobs or the like, and required to travel 30-60 minutes to get there.
perhaps an additional factor is a lifestyle where the government is relatively distant from people's lives.
where you have cities and poverty, in michigan, like flint, the outbreak is bad. we are in the rust belt, and even in lansing, it is the poor parts of town where the conditions gloria mentioned impact the people; could be black, hispanic, or poor whites, or refugees, of which we have many,
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.e...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 8:59 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Get Up! Stand Up. Prophet Bob Marley in Munich (corrected)
 

Biko Agozino

unread,
Apr 29, 2020, 4:53:41 PM4/29/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Du Bois wrote this in 1899:

One has but to visit 
a Seventh Ward church on Sunday night and see an audience of 1500 sit two and three hours in the foul atmosphere 
of a closely shut auditorium to realize that long formed 
habits of life explain much of Negro consumption and 
pneumonia ; again the Negroes live in unsanitary dwellings, partly by their own fault, partly on account of the 
difficulty of securing decent houses by reason of race 
prejudice. If one goes through the streets of the Seventh 
Ward and picks out those streets and houses which, on 
account of their poor condition, lack of repair, absence of 
conveniences and limited share of air and light, contain the 
worst dwellings, one finds that the great majority of such 
streets and houses are occupied by Negroes. In some 
cases it is the Negroes' fault that the houses are so bad ; 
but in very many cases landlords refuse to repair and refit 
for Negro tenants... The Philadelphia Negro, p. 160


Harrow, Kenneth

unread,
Apr 29, 2020, 4:55:03 PM4/29/20
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com
south african boerewors, biltong, braavlies,, braai, --grills, cookouts, meat meat meat, a society of people with money and lots of dead animals.
in the africa i know, west and central, meat was not the center of the meal, of any meal. vegetable, greens, some fish maybe, more chicken, all those yummy senegalese yassas and peanut stews.
well. grilled meat is not the healthiest way to eat
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 12:14 PM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Get Up! Stand Up. Prophet Bob Marley in Munich (corrected)
 
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages