Diversions and Distractions

Social and Broadcast Media prove effective distractions from our most compelling and proximate issues.  Unless vigilant, we are susceptible to modern ‘infotainment’ and its role in diverting us from matters of utmost importance to affairs having little to no impact in our daily lives.

Consider, while many have their attention on the Jussie Smollett case, the President Trumps tweets, keeping up with the Kardashians, rapper beefs, March Madness, the Mueller Report, racist yearbook photos or anything else trending on twitter, the following remains true:

•Black infants have the highest mortality rates with 10.8 deaths for every 1000 births.

•Pregnancy-related deaths for black women is 3 to 4 times high than those of white women, regardless of education or income status.

•Black men are six times likely to be incarcerated as white men and face sentencing disparities receiving terms 19% longer than those of similarly situated white men.

•Black girls are missing and news coverage is only 20% of reported stories despite being 33% of total missing children cases.

•Black college students are about as likely to get hired as whites who have dropped out of high school.

•White men with a criminal record are more likely to get an interview than Black men with no criminal record.

•Black students make up less than 16% of student population but represent 23% of school suspensions.

•Faces of five-year-old black boys put whites in a more threat-conscious state of mind which impacts teacher perception and management in kindergarten classrooms.

•Black Americans represent the majority of gun homicide victims and are 10 times more likely than white Americans to die by gun homicide.
•Blacks lead in unwed births at over 70%.

•65% of Black children are in single parent families.

•Nearly 44% of African American men and 48% of African American women have some form of cardiovascular disease that includes heart disease and stroke.

•Flint still has lead water pipes, and unsafe drinking water but households are still billed for the water they cannot use at some of the highest water rates in the country and the children affected by the lead poisoning have irreversible brain damage

Although being current on national and international events  has its place-let’s not take our eyes off the ball too long regarding these disturbing trends directly impacting our families and communities.

Prolonged distraction of this distressed reality is a hindrance on our ability to make advancements on these and other issues that truly deserve our energy and attention.

Listen to the Nurah Speaks Podcast episode on this issue here: https://soundcloud.com/nurahspeaks/ep-67-diversions-and-distractions.  Subscribe to Nurah Speaks on Spotify, ApplePodcast, SoundCloud, Stitcher, CastBox or wherever you stream great podcasts.

Visit these resources below to learn more:

https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_aa.htm
https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/flint-trust-lost-and-bottled-water-supplies-are-running-low

https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/107-children-in-single-parent-families-by#detailed/1/any/false/871,870,573,869,36,868,867,133,38,35/10,11,9,12,1,185,13/432,431

https://ifstudies.org/blog/trends-in-unmarried-childbearing-point-to-a-coming-apart
https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-america/

https://psmag.com/social-justice/racism-in-the-kindergarten-classroom

https://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-high-school-graduation-rates-by-race-ethnicity.html

https://www.naacp.org/fairchancehiring/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/06/27/white-high-school-drop-outs-are-as-likely-to-land-jobs-as-black-college-students/#4673188d7b8f

https://www.openinvest.co/blog/statistics-prison-america/

https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pregnancy-relatedmortality.htm

https://www.americashealthrankings.org/explore/health-of-women-and-children/measure/IMR_MCH/population/IMR-Black_MCH/state/ALL
https://www.afro.com/our-black-women-and-girls-have-gone-missing-but-few-seem-to-care/