Tuskegee University develops new breast cancer test

A team led by Tuskegee University researchers have developed a new way to detect the most aggressive and fatal form of breast cancer.

The university and researchers hope the new method may hold the potential for earlier detection and more informed treatment decisions.

The breakthrough was detailed in an article in PLOS ONE,a publication tied to the Public Library of Science. The article, “AR Negative Triple Negative or ‘Quadruple Negative’ Breast Cancers in African-American Women Have an Enriched Basal and Immune Signature,” shows researchers have developed a fourth testing marker to complement the other three biomarker-based methods.

Dr. Clayton Yates, a professor of biology and director of Tuskegee University’s multidisciplinary Center for Biomedical Research, published the team's findings. Support for the research come through the National Cancer Institute’s Comprehensive Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity program, otherwise known as the U54 program.

“Scientifically speaking, our research suggests that the expression of the androgen receptor (the receptor for testosterone), should be added to the current set of prognostic markers — estrogen, progesterone and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 — used to test for classify and determine the aggressiveness of breast cancer,” Yates said.

“As with any fight, you have to know your enemy. Imagine going into battle not knowing if you needed a BB gun, a shotgun, or a bazooka,” Yates said. “With this additional testing option, physicians will be able to better define the enemy and develop a more precise treatment plan. This, in turn, promises to be more effective for the patient — not to mention safer and less expensive — in the long run.”

Breast cancer currently is the second-most common cancer among females. The new testing method shows significant promise for detecting the most aggressive types of breast cancer, especially among black women. Black women are more likely than white women to be diagnosed at later stages in life and are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer after initial diagnosis.

Read more: Tuskegee University develops new breast cancer test

Twin valedictorians headline New Jersey high school graduation

At a remarkable high school graduation in New Jersey Thursday, there was not one, but two valedictorians on stage.

By coincidence, the Woodbridge High School graduates will be going to the same university this fall. Perhaps not by coincidence, they happen to be twin brothers.

School named for confederate general renamed for Barack Obama

A Virginia elementary school named for a Confederate general will now carry the name of America’s first black president Barack Obama!

The moniker of a Confederate general will be stripped from a Richmond elementary school and replaced with the name of the nation’s first African American president, the latest example of a Southern city seeking to address vestiges of segregation.

Richmond’s school board voted 6 to 1 Monday night to rename J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School after President Barack Obama. The change was recommended by school district Superintendent Jason Kamras before earning the board’s endorsement, schools spokeswoman Kenita Bowers said.

Kamras saw the renaming as an opportunity to honor a “prominent African American figure” who resonated with students, Bowers said, noting that the name is especially powerful given Richmond’s history: It was the capital of the Confederacy.

“I’m thrilled that the students of J.E.B. Stuart — who recommended Barack Obama as one of their top choices for the new name — will now have the opportunity to attend a school that honors a leader who represents the great promise of America,” Kamras said in a statement.

[SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST]

NJ Governor Phil Murphy and Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver recognize Juneteenth

About two days ago I reached out to the office my governor, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to ask whether the governor intended to recognize Juneteenth with a brief statement. You can imagine my surprise when today I received a proclamation recognizing Juneteenth from Governor Murphy's office signed by not only Murphy but by Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver also. Thank you Governor Murphy! George L. Cook III African American Reports.Read the proclamation below:

Patrice Harris to serve as next American Medical Association President

The American Medical Association House of Delegates elected Patrice A. Harris, MD, a psychiatrist from Atlanta, as its president-elect at the AMA Annual Meeting in Chicago. She is the first black woman to win the office, and when she assumes the post of AMA president in June 2019, Dr. Harris also will be the Association’s first African-American female to hold that office.

“It will be my honor to represent the nation’s physicians at the forefront of discussions when policymaker and lawmakers search for practical solutions to the challenges in our nation’s health system. I am committed to preserving the central role of the physician-patient relationship in our healing art,” said Dr. Harris.

“The American Medical Association has well-crafted policy concerning the changing health care environment in this country and I look forward to using my voice to help improve health care for patients and their physicians,” she added.

First elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 2011, Dr. Harris has held the executive offices of AMA board secretary and AMA board chair. Dr. Harris will continue to serve as chair of the AMA Opioid Task Force, and has been active on several other AMA task forces and committees on health information technology, payment and delivery reform, and private contracting. She has also chaired the influential AMA Council on Legislation and co-chaired the Women Physicians Congress.

Dr. Harris continues in private practice and consults with both public and private organizations on health service delivery and emerging trends in practice and health policy. She is an adjunct assistant professor in the Emory Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Kamala Harris calls on Homeland Secretary Nielsen to resign over family separation policy

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Monday called on Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to resign over the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy that separates families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Read Sen. Harris' statement below:

"The government should be in the business of keeping families together, not tearing them apart," Harris sad in statement. "And the government should have a commitment to transparency and accountability. Under Secretary Nielsen's tenure, the Department of Homeland Security has a track record of neither. As a result, she must resign."

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman Statement on Shooting at Trenton Art All Night

Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) released the following statement on the shooting at the Art All Night festival in Trenton early this morning:

“I am saddened and angered at the violence that took place at Art All Night early this morning, and I am praying for all of the families involved, but, as I’ve said before, that’s not enough. After every shooting, we talk about motive, mental illness and every other distraction from the real problem — guns.

“New Jersey has some of the strongest gun safety legislation in the country. That should make it very clear that this is a problem we can only solve at the national level, with Congress leading the way. Despite all of our state’s efforts, New Jersey is not an island — we can’t make our neighborhoods safe as long as guns can come in across a bridge or state line, from Pennsylvania or North Carolina. There has to be federal action.

“So many times since being elected to Congress, I’ve begged people to take this seriously. As it comes home to my own district, I’m heartbroken knowing we could make it harder to access these weapons. Dozens of the congressmen and women I work with every day have gotten the call I got this morning alerting them to a shooting in their district. For anyone that hasn’t, I’m asking to work with you now, before it happens to you. There are bills ready for consideration right now. We just need to be brave enough to call for votes.”

What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America

Check out Michael Eric Dyson's latest book on race in America,What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin, and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America . A book about which Harry Belafonte says:

“Dyson has finally written the book I always wanted to read. I had the privilege of attending the meeting he has insightfully written about, and it’s as if he were a fly on the wall...a tour de force...a poetically written work that calls on all of us to get back in that room and to resolve the racial crises we confronted more than fifty years ago.”

In 2015 BLM activist Julius Jones confronted Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with an urgent query: “What in your heart has changed that’s going to change the direction of this country?” “I don’t believe you just change hearts,” she protested. “I believe you change laws.”

The fraught conflict between conscience and politics – between morality and power – in addressing race hardly began with Clinton. An electrifying and traumatic encounter in the sixties crystallized these furious disputes.

In 1963 Attorney General Robert Kennedy sought out James Baldwin to explain the rage that threatened to engulf black America. Baldwin brought along some friends, including playwright Lorraine Hansberry, psychologist Kenneth Clark, and a valiant activist, Jerome Smith. It was Smith’s relentless, unfiltered fury that set Kennedy on his heels, reducing him to sullen silence.

Kennedy walked away from the nearly three-hour meeting angry – that the black folk assembled didn’t understand politics, and that they weren’t as easy to talk to as Martin Luther King. But especially that they were more interested in witness than policy. But Kennedy’s anger quickly gave way to empathy, especially for Smith. “I guess if I were in his shoes…I might feel differently about this country.” Kennedy set about changing policy – the meeting having transformed his thinking in fundamental ways.

There was more: every big argument about race that persists to this day got a hearing in that room. Smith declaring that he’d never fight for his country given its racist tendencies, and Kennedy being appalled at such lack of patriotism, tracks the disdain for black dissent in our own time. His belief that black folk were ungrateful for the Kennedys’ efforts to make things better shows up in our day as the charge that black folk wallow in the politics of ingratitude and victimhood. The contributions of black queer folk to racial progress still cause a stir. BLM has been accused of harboring a covert queer agenda. The immigrant experience, like that of Kennedy – versus the racial experience of Baldwin – is a cudgel to excoriate black folk for lacking hustle and ingenuity. The questioning of whether folk who are interracially partnered can authentically communicate black interests persists. And we grapple still with the responsibility of black intellectuals and artists to bring about social change.

What Truth Sounds Like exists at the tense intersection of the conflict between politics and prophecy – of whether we embrace political resolution or moral redemption to fix our fractured racial landscape. The future of race and democracy hang in the balance.

CHECKOUT THE BOOK AT AMAZON

Hardcover------ Kindle

NBA star Taj Gibson takes students on a shopping spree

NBA star Taj Gibson and Brooklyn NY native shad a surprise fifth graders from his former elementary school, P.S. 67. The 6-foot-9 power forward, who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves took the students on shopping spree so that they could buy new outfits for graduation. Big shout out to Taj for not forgetting where he comes from and for more importantly giving back!

Democrat Vangie Williams is running for Congress

Vangie Williams prevailed Tuesday night in the Democratic primary election for the Virginia 1st Congressional District, which includes Stafford, Fredericksburg, portions of Spotsylvania, the Northern Neck and on to Hampton Roads.

Williams went up against Prince William County’s John Suddarth and Stafford County’s Edwin Santana Jr., in the race. Williams prevailed by 11,001 total votes (39.91 percent), with Santana pulling in 9,020 votes (32.72 percent) and Suddarth walking away with 7,546 votes (27.37 percent), according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections.

If Williams makes her way to Congress, she will be the first black woman to represent Virginia in the House of Representatives.

In November, Williams will face incumbent Republican Rob Wittman, R-1st, who was unopposed in a Republican bid for the seat. The election will take place Nov. 6. [SOURCE: INSIDENOVA

Click here to see where vangie Williams stands on the issues: https://vangieforcongress.com/issues/

London Breed is the next mayor of San Francisco!

London Breed became the first African-American woman elected to lead San Francisco on Wednesday, when her opponent conceded a tight race.

Breed will serve until 2020, finishing the term of the late Mayor Ed Lee, who died in December at age 65.

At a short news conference, Breed praised Lee and thanked her supporters, as well as the other candidates, including Mark Leno, a former state senator who conceded the race hours earlier. She struck an optimistic tone about the city's future.

"I am London Breed, I am president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and soon to be mayor of the city and county of San Francisco," she said to cheers.

Breed said: "I am so hopeful about the future of our city, and I am looking forward to serving as your mayor. I am truly humbled and I am truly honored."

[SOURCE: CNN]

4 missing women / girls, all from same Chicago neighborhood

Since March, at least four women and girls have gone missing on the West Side of Chicago. Those missing are Sadaria Davis, 15; Shantieya Smith, 26; Victoria Garrett, 15; and Anna Stanislawczyk, 18. Sadaria was found dead in an abandoned building May 11. The other three are still missing.

While residents believe that the cases may be linked the Chicago Police Department has not determined the cases are related. Detectives continue to investigate.

Here is more information about the three remaining missing woman/girls:

Shantieya Smith, 26, was last seen May 25 in the 1600 block of South Central Avenue. Smith is described as a 5-foot-8 black woman weighing 115 pounds with black hair with red tips. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Area Central Special Victims Unit (312) 747-8380.

Victoria Garrett, 15, was last seen June 5 in the 4000 block of West Grenshaw Street. Garrett is described as a 5-foot-4, 160-pound black girl with brown eyes, black hair and a dark complexion. Anyone with information about Garrett’s whereabouts should call Area North SVU at (312) 744-8266.

Anna Stanislawczyk, 18, was last seen March 16 in the 3600 block of West Filmore Street.Stanislawczyk was described as a 5-foot-7 white woman, weighing 100 pounds with red hair and brown eyes, police said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Area North SVU detectives (312) 744-8266.

Anyone with information about Sadaria Davis' death is asked to call detectives at (312) 744-8266.

U.S. charges Arizona man with threatening Harvard's black commencement

An Arizona man who made racially-charged online threats to shoot students attending Harvard's first black commencement ceremony last year and to bomb the university has been arrested, federal authorities said on Saturday.

A federal grand jury in Boston indicted Nicholas Zuckerman, 24, on two counts of "transmitting in interstate and foreign commerce a threat to injure the person of another." Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Zuckerman was arrested on Friday and will be brought to U.S. District Court in Boston. A federal court in Arizona will appoint a lawyer for him on Monday, federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said. They did not say where Zuckerman was being held or if he had any connection to Harvard.

After Harvard announced it would hold a special commencement ceremony on May 23, 2017, to celebrate the accomplishments of black students graduating from the university, Zuckerman made two threatening posts on the university's Instagram account, the indictment said.

In his first posting, the indictment alleged, Zuckerman commented on May 11 under an image of three young black women: "If the blacks only ceremony happens, then I encourage violence and death at it. I'm thinking two automatics with extendo clips." He also used a racial epithet.

He followed two days later with a comment under an American flag he had posted on the university's account saying, "#bombharvard and end their pro-black agenda," the indictment said.

Organizers of last year's black commencement said it was open to all graduating students, as was Harvard's official commencement, which was held two days later. The university held its second black commencement last month on May 22.

[SOURCE: YAHOO NEWS]

4 things Trump's offer to NFL players to pardon people wont change

By George L. Cook III African American Reports EMAIL: George Cook

With the backdrop of the positive response to his pardon of Alice Johnson and the National Anthem controversy in which National Football League players are protesting police brutality and racism, President Trump in his tone-deaf way has made an offer to black athletes in the NFL to submit cases of possible injustice so he can evaluate them for potential pardons.

"I’m going to ask all of those people to recommend to me -- because that’s what they’re protesting -- people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system,” Trump told reporters Friday before departing the for the G-7 summit in Canada, adding that they shouldn’t remain in the locker room while the national anthem is played before games.

"If I find, and my committee finds, that they’re unfairly treated, then we will pardon them, or at least let them out," the president said.

While Trump's offer to pardon those in federal prison may help dozens it does nothing to help thousands who suffer at the hands of the justice system and abusive policing. Trump is hoping that African Americans somehow fall for this PR stunt and see this as a move that benefits them a whole when it doesn't.

Here are four things his offer to pardon people won't address:

Police committing acts of brutality and shooting unarmed black men. Until there are tougher consequences at the Federal level for bad police officers who violate the HUMAN rights of American citizens these abuses will continue.

Criminal justice reform addressing disparate sentences for African Americans as compared to white Americans for committing the same crimes.

Bail reform, thousands sit in jail not because they have been found guilty of a crime but because they can't make bail.

Environmental issues that affect black communities that lead to learning and behavioral problems that can make a child more likely to end up in the criminal justice system.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, these are things that immediately sprung to mind upon hearing of Trump's offer to NFL players.

This is just another example of Trump pointing to the bright shiny object hoping that we all ignore the grim reality that needs to be addressed. Pay attention people and don't let this con-man get with pulling yet another PR stunt that doesn't benefit African Americans as a whole.

So, in light of Trump's misguided offer to pardon boxing legend Muhammad Ali whose conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1971 I would like to close by warning us all not to fall for the okey-doke.

George L. Cook III African American Reports

Oprah Winfrey gets exhibit in National Museum of African American History and Culture

“Watching Oprah: The Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture,” opens June 8 at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and continues through June 2019. The exhibition will use the story of Winfrey and her 25-year daytime talk show as a lens to explore contemporary American history and culture, especially issues of power, gender and the media. It will feature video clips on a range of subjects, interactive interviews with Winfrey, costumes from her films Beloved and The Color Purple and artifacts from Harpo Studios in Chicago, home of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

“This exhibition examines the power of television,” said Lonnie G. Bunch III, the museum’s founding director. “Just as Oprah Winfrey watched TV coverage of the civil rights movement and was shaped by the era in which she was born and raised, she has gone on to have a profound effect on how Americans view themselves and each other in the tumultuous decades that followed. She has a place in the museum with a long line of women who did extraordinary things in their time—Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Maya Angelou—women who worked to redeem the soul of America.”

Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, won seven Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Talk Show Host, received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award and is the nation’s first self-made African American female billionaire. This new Smithsonian exhibition probes the way in which America shaped Winfrey and how Winfrey’s work has shaped America.

The exhibition is in three sections: America Shapes Oprah, 1950s–1980s, The Oprah Winfrey Show and Oprah Shapes America. Museum curators Rhea L. Combs and Kathleen Kendrick put Winfrey’s story into context for visitors: “During her 25 years on broadcast television, her remarkable ability to connect in a familiar way with diverse audiences was crucial to her success. Many of the values she espoused on her show—including empowerment, education, spirituality and philanthropy—were rooted in her African American identity and upbringing.”

In the first section, America Shapes Oprah, key events in Winfrey’s life are considered in relationship to the broader political, social and cultural changes happening in the country. Artifacts include items from Winfrey’s childhood when she was deeply affected by the working women in her life, as well as artists, authors and activists whose works gave voice to the experiences of African American women. Among the highlights: the high school diploma earned by Carlotta Walls, one of the “Little Rock Nine” who integrated Central High School in Arkansas in 1957; a pennant carried by Edith Lee Payne, a 12-year-old girl from Detroit, at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom; images of women activists, including Pauli Murray, an attorney and Episcopal priest who helped organize the March on Washington, and Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm; and works by artist Elizabeth Catlett.

The exhibition also examines the evolution of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which dominated daytime TV from 1986 through 2011. Watched by millions in 145 countries, the show won 48 Daytime Emmy Awards, and featured a wide range of celebrities and challenging, rarely discussed topics such as beauty, relationships, sexual abuse and current affairs. Winfrey herself received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998.

The exhibition comes full circle with a section titled Oprah Shapes America. It explores Winfrey’s global influence that extends far beyond the world of TV, journalism and entertainment. The phenomenon of “The Oprah Effect”—Winfrey’s ability to shape public opinion and change people’s lives—has long been a subject of fascination and debate; it has raised important questions about the relationship between race, gender and power and about whose voices deserve to be heard and whose perspectives and experiences matter.

“Watching Oprah” is located in the museum’s Special Exhibitions gallery, a 4,300-square-foot exhibition space located on the concourse level near the elevator that takes visitors to the first level of the History Galleries. The exhibition is supported by MGM Resorts International, Target, Bank of America, and FedEx Corporation. The public can join the online conversation using #WatchingOprah and explore the exhibition online at www.nmaahc.si.edu/watchingoprah.

Help this legendary black radio host get into the radio Hall of Fame

Trump Treasury won't commit to putting Harriet Tubman on $20 bill

The Trump administration hasn't commited to an Obama-era pledge to put abolitionist and civil rights hero Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, according to a statement from a Senate Democrat.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) told The New York Times that the Treasury Department responded to her letter -- which was questioning the status of the change originally announced by the Obama administration in April 2016 -- by claiming that no designs for the $20 bill or plans to include Tubman's image had been finalized.

“The redesign of the next currency series is still in the early stages, and neither the final designs nor all features have been finalized for the new notes,” Treasury Department assistant secretary Drew Maloney wrote to Shaheen.

“For this reason, the department is unable to provide additional information regarding the potential designs at this time.”

Shaheen blasted the response, which she called "severely" disappointing and knocked the Trump administration for not following through with the promise to honor the civil rights legend.

“I am severely disappointed by the Trump administration’s failure to prioritize the redesign of the $20 bill to honor Harriet Tubman, and other trailblazing women and civil rights leaders,” Shaheen said in a statement to the Times. “Now that plan has been shelved without notice or reason.”

“I’ll continue to press the Treasury Department to expedite the redesign of the $20 bill and keep its promise to the American people,” she said.

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Eagles' Malcolm Jenkins responds to Donald Trump’s cancellation of team's White House visit

Social Activist and Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins released a statement on Tuesday after President Donald Trump threw a tantrum and made the childish decision to cancel the Eagles’ White House invitation after finding out that most of the players were not coming. Read his statement below:

#TheFightContinues pic.twitter.com/QWDdvZgQNL

— Malcolm Jenkins (@MalcolmJenkins) June 5, 2018

Bill Clinton: Media Was Friendlier To Obama Because he was African-American

I don't know if Bill Clinton meant any harm or not but these recent comments are reminiscent of his comments in 2008 after Barack Obama won the South Carolina Democratic Primary that rubbed many African Americans the wrong way.

During an interview on CBS This Morning about a new book (The President is Missing) that he co-authored former President Bill Clinton discussed the media's treatment of Pres. Trump as compared to that of former President Obama. Clinton said he believed that President Barack Obama received much more positive media coverage than did other presidents due to his race.

Asked about the difference in press coverage between President Obama and President Trump, Clinton agreed that there was a difference.

“They did treat him [Obama] differently than other Democrats and Republicans,” Mr. Clinton said during the interview “It was the political press.”

Why? “I don’t know. They liked him. And they liked having the first African-American president, and he was a good president I think,” Mr. Clinton said. “I don’t agree with President Trump’s assessment of his service.

Should Joy Reid be punished for insensitive blog post by MSNBC

By George L. Cook III African American Reports

MSNBC is standing by Joy Reid in the wake of new revelations about even more incendiary old blog posts. Reid's old blog post, some of which date back to 2005 include homophobic slurs and 9/11 conspiracy theories about the federal government.

This probably wouldn't be much of a story now if Reid had not lied about her account being hacked, just owned up to the post, and told us all that she is not that person anymore. I believe myself and many would have given her the benefit of the doubt and forgiven her.

Now I don't think that she should lose her job, but there are those that believe that Reid should be punished for those older post and going so far as to say that she should lose her job at MSNBC.

What do you think?