Cancer deaths among African Americans drop

Cancer death rates have steadily declined among Black people but remain higher than in other racial and ethnic groups, a new U.S. government study shows.

Cancer deaths have been dropping for all Americans for the past two decades because of lower smoking rates and advances in early detection and treatment.

The rates among Black people fell 2% each year from 1999 to 2019, from 359 cancer deaths per 100,000 to 239 deaths per 100,000, according to the report published online in JAMA Oncology.

In 2019, the highest cancer death rates were in Black men — 294 deaths per 100,000 — almost double the lowest rate in Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. The rate for white men was 249 deaths per 100,000. For Hispanic men, it was 177 deaths per 100,000 and 255 deaths per 100,000 among Native American men.

An earlier report from the American Cancer Society found the racial gap was narrowing, mostly because of a bigger decline in cigarette smoking among Black people.

In the new study, based on an analysis of death certificates, deaths from most cancers dropped in Black men and women. The biggest declines were in lung cancer among Black men and stomach cancer in Black women. Both are linked with declines in smoking, which contributes to many other cancers.

The persistently higher death rate among Black Americans remains a concern, and likely reflects social and economic disparities including poverty, less access to care and mistrust of doctors, said National Cancer Institute researcher Wayne Lawrence, who led the study.

“It’s showing that we can’t simply rely on medical care as a way to address and eliminate the disparities,’’ said Carla Williams, a Howard University expert in cancer-related health disparities, who had no role in the research.

Cancer prevention expert Dr. Otis Brawley of Johns Hopkins University noted that other data show Black Americans get worse cancer care than white people. That’s in part because they’re more likely to be treated at hospitals with overworked doctors and fewer resources, and less likely to have a college degree, he said.

New biography: His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice

His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice is a new book by authors Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa.

The book is a landmark biography by two prizewinning Washington Post reporters that reveals how systemic racism shaped George Floyd's life and legacy—from his family’s roots in the tobacco fields of North Carolina, to ongoing inequality in housing, education, health care, criminal justice, and policing—telling the story of how one man’s tragic experience brought about a global movement for change.

His Name Is George Floyd tells the story of a beloved figure from Houston's housing projects as he faced the stifling systemic pressures that come with being a Black man in America. Placing his narrative within the context of the country's enduring legacy of institutional racism, this deeply reported account examines Floyd's family roots in slavery and sharecropping, the segregation of his schools, the overpolicing of his community amid a wave of mass incarceration, and the callous disregard toward his struggle with addiction—putting today's inequality into uniquely human terms. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews with Floyd's closest friends and family, his elementary school teachers and varsity coaches, civil rights icons, and those in the highest seats of political power, Washington Post reporters Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa offer a poignant and moving exploration of George Floyd’s America, revealing how a man who simply wanted to breathe ended up touching the world.

BUY THE BOOK

General Lee Avenue in Fort Hamilton renamed for Black Vietnam War hero

BROOKLYN NY - After years of controversy, Fort Hamilton has removed the name of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from an avenue on the Brooklyn Army base, replacing it with that of Lt. John Warren Jr, a Black Vietnam War hero from Crown Heights.

While serving as a platoon leader in Vietnam, the 23-year-old shielded his fellow soldiers from an enemy grenade. Warren later died in the war.

He received the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously.

Summer Lee wins Pennsylvania Democratic primary

Summer Lee has won a five-way Democratic primary for a Pittsburgh-based U.S. House seat, making her the favorite in the heavily Democratic district to win the fall general election and become the first Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania.

After Tuesday, Lee led by less than half a percentage point. But there were still in-person ballots to be counted, as 26 precincts within the district didn’t return their memory sticks properly.

On Friday, those precincts were counted and they increased Lee’s lead up to 740 votes, according to unofficial results. Lee leads with 41.8% of the vote, and Irwin is behind her with 41.1% of the vote.

The Associated Press called the race Friday evening.

“We built a movement in Western Pennsylvania that took on corporate power, stood up for working families, and beat back a multimillion-dollar smear campaign,” Lee said in a statement.

Lee, a second-term state House member, lawyer and former labor organizer, comes from the party's progressive wing. She was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two-time presidential candidate and a leading voice in the Democratic Party’s left wing who came to campaign for Lee.

Lee will face the Republican nominee of the same name as the outgoing Democratic incumbent, Mike Doyle in the fall general election.

CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS ISSUES STATEMENT ON STUDENT LOAN DEBT CRISIS

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty and members of the Congressional Black Caucus issued the following statement on the call for student loan debt cancellation:

"The $1.7 trillion student loan debt crisis is a racial and economic justice issue disproportionately impacting Black communities across the nation. We are calling on the Biden Administration to implement broad-based student loan debt cancellation by executive action. We are committed to working with the Administration to explore all options and we are requesting to meet with the President,” said Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty. “This is a crisis created through policy decisions, and we have a responsibility to address it head-on. Canceling student loan debt is one of the most impactful ways to address ongoing economic and racial inequities plaguing our nation. As representatives of more than 17 million Black Americans and 80 million Americans, the urgency of this moment requires we move with intention. In order to reduce the racial wealth gap and advance a just and equitable economic recovery for all, we must alleviate the burden of student debt. Nothing is off the table, except inaction.”