Black Cardiologists Offer Free Video to Support Healthy Lifestyle Changes
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
The Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC) is distributing a free video that may pinpoint why several rappers and even African American preachers recently dropped dead.
Helping Black Girls Grow Up Safely
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
A commissioned report shows the threat of violence connects many young black girls with the four black girls in Birmingham who recently received a Congressional Medal for dying during a church bombing in Birmingham nearly 50 years ago.
Although young black girls often receive less attention these days than young black males, both live in ferocious environments. For example, this past March, an 8-year-old black girl was handcuffed and held by police for two hours after throwing temper tantrums at Love Joy Elementary in Alton, Ill.
Hazing: Old Traditions, New Rules - Part II
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
The tradition of hazing runs deep like the Appomattox River where two Virginia State University students drowned in recent initiation rites.
VSU freshmen Jauwan Holmes and Marvell Edmondson were two of seven students who drowned while crossing the swift, rain-swollen Appomattox River which is up to 60-feet deep in some places. Sonar technology helped dive crews locate the body of Edmonson, 19, Portsmouth, on April 23. The second body, Holmes, 19, Newport News was located at 11:15 a.m. on April 25, according to the public affairs office at VSU. At the site where the Civil War ended after General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses Grant on April 9, 1865, the tradition of hazing exposed its deep ugly side.
Director’s Vision of Impacting Health Care Becomes Reality
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
Barbara Willis walks through the Hampton Roads Community Health Center (HRCHC) and notices how the vision she had for community health a decade ago is finally catching up with reality.
Willis had worked in health care in Georgia before she moved from Georgia to Newport News and became the chief executive officer of HRCHC in 2003. The health care center has expanded from two to four sites since then. The center is one of six small businesses the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce to be recognized on May 23 at an awards luncheon at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.
PART I: Hazing: Old Traditions, New Rules
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
About 20 African-American students are waiting to appear in court on hazing charges in two states, but does the trend overshadow the positive impact black fraternities and sororities have had on communities since they were founded in the early 1900s?
NUL Report: Jobs still big divider between Blacks, Whites
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
The new National Urban League report shows many African Americans have made strides since the Civil Rights era began 50 years ago but the disparity gap may persist because blacks don’t help other blacks get jobs.
As the nation prepares to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Civil Rights era, recent research may explain why some disparities remain. Black education and homeownership rates have increased. But employment is still well, complicated.
TV, Prayer: Top Strategies Among Blacks for Coping
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
If you’re sitting in a room with 10 African Americans, chances are one person is probably dealing with a major depressive disorder.
But that’s the bad news. Only about 1 in 10 African Americans experience a major depressive disorder in a lifetime, according to the recent National Survey of American Life conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health. The good news is everybody else in the room, at least 90 percent, manage stress with coping strategies.
“I handle stress and anxiety by forcing myself to eat correctly and to get as much exercise as I can,” said Monty Ross, operations manager of the Attucks Theatre.
Part Four: Resilient But Changing Black Family
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
Kwame Kilpatrick was recently found guilty, whisked off to jail, and his wife Carlita Kilpatrick left the Detroit courtroom to enter a skyrocketing group E. Franklin Frazier traced back to slavery in his 1939 book.
The Black Family Series: Part 3 - Resilient But Changing Black Family
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
In Photojournalist James Thomas was not focusing on the 1965 Moynihan report but a book by Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man, when he aimed a camera at several black men in Smithfield.
The 10 men, who appear in the exhibit at the Blackwater Regional Library, lead largely isolated and alienated lives, a lifestyle Ellison focused on in his 1952 book. Later, Moynihan said this lifestyle was helping to breed more female-headed households in 1965. The Smithfield exhibit is titled, Still Invisible in Plain Sight. It features 10 black-and-white photos of men washing cars, cutting grass, and staring into the camera with wary expressions. It ends March 13.
FDR’s liberal politics won Blacks from party of Lincoln
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
The recent election of President Barack Obama and the effort that is underway to halt the surprise redistricting plan in Richmond both shine a light on a partnership African Americans formed in the Depression.
African Americans did not vote largely Democratic until the Depression. African Americans switched and voted for Franklin Roosevelt, partnering with Southern white Democrats, a group that was opposed to ending segregation and had once denied basic civil rights to blacks. But things have changed since the Depression. By 2050, whites will no longer be in the majority. The U.S. minority population, currently 30 percent, is expected to exceed 50 percent before 2050.