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This article published by NPR delves into the increasing number of the corrupt and race fueled attacks connected to the Memphis Police Department. Black men such as Tyre Nichols and Monterrious Harris have been victims of sudden assaults by police “task-forces” in which the “only real crime that [Harris] committed was that he was [...] Black” (Elliott). The article discusses the complete lack of foundation for these incidents of violence, most of which have been connected to racial stereotyping. Not only do these unacceptable situations demonstrate the racist actions prevalent in Memphis and America, but they also highlight the abuse of racial power that the police officers have been partaking in. The men used not only their racial privilege but also their power and status as police to drive their agendas.

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In this article, the family and friends of April Valentine rally together to bring awareness to the thousands of specifically black mothers killed during childbirth. After a harsh labor experience with little to no attentiveness from hospital staff, April suffered from a blood clot that ended her life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Black women in the U.S. are nearly three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than white women…implicit bias and differences in the quality of health care can play a role and found that more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S. were preventable.” While the hospital has not been charged with racially motivated specific crimes, this issue relates heavily to the racism and bias examples we have discussed in class. Of course, there should be no reason that race would relate to death during childbirth, but implicit discrimination exists within the healthcare system.

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Maternity ward to close as family calls for justice in death of Black mother

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Centinela Hospital Medical Center in California cites a declining demand for delivery services. But the move to close comes after a woman died while in labor.

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This article talks about how April Valentine, a 31 year old black mother, died during labor at Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, California. Her family filed a lawsuit claiming professional negligence against the hospital and filed a complaint that April’s death had to do with systemic racism. Because of the many protests that happened asking for justice for April Valentine, the maternity ward she gave birth in is now set to close. I suspect this article is trying to touch on Racism and White privilege because the article states that April Valentine's cause of death was ruled a blood clot that the hospital did not asses for and did not do anything about. This could mean that the hospital purposely neglected April because of her race.

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In India, people are broken into four caste systems to distinguish one group's "superiority" from another's "inferiority". Outside of these groups are the Indian Dalits, known as the lowest caste present in their country. Yet the stereotypes from India reach over into individuals' new lives in the United States-- many remark that they didn't predict being "discriminated against just on the basis of caste in a country like the U.S.” (Bishwakarma). From housing discrimination and inequalities at both work and social settings, Dalits in the U.S. face backlash not only from the dominant racial group, but from other South Asian immigrants as well, despite the fact that caste discrimination has been made illegal for over half a century in India. California plans to be the first state to ban caste-based judgements in these situations, yet those in power and even individuals ascribed to the same race disagree over whether or not this should happen.

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California Could Become the First State to Ban Caste Bias as Prejudices Linger

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The bill, which was passed by the State Legislature this week, has led to intense debate among South Asian immigrants.

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On Thursday, five retired British police officers confessed to posting offensive and racist messages on social media about Prince Harry's wife, the Duchess of Sussex, and others. These individuals were apprehended following a BBC investigation last year, which subsequently triggered an internal police inquiry.

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London - Five retired British police officers on Thursday admitted sending offensive and racist social media messages about Prince Harry's wife, the Duchess of Sussex, and others. The men, all in their 60s, were arrested after a BBC investigation last year sparked an internal police inquiry.

The charges say messages posted in a closed WhatsApp group referred to Harry and wife Meghan, as well as Prince William and his wife, Kate, and the late Queen Elizabeth II and her late husband, Prince Philip. Some also mentioned U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, former Home Secretary Priti Patel and former Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

Robert Lewis, Peter Booth, Anthony Elsom, Alan Hall and Trevor Lewton pleaded guilty at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court to sending by public communication grossly offensive racist messages. All are former members of London's Metropolitan Police department and spent time with the force's Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection branch, which guards politicians and diplomats.

The force said none of the suspects was a police officer when they sent the messages between 2020 and 2022, though the conversations have come to light months after a withering report found that "The Met," as the force is known, had lost the confidence of the people it serves because it is riven with institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia and doesn't do enough to weed out bad officers.

That report, based on a formal government inquiry, was commissioned after a young woman was raped and murdered by a serving officer in 2021.

The Metropolitan Police Service, which has more than 34,000 officers and is Britain's biggest force, must "change itself" or face being broken up after failing to address these longstanding problems for more than two decades, investigators said in the report published in March.

A sixth former officer, Michael Chadwell, denied one count of the same charge and is due to stand trial Nov. 6. The others are scheduled to be sentenced the same day.

The biracial American actress Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, King Charles III's second son, at Windsor Castle in 2018.

In early 2020, Harry and Meghan stepped away from royal duties and left the U.K., citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media.
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First published on September 8, 2023 / 10:53 AM

© 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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5 former London police officers admit sending racist messages about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, other royals

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None of the former officers was serving when they sent the grossly offensive racist messages via WhatsApp.

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In the article, a black high school student was suspended over his hair. The school claimed that it was due to the fact that male students weren't allowed to have hair extended below the eyebrows, ear lobs, the top of a t-shirt, or able to be styled in a way that does. Earlier that week, the CROWN Act was passed which was a law that prohibits "discrimination based of one's hair texture or protective style such as locs and braids" (CNN). However, the students mother believes the schools policy was violating the CROWN Act but she was told that limitations on hair length wasn't a violation since the law didn't apply it. The student was given 5 extra days of his ISS after he refused to cut his hair when the school told him too. He was threatened with being put into a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, or an alternative school, if he didn't cut his hair by the end of the week. In 2020, a different high school student was told he wouldn't be able to participate in his graduation if he didn't cut his locs. So he transferred to another school district instead of cutting his hair. At that time, they were told by the districts superintendent that the "policy was fully within the realms of the law" (CNN). 24 states have enacted the CROWN Act or versions of it, according to the Economic Policy Institute, with California being the first in 2019. So far, enacting a national CROWN Act has yet to be successful. This article relates to the topic "Racism and Power", as the school district used their power to discriminate against the student over his hair.

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Texas student suspended over his loc hairstyle days after state's Crown Act takes effect - CNN

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A Black Texas high school student has been suspended for more than a week because his loc hairstyle violated the district's dress code, his mother said. It could become a test of a new state law that bans discrimination based on hairstyles.

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Nathan Connolly and Shani Mott a family, soon planned to sell their home and renovated the place to get a higher appraised value. They hired a Maryland appraisal company to appraised their home, they believed it would be worth more than when they bought it due to many reasons but the final appraised amount was only $472,000. They believed this amount was given to them due to discrimination. A couple moths later they got a different company to appraised their home but this time got the help of Johns Hopkins a colleague of theirs to stand in for them. Additionally, they removed any proof of their race. Ultimately, the final appraised amount was $720,000 a 52% increase. They stated, “We were clearly aware of appraisal discrimination... But to be told in so many words that our presence and the life we’ve built in our home brings the property value down? It’s an absolute gut punch” (NYT).

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Home Appraised With a Black Owner: $472,000. With a White Owner: $750,000. (Published 2022)

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Nathan Connolly and his wife, Shani Mott, say an appraisal company undervalued their home based on their race. The couple has filed a lawsuit in Maryland.

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Link to response: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14MQqZiProkf83zdDk9RbHmJw4Z0XyHcPx660kRKQCl0/edit

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HOUSTON - Tonjanic Hill was overjoyed in 2017 when she learned she was 14 weeks pregnant. Despite a history of uterine fibroids, she never lost faith that she would someday have a child.

But, just five weeks after confirming her pregnancy, and the day after a gender-reveal party where she announced she was having a girl, she seemed unable to stop urinating. She didn't realize her amniotic fluid was leaking. Then came the excruciating pain.

"I ended up going to the emergency room," said Hill, now 35. "That's where I had the most traumatic, horrible experience ever."

An ultrasound showed she had lost 90% of her amniotic fluid. Yet, over the angry protestations of her nurse, Hill said, the attending doctor insisted Hill be discharged and see her own OB-GYN the next day. The doctor brushed off her concerns, she said. The next morning, her OB-GYN's office rushed her back to the hospital. But she lost her baby, Tabitha Winnie Denkins.

"This is a public health crisis as it relates to Black moms and babies that is completely preventable," said Barbie Robinson, who took over as executive director of Harris County Public Health in March 2021. "When you look at the breakdown demographically - who's disproportionately impacted by the lack of access - we have a situation where we can expect these horrible outcomes."

No known genetic reasons exist for Black infants to die at higher rates than white infants. Such deaths are often called "deaths of disparity" because they are likely attributable to systemic racial disparities. Regardless of economic status or educational attainment, the stress from experiencing persistent systemic racism leads to adverse health consequences for Black women and their babies, according to a study published in the journal Women's Health Issues.

These miscarriages and deaths can occur even in communities that otherwise appear to have vast health resources. In Harris County, for example, home to two public hospitals and the Texas Medical Center - the largest medical complex in the world, with more than 54 medical-related institutions and 21 hospitals - mortality rates were 11.1 per 1,000 births for Black infants from 2014 through 2019, according to the March of Dimes, compared with 4.7 for white infants.

The abundance of providers in Harris County hasn't reassured pregnant Black patients that they can find care that is timely, appropriate or culturally competent - care that acknowledges a person's heritage, beliefs and values during treatment.

In 2013, Houstonian Kay Matthews was running a successful catering business when she lost the daughter she'd named Troya eight months and three weeks into pregnancy.

Matthews hadn't felt well - she'd been sluggish and tired - for several days, but her doctor told her not to worry. Not long afterward, she woke up realizing something was terribly wrong. She passed out after calling 911. When she woke up, she was in the emergency room.

None of the medical staffers would talk to her, she said. She had no idea what was happening, no one was answering her questions, and she started having a panic attack.

"It kind of felt like I was watching myself lose everything," she recalled. She said the nurse seemed annoyed with her questions and demeanor and gave her a sedative. "When I woke up, I did not have a baby."

Matthews recalled one staffer insinuating that she and her partner couldn't afford to pay the bill, even though she was a financially stable business owner, and he had a well-paying job as a truck driver.

She said hospital staffers showed minimal compassion after she lost Troya. They seemed to dismiss her grief, she said. It was the first time she could remember feeling as if she was treated callously because she is Black.

"There was no respect at all, like zero respect or compassion," said Matthews, who has since founded the Shades of Blue Project, a Houston nonprofit focused on improving maternal mental health, primarily for Black patients.

To help combat these high mortality rates in Harris County, Robinson created a maternal child and health office and launched a home-visit pilot program to connect prenatal and postpartum patients with resources such as housing assistance, medical care and social services. Limited access to healthy food and recreational activities are barriers to healthy pregnancy outcomes. Studies have also shown a connection between evictions and infant mortality.

For Hill, not having insurance was also likely a factor. While pregnant, Hill said, she had had just a single visit at a community health center before her miscarriage. She was working multiple jobs as a college student and did not have employer-provided medical coverage. She was not yet approved for Medicaid, the state-federal program for people with low incomes or disabilities.

Without full coverage, those who are pregnant may avoid seeking care, meaning they skip being seen in the critical first trimester, said Fatimah Lalani, medical director at Houston's Hope Clinic.

Texas had the lowest percentage of mothers receiving early prenatal care in the nation in 2020, according to the state's 2021 Healthy Texas Mothers and Babies Databook, and non-Hispanic Black moms and babies were less likely to receive first-trimester care than other racial and ethnic groups. Babies born without prenatal care were three times as likely to have a low birth weight and five times as likely to die as those whose mothers had care.

If Hill's miscarriage reflects how the system failed her, the birth of her twins two years later demonstrates how appropriate support has the potential to change outcomes.

With Medicaid coverage from the beginning of her second pregnancy, Hill saw a high-risk pregnancy specialist. Diagnosed early with what's called an incompetent cervix, Hill was consistently seen, monitored and treated. She also was put on bed rest for her entire pregnancy.

She had an emergency cesarean section at 34 weeks, and both babies spent two weeks in neonatal intensive care. Today, her premature twins are 3 years old.

"I believe God - and the high-risk doctor - saved my twins," she said.
This article was produced by KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF. It has been published with permission.

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Black Pregnancy Dangers, Deaths Seen as a 'Completely Preventable' Health Crisis

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Black women are less likely than women from other racial groups to carry a pregnancy to term. But why?

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Jim Trotter, a former NFL reporter files against the NFL for reportedly firing him after he spoke out about the lack of diversity in the management of teams, along with reporters and the media team.

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N.F.L. Reporter Files Racial Discrimination Claim Against the League After Dismissal

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Jim Trotter said his contract with the NFL Network was not renewed after he challenged Commissioner Roger Goodell and other executives on pro football’s commitment to diversity.