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Olympian John Carlos Stays His Course

David Mark Greaves
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Olympian John Carlos Stays His Course

In 1968 Olympians Tommy Smith and John Carlos took their belief in Black Power and understanding of oppression, to the winner’s podium of the 400 meters race, and raised their fists in an image that is burned in history.
In the 52 years since, Carlos has maintained his vision of African Americans realizing their destiny is in their own hands.

Note:
This interview was done before the Philadelphia expo was cancelled.

David Mark Greaves: I was in college in ‘68, when you and Tommy Smith were up there on that podium. I was on a track team and that was so amazing! Even now it’s amazing. What do you feel now when you look back at that time and see that picture? What kind of emotions do you get from it?

John Carlos: I don’t feel any emotion. I feel it’s a part of me. It’s part of my spirit, my flesh. There’s no real emotion there other than the fact that I look back over the 50 years and I’ve seen so many people change their minds that were fearful of making a statement as an individual in this race called the human race. Not merely for the sake of color – but for the sake of right versus wrong, simple as that. And [people] had various theories. They say I’m willing to sacrifice the material they give to make a statement, because it’s far beyond making medals and trophies they give you.

OTP:Now…

JC:So to see that over the years, I’m gratified to see so many people come up and acknowledge to themselves that, ‘Maybe I could have contributed a little more.’

OTP:What do you mean?

JC:Their standards… to bring individuals together to make a statement against oppression.

OTP:Oh, I see.

JC:Racism.

OTP:What did you think of Colin Kaepernick and his actions?

JC:I think it was a great thing. I think he had tremendous courage to get out there and do it. The only thought I have on him is that I don’t see the consistency. You come out on a platform and somebody is a victim of homicide and brutality and so forth, and perpetrators against Blacks and people of color, and then it goes flat.

I told Mr. Kaepernick when I met him that he jumped into the pool of the movement. ‘This is not in the moment. This is in the movement that you’re in now.’ In the moment is where we step up and make a statement, and that’s the end of it. In the movement is when you make a statement that you perpetuate that for the rest of your time. Until you see some concrete change.

OTP:Going forward, what kind of other changes do you see that are needed in the sports world – which, of course, is interconnected with everything else.

JC:I think we need to not focus on the sports world; in my sense right now man, the focus is on Black people. Half the Black people run away from the history of racism and other atrocities we had to endure, and now focus on self. What is wrong with us? Why everyone can come, when I see other ethnic groups join together and do something successfully, and in over 500 years we still can’t do it?

So, we need to come down and sit at the table and maybe have a discussion about how the conservative Blacks don’t hang out with the militant Blacks in terms of having dialogue at a table. How come the Black Catholics don’t get down with the black Baptists at the table and sit down and make them realize that it meant we won. You know, we might have all our own views and differences, but we can agree if we disagree on something. The main purpose is to solve the equation. What are we doing, or the lack of doing?

OTP:What can we do? Can we look into ourselves and make changes? Is that what you’re suggesting?

JC:Absolutely. It’s time for us to start looking at ourselves and coming together as one, and I’m saying all facets. We have to get the young, the youth at the table. We need to get the old to the table. We need to get business people at the table, we need to get educators to the table. And I’m talking about Black-orientated people.

OTP:Yes.

JC:And let’s start dissecting the issues that we have confronting us every day and roll our sleeves up and get busy trying to stop the equation.

OTP:Now, talk about bringing folks together. The internet seems to in some ways drive folks apart, whereby everyone just looks at the information the way they see it. How do we transcend that and bring people together, as you say?

JC:You know, let me break that down. Those are the tools that he uses. The tools that he uses. The difference is, [with] a tool like that, a warped mind is not going to use that tool to enhance life. He’s going to use that tool to spew out a whole bunch of nonsense.

It’s going to reach the masses. You know as a race of people, we’re very confused already.

We don’t know who our leaders are. We seem to think that because an individual has crossed the path into success economically, that they should be our leader. I can’t look up to someone because they’re a billionaire and say, ‘Well, I’m going to follow them because they let them get through the hole and be a billionaire.’ Obviously, somebody laid down, somebody bled somewhere, in order for you to get to that point.

OTP:What are the qualities of leadership? What do you look for in a leader?

JC:What I look for in a leader is a guy that has a current mind in terms of what it is here [that] he is confronted with in the paradigm. And how steady can he be? Then on the opposite, I see the odds and the evens – but at the same time, So now you build me a team trying to deal with all of the perspectives. Now, there are individuals out there, but how many individuals out there had a mass of people around them to work anything? That’s why I said there has to be inclusion, everybody at that table.

OTP:Yes.

JC:There’s not a situation where I have a vision about what Black people should be doing. Everybody has a vision. Let’s hear what everyone’s visions is and see how far we are away from one another. Now we understand where we are. Now let’s move forward and try and create something. We’ve always been able to create chicken salad out of chicken shit.

OTP:Well, you say first we have to find out who we are and then we can determine what we’re… where we want to, and where we can go, and what we can do.

JC:That’s right. Who are we supposed to be. And how we are really supposed to be. If you look at our history, you looked at your history – the more history we learned about ourselves, the more genius that you find in our race. The more stress endurance you find in our race. The more love you find in our race. And if anything, of the ones I just mentioned, the one that’s chipped away most is love. They have wiped that word away amongst Black people. They don’t even want us to think about love, or to have love for one another.

Census in the time of COVID

Marlon Rice
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Census in the time of COVID

I still get my training runs in. Every other day I put my running clothes on, don a face sheath and gloves, and go out into the world to do a run. Tuesday’s run was 7 miles. Running down DeKalb Avenue, as I approached the end of Fort Greene Park I saw a line of people. Jogging further I realized that this line of more than two dozen led into a tent in the emergency parking area of Brooklyn Hospital. I’d read about this tent on Facebook. It’s a COVID-19 pre-screening tent. There must have been at least 25 people on that line. I kept going, trying again to focus on the run, but shaken by the reality of this new normal.
Gloves and face mask off. Throw them into the garbage outside. Come inside and disrobe immediately. Go right into the shower and vigorously wash my face, beard, hands and body. Put on some clean clothes. Wipe my phone off to clean it, and then wash my hands again assuming that the phone was contaminated when I touched it. This is the new normal, days spent on Zoom conferencing, trying to balance work and home in a time when work is home. I haven’t seen my children in the physical sense in almost two weeks. They are holed up with their mother at their home, tucked safely away while we try to sweep this mess of Covid into a manageable pile. We are under quarantine.
That run past Brooklyn Hospital Tuesday, and seeing people actually waiting on a line outside of the hospital reminded me of something. In 2010, Kings County was the lowest-counted county in America. People didn’t take the Census seriously. Could’ve been a lack of knowledge about the importance of the Census, or it could’ve simply been apathy. Either way, Brooklyn did not report its true numbers.
The Census is a procedure to record information about members of a population. The US Census takes place every ten years, and the findings of the Census determine the allocation of federal funding to communities. Those funds provide important infrastructure to communities – roads, schools, hospitals. If you’ve been a resident of Brooklyn for the last ten years, then you remember the protests and speeches made by community activists and elected officials over the last decade to save some of our hospitals from closing. Long Island College and Interfaith are two hospitals that come to mind immediately as having to be saved from closure over the last decade due to budget cuts. Part of the reason for those cuts? Low census reporting.
Census information also holds another important role. It is used to inform healthcare providers about communities. If a pandemic should occur, like the current one we are facing, those numbers help providers predict the spread of the disease and the amount of elderly and children in harm’s way. And when disaster strikes, those numbers are beneficial to rescue agencies because it lets them know how many people need their help. If Brooklyn had reported at 100% in 2010, would we be running low on hospital beds and ventilators to help us fight this pandemic today? I don’t have a clear answer to that, but here’s what I do know: 19 hospitals in New York City have closed since 2000, even as the population of the city is so obviously increasing. Reporting accurate numbers could’ve helped to save some of them.
This is a stressful time. People are out of work and not able to leave their homes without fear of death by COVID. Our health and hospital community is strained almost to the breaking point, doctors and nurses risking their own lives to save others. Our children are in a state of uncertainty, trying to learn from home amidst everything else going on. There is no question that this is a troubling time for us all. But, even now, our responsibilities to our communities remain. We owe it to each other to make sure that our communities receive every cent of the funding owed to us. We need more schools, not less. We need more housing, not less. And what is more evident now than ever, we need more hospitals, not less. If you’re home and are lucky enough to be healthy at this moment, please make sure that you fill out your Census form and report yourself and everyone that lives in your household. If i told you in 2010 that the 10 minutes that it takes to fill out the 10 questions would impact the next 10 years of your life, you would’ve probably just waved off my suggestion without regard. But, if I were to show you Brooklyn Hospital right now, you’d truly understand. And, it’s a shame that we have to be here to get it.

What’s Going On

Victoria Horsford
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COVID-19

Living in the Republic of the USA today is like being wide awake in a perilous dream as we watch a Petri dish monster – coronavirus – erode what was mistaken for our normal way of life. New York, California, Washington, Illinois are states existing in lockdown and our new normal allows visits outside the home for food, pharmaceuticals and other essential items.

NY Governor Andrew Cuomo has been an exemplary leader while navigating NY and the nation into our new global crisis, one with a new virus and the attendant intersection of public health crises as the worldwide economies are sliding into a recession. The NY gov has been so masterful that a President Cuomo hashtag has appeared in the digital world. We understand that COVID-19 will not last forever and that America’s top priority is the national health and welfare of its citizens. During our new cabin-fever life, we are sedentary consumers of electronic and print outlets, hungry for crisis updates and some news about light at the end of the tunnel.

On March 21, a NY Times Coronavirus Update read. “As India Imposes 21-Day Lockdown, Trump Calls for US to be open ‘by Easter’ adding, “Raring To Go. I give it two weeks. We can socially distance ourselves and go to work.” FYI India’s population is 1.2 billion. This Trump order is madness, a recipe for disaster. Can Election Day 2020 for the US Presidency be changed to a date next month? Trump is not good for the national health.

COVID-19, as you know, is the disease caused by the coronavirus. In the USA, New York is the epicenter of the virus, with 25,666 cases documented, with 4,237 cases being based in Brooklyn, by 3/24. There are 192 deaths to date in NYC. Numbers of cases testing positive grow exponentially, in NYC. About 100 NY Police Department officers and 46 NYFD staffers have tested positive for COVID-19. NYC DOE Brooklyn principal Dezann Romain, 36, and Lee Green, former St. John’s University guard, 49, both died of coronavirus related complications.

The NY Post wrote that of the majority of the NY coronavirus cases, 54% are men, age 18 to 49 who don’t have any underlying causes, which is vastly different from the original assessment of seniors with health challenges. Moreover, men are twice as likely to die from the pathogen as women.

President Trump has been promoting the use of an anti-malaria drug, chloroquine, to fight COVID-19. However, New York State obtained Federal Drug Administration approval to test experimental drugs in search of a treatment and/or COVID-19 vaccine. The following are some of the NYS drug protocols in use: One is an anti-HIV drug a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, which was used successfully by the Chinese and Thais in treating COVID-19. Others are drugs and vaccines in development like, 1) remdesivir, which was originally developed to treat Ebola and was used in smaller trials in China and 2) MRNA-1273, a vaccine candidate identified weeks after the coronavirus was sequenced.
Many European countries have ordered lockdowns, which are rigorously being enforced. Those nations include Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy and France, which stipulate that you cannot leave home without documents. When the rest of the world is encouraging caution and essential work environments, the White House says that America is open for business by Easter, health matters life and death matter notwithstanding! The economy is more important to POTUS! Epidemiologists cannot explain the low incidence of COVID-19 in Africa!

BUSINESS MATTERS
African American media baron Byron Allen loses to Comcast in US Supreme Court decision on Monday 23. Allen argued. “Comcast refused to carry his entertainment channels because he is Black.” In a 9-0 decision, SCOTUS said was not enough for a civil rights plaintiff to assert that his race was one of several factors that motivated a company to refuse to do business with him. Allen, with the support of groups like the National Association of Black Journalists, the Congressional Black Caucus and other civil rights organizations, invoked the Civil Rights Act of 1866, urging the Supreme Court of the United States and Comcast not to dismantle the critical protections under the 1866 law.

WOMEN IN THE NEWS
COVID-19 totally eclipsed women this month, a matter that will be remedied in WGO April with narratives and references to: New York State Attorney General Letitia James and her future if a Democrat is the new occupant at the White House; if the NYS Governor goes to the White House, her future is flush with breaking-the-glass-ceiling potential; a review of history professor Gretchen Sorin’s book, “Driving While Black: African American Travel and the Road to Civil Rights;” and news about professor and culinary historian Jessica Harris’ latest honor, the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award.

BLACK ART/CULTURE
SELF MADE, the Netflix TV 4-part miniseries about the life of America’s first self-made woman millionaire Madam CJ WALKER, an African American hair-care mogul denizen prominent during the early 20th Century, hit the airwaves on March 20. Oscar prima donna Octavia Spencer produced the SELF MADE miniseries and stars as Madam CJ Walker. SELF MADE’s handsome cast includes Blair Underwood, who plays Madam Walker’s husband and Tiffany Haddish, who plays her daughter. It debuted to mixed reviews, many saying that the material is better suited to a Broadway musical. Unfortunately, the plush period biopix is accessible only to Netflix subscribers.

NEWSMAKERS
RIP: Three music legends ascended to jazz heaven this year. They are 1) Ed Stoute, pianist composer, bandleader and instructor. A prominent figure on the Brooklyn jazz scene, Stoute grew up listening to his sisters’ favorite musicians, masters like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Bud Powell 2) Philadelphia-born McCoy Tyner, 81, piano virtuoso, composer, bandleader, educator, John Coltrane alum, and NEA jazz master, known by many as the most influential jazz pianist of the past 50 years, died on March 6. 3) Ray Mantilla, 85, Latin and Afro Cuban jazz, Neo Bop, and Post Bop percussionist, bandleader and educator who died on March 21.

COVID-19: Facts vs Opinion

Bernice Elizabeth Green
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COVID-19: Facts vs Opinion

An Interview with Dr. Christopher Boxe

Bernice Elizabeth Green:
Your view on “facts versus opinion.” Why is it important to pay more attention to the information coming from professionals in the science arena than media, social media rumors or organizations’ press releases. 

Dr. Christopher Boxe: Within the context of the continually evolving Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the plethora of information virtually available, one should should digest a broad scope of information, such that he/she/they attain the universal picture and scope of the pandemic. Doing this also allows parties to better discern similarities, differences, fact, and erroneous information imparted from the myriad of available sources. This should culminate toward ascertaining information that is predominantly data and evidence-based driven. Such data-driven/unbiased information can be attained from internet-based searches that reveal laboratory initiatives that are currently underway and/or published in peer-reviewed journals. For example, Google Scholar is an excellent resource for obtaining peer-reviewed journal publications. 

OTP. Is there a role NASA is, or could be, playing in this?

DCB: NASA is an independent agency of the United States federal government; it receives its annual budget from the United States Federal to meet goals/deliverables under the umbrella of the civilian space program, aeronautics, and aerospace research. Therefore, NASA likely has limited versatility to get directly involved in combating the present Coronavirus pandemic. Concomitantly, as the response to the pandemic is continually evolving, the role of select entities (within the context of the pandemic), may change. For example, Governor Cuomo recently requested retired/qualified nurses and doctors to sign up (via an Executive request issue March 20th, 2020) to volunteer their services if the pandemic continues to worsen. 

OTP. What does this situation forecast for future careers? And your thoughts on the situation underscoring the importance of hard science in this situation? 

DCB: The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic permeates all aspects of life. Focusing on an overarching impact factors I foresee futures market niches in: (i) remote work/online modality; (ii) further innovations in multi-scale modeling of varied viral evolution and temporal spreading/progression from a select source point; (iii) further progress in laboratory studies of the impact and evolution of varied pathogens and how they can be effectively treated; (iv) additional progress in multi-scale and stratified global response and implementation to combat impending and/or occurring pandemics; (v) major progress in preventative mental and physical healthcare; etc – all of which should be data-driven and evidence-based. 

OTP. Do you know companies or bioscience engineers who are directly working on therapies, cures or solutions to this crisis? 

DCB: Treating and finding a vaccine has now become a global competition: 

OTP. From a scientist point of view, how do we talk to our children about the unknown? 

DCB: Firstly, guardians and/or parents must continue to empower 
themselves about the current viral pandemic (including past major viral pandemics – e.g., the 1918 Flu Pandemic). Moreover, parents and/or guardians should also empower themselves with knowledge of viral strains that humans globally continually deal with, such as the cold and flu. Guardians/parents should transparently communicate their knowledge of the past and present happenings and communicate to their children how they can also proactively partake or play a role in reducing the impact of such phenomenon. In doing so, children will be empowered and eventually realize that humans will abate and eventually eradicate it as a collective within Earth’s ecosystem. 

New York State May Become Epicenter for Research in Novel Virus Cure

Bernice Elizabeth Green
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New York State May Become Epicenter for Research in Novel Virus Cure

While the politicians roil in Washington, D.C., corporations like Regeneron and universities like RPI (Rensselaer Politechnic Institute), leaders in their fields, are seeking the information to help researchers combat the new coronavirus.

Twelve days into self-quarantine in Troy, New York, the publishers of Our Time Press got welcome words from a Thomas Pest Control representative: he had heard the nearby Regeneron of Rensselaer County was ramping up its Novel COVID-19 Antibody program, for the purpose of seeking a cure. (The company’s Tarrytown-based corporate office, actually officially announced “important advances” in a March 17 press release, we later learned.)
Regeneron reports it has made progress in its “efforts to discover and develop a movel multi-antibody cocktail that can be administered as prophylaxis before exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus or as treatment for those already infected.
“Regeneron scientists have now isolated hundreds of virus-neutralizing, fully human antibodies from the company’s VelocImmune® mice, which have been genetically-modified to have a human immune system.
“Regeneron has also isolated antibodies from humans who have recovered from COVID-19, in order to maximize the pool of potentially potent antibodies. From this large pool of candidates, Regeneron will select the top two antibodies for a ‘cocktail’ treatment based on potency and binding ability to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, as well as other desirable qualities. Using a multi-antibody approach allows for targeting of different parts of the virus and may help protect against multiple viral variants. Regeneron previously used these technologies to rapidly develop a successful treatment for Ebola virus infection, which is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”
In order to meet the pressing public health need, Regeneron is applying its VelociMab® technology to prepare manufacturing-ready cell lines as lead antibodies are selected, so that clinical-scale production can begin immediately. The company is working toward the goal of producing hundreds of thousands of prophylactic doses per month by the end of summer and hopes to have smaller quantities available for initial clinical testing at the beginning of the summer. The company is working with the U.S. Health & Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Defense Authority (BARDA) to increase capacity even further.”
Note to Readers: Regeneron and The Society for Science & the Public has postponed the 2020 Regeneron Science Talent Search (originally planned for March 5-11 in Washington, DC) until this summer “out of an abundance of caution regarding COVID-19 and in order to prioritize the health and safety of everyone who attends our events.” (BG)

Next Week:
AS we were preparing this issue, Dr. Shirley Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, announced the suspension of all in-person instruction on the Troy campus, “and movement to online and other alternative learning options”. The decision was made to protect the health and safety of the community from COVID-19. “Now, more than ever, we will pull together and do what Rensselaer does best – collaborate, find solutions, and move forward. I know we are up to the task, and that we will emerge from this stronger than ever as a community. “

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