U.S.A.I.D. Cuts and Netflix Series: Two of a Kind

View From Here
by David Mark Greaves
The cutting of funds for the United States Aid for International Development (U.S.A.I.D.) agency and the Netflix series share the same dark source of racism as the lynchers and the owners of Black people in America’s past. That Black people are not considered whole human beings and may be left to die by cutting food and medicine on the one hand, and be subjected to savage stereotyping on the other.

The cuts are the direct killers. The New York Times reports:
“The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw foreign aid and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development is likely to cause enormous human suffering, according to estimates by the agency itself. Among them:
up to 18 million additional cases of malaria per year, and as many as 166,000 additional deaths;
200,000 children paralyzed with polio annually, and hundreds of millions of infections;
one million children not treated for severe acute malnutrition, which is often fatal, each year;
more than 28,000 new cases of such infectious diseases as Ebola and Marburg every year.

“Those stark projections were laid out in a series of memos by Nicholas Enrich, acting assistant administrator for global health at U.S.A.I.D., which were obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Enrich was placed on administrative leave on Sunday.”

“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”

There was hope that lifesaving cuts were a mistake and waivers were granted, and then taken away. The death of hundreds of thousands of children and condemning generations to the effects of malnutrition and disease, is not an unintended consequence to men like Trump and Musk. Black people are suffering and dying today because of what they’re doing in our name. Only the courts, congress and congressional constituents hold the power that can bring their reign of terror to an end. The midterms can’t get here fast enough.

Consciousness Killing
And then there is this dreadful Netflix series that is a reboot, and the polar opposite of the 1970s TV show Good Times. The multiplicity of openly racist and degrading stereotypes would not be made of any other racial group or religion. It is only allowed against Black people.
And as the U.S.A.I.D. cuts destroy lives, shows like Good Times stunt the growth of Black people in their minds and in society.

Poisoning the minds of all who see it and contributing to the belief that this is what Black people are. This disgusting program crystallizes the need for organizations such as the Committee to Eliminate Media Offense to African People (CEMOTAP), whose mission is to confront this evil and protect our young people from the soul-destroying messaging that is at the root.