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What’s Going On

COVID-19 UPDATE

The Coronavirus has infected 1,359,398 people worldwide and killed 74,565. Effective April 7, the United States leads the world in COVID19 incidents, with 368, 449 cases and more than 10,000 deaths. NYC: 72,324 cases in the five boroughs with 2,475 deaths, which is greater than the 2977 killed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11. On some levels things seem to be falling apart.

Ibrahim X. Kendi

During the 24/7 coronavirus media cycle, there is little mention of the impact of the virus on African Americans. Read Ibram X Kendi’s Atlantic Magazine essay, “What the Racial Data Show. Pandemic seems to be hitting people of color hardest,” as it plows across the lower 48 states. He submits the following info re: Blacks living in states like NC, NY, Michigan and Louisiana, and Illinois – their virus-infection rates: NC’s Mecklenburg County, which includes Charlotte, where 32.9 % of the residents are Black, they represent 43.9% of the infection cases. In Milwaukee, Blacks represent 26% of the county, but their infection rate was 50% and 81% of the deaths. In Illinois the infection rate among Blacks doubles their number in the state. In Louisiana, 70% of the COVID-19 deaths are Black residents. In Michigan, Blacks comprise 14.1% of state population, but are 40% of the COVID-19 deaths. Meanwhile, A NY Times report of COVID-19 cases by zip codes indicates high virus numbers in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

Kendi is the Director of Antiracist Research and Policy Center, at the American University and author of the acclaimed 2019 book, How To Be Antiracist. More Americans of all colors must be tested.
While the rest of the world is battling the perilous virus, China’s Wuhan province, an industrial corridor with a population of 11 million, which was sealed off in late January to contain the COVID-19 contagion, is coming out of its 10- week lockdown and opens for business and normalcy on April 8.

Dr. Anthony Fauci


The search for treatments and a vaccine continues worldwide. Almost 70 drugs and experimental compounds are being used to treat COVID-19. Scientists like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the most vital arm of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force, talks about an 18-month timeline for clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine. The Federal Drug Administration has approved at least 24 drugs, some used to treat cancer, hypertension, Parkinson’s Disease, schizophrenia and diabetes, as treatments for COVID-19. The drugs are used in combination in the US, are quite potent and toxic. The plan is to save lives by any means necessary! Why does Trump continue to promote hydroxychloroquine, a drug useful for the treatment of malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis? According to 4/7 media reports, it is alleged that he has financial interests in the French company Sanofi, which manufactures the drug. COVID-19 will generate scores of book deals and inform countless works of art!
Visit the Atlantic.com essay by Ed Yong “HOW THE PANDEMIC WILL END; The U.S. May end Up with the worst COVID19 outbreak in the Western World. This is How It’s Going To Play Out.” Yong writes with laser precision about COVID-19 and observes that “pandemics are democratizing experiences…people whose privilege and power would normally shield them from a crisis are faced with quarantines, testing positive and losing loved ones.” He delineates some virus endgame-options with a light at the end of the tunnel, an opportunity for America to rebound to its former status as a world power in science, technology, military might and public-health authority.

Abighya Anand

There is more good news, if you are disposed to astrology. A 14-year-old Indian guru/astrologer Abighya Anand predicts that the coronavirus peril ends on May 29. Last August, he correctly predicted its start date, which was November. He says that coronavirus is a global war – a war between the virus and humanity. The war is a result of a conjunction of the planets March, Saturn, Jupiter, the moon and its nodes, which climaxed on March 29. The moon, he opines, is considered the planet of watery spreading: i.e. coughing and spreading…disease. Hold the date! Listen to him walk you through the final days of the coronavirus plague on YouTube. Use his name or phrases like, “World’s youngest astrologer may have predicted the End of COVID-19” or “14 Year-old Abighya Anand says coronavirus to end May 29th. You listen to the DC Task Force for two hours daily – see what Anand says in 15 minutes!

COVID-19/AFRICA

COVID-19 has touched down in 34 of Africa’s 54 nations as of March 19, but not with a vengeance. Ethiopian Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gbebreyeus, World Health Organization General Secretary, reports that Africa will not be the testing ground for any COVID-19 tests – a plan proposed by the French. Many countries throughout the Continent have been on lockdown. By March 19 more than 600 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Sub Saharan Africa. To date, virus-related fatalities in Africa have not exceeded 60. Nationals who defy curfews run the risk of being shot by police. Africa has been proactive in dealing with COVID-19. Many countries were buying antivirals from Cuba and Japan, following the Chinese lead. Nations like South Africa and Nigeria sent planes to China to collect their nationals. Africa’s wealthiest man, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote, donated $200 million naira from his eponymous Foundation, to support COVID-19 testing in Nigeria. In Youpangan, a town near Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, people burned down a half- built testing facility recently. And Kenyan fisherman are enjoying a resurgence of popularity since locals are averse to Chinese fish imports. An excellent $64,000 opinion piece, a must-read is, “Why Are There Few Coronavirus Cases in Africa and Russia?” Could Africa’s hemispheric position be one of the answers?

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Newsmakers

Earl Graves Sr.

RIP: Earl Graves Sr., 85, founder/publisher of Black Enterprise magazine died on April 6 after a battle with Alzheimers. Capitalized at $250,000 in 1970, Black Enterprise quickly became the Black business bible which has served four generations of African American business denizens. Black Enterprise evolved into a multimillion-dollar corporation. The annual BE 100 List was the Graves’ response to the Fortune 500 list. It was something to which most Black entrepreneurs in the United States aspired. The BE 100 list included a multiplicity of businesses, from oil companies, to savings and commercial banks, Wall Street firms, advertising agencies and the hospitality industry. BE was about Black business imperatives, ownership, building wealth, career advancement and money management. The son of Caribbean parents from Barbados, Bedford-Stuyvesant born and bred, Graves graduated from HBCU Morgan State University. His book, How to Succeed in Business Without Being White, was an NYT and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He served on corporate boards of American Airlines, Daimler Chrysler and Federated Department Stores, and was an avid supporter of the presidential campaigns of Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama. And Graves was a generous philanthropist.

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