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2023 NCAA March Madness Music Festival With Lil Nas X, Tim McGraw, and More!
Free Ticketed Festival Sponsored by Coca-Cola, Capital One and AT&T, Held at Discovery Green Park Will Tip-Off Full Weekend of Men’s Final Four Festivities
The NCAA March Madness Music Festival will provide fans access to hype-worthy entertainment and more via registration for each day’s events
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Harris Health Supports More Than 34,000 Direct and Indirect Jobs; Pumps $5.7 Billion into Harris County and Texas Economy
A report released by Harris Health System shows its public healthcare mission to be a prominent contributor to the Houston-area economy with an economic impact of $4.8 billion to Harris County alone, and another $900 million in impact spread across the state of Texas.
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Black History Books for Adults
The month of February has whipped by so fast that you almost missed it.
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Klein Collins High School Alumna Alex McBride Nominated by Television Academy for 42nd College Television Awards
Alex McBride, an alumna of Klein Collins High School in Spring, Texas, has been nominated for the Television Academy Foundation’s 42nd College Television Awards—a national competition.
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Is There A Black Doctor in the House?
Where are all the Black doctors? They are hard to find. On average, about 5.7% of all the doctors in the US are Black according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Although enrollment of African Americans in medical school is on the rise, 5.7% is still low when considering that there are 66.1% of active physicians with a US Doctor of Medicine degree.Where are all the Black doctors? They are hard to find. On average, about 5.7% of all the doctors in the US are Black according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Although enrollment of African Americans in medical school is on the rise, 5.7% is still low when considering that there are 66.1% of active physicians with a US Doctor of Medicine degree. Looking back at the history of Blacks in medicine, it's easy to see why the numbers are so low. However, new data suggests that more black doctors are needed now than ever, and for some, it could mean the difference between life and death. On average, when put in a crowd of a diverse population with no identifying connections, a person will gravitate toward those of their own race. It's a natural behavior because people are more at ease with who or what they know. Generally, being of the same race is an easy commonality to draw towards. This same kind of thinking works in medicine as well. According to studies, Black Americans who have black doctors have more trust in them, practice preventative care, and ultimately live longer lives. "I think we as blacks relate more to people who look like us. Often, we have unspoken similar backgrounds that bring us to a common place of understanding when we have difficulties in our quests for higher education," said Dr. Creaque Charles, Pharm. D. at an accredited HBCU school of pharmacy. How to Improve Representation of African Americans in Medicine? The answer to that question lies in the problems that Blacks have with medicine. To understand the concerns, one must go way back in history to when enslaved men and women were forcibly brought over on ships to America. Those men and women were treated less than humans and stacked on top of each other like property. On that journey, they had to exist in deplorable conditions that were filled with human fecal matter, urine, and other forms of human waste. This resulted in them becoming gravely ill, and some died. None received medical care. The feeling continued when slave owners subjected their Black female slaves to forced sterilization to stop reproduction. Women were also exploited for their bodies to produce more strong slave labor. These women did not also receive any medical care. When the truth about an unethical experiment with Tuskegee men and Syphilis (dubbed the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis) came to light in 1972, prejudices grew.vDuring the era of the Civil War, Blacks were "doomed to extinction" by the medical community of the time, which thought the mental, moral, and physical deterioration of Blacks would send them to an early grave. The distrust of the medical community continues to this day as some doctors of other races may have prior biological beliefs about Blacks that can result in doctors thinking Blacks have a high tolerance for pain, so they may undertreat them for pain. Incidents like the above led some Blacks to believe that they receive better treatment than their own because they know the point of view from which they are coming. They understand it. "When people look at me and they can see themselves in me, that commonality serves as the foundation for a bond of trust," said Dr. Robbyn Traylor, chief medical officer of an urgent medical care clinic, who knows that any doctor can be excellent no matter their race. "There is a level of comfort that is understood and that can remain unspoken when brown and Black patients are treated by brown and Black doctors." A CNN article dives further into the issue of why there is not a surge of Black doctors. Those reasons include factors like the race being excluded from medicine, systematic racism, institutional racism, not being exposed to STEM or STEM careers as a child, and a lack of Black doctors as mentors are among the top reasons. History supports this when looking at the first Black person to earn a medical degree. Dr. James McCune Smith had to go all the way to Scotland to receive his degree in 1837 from the University of Glasgow. Dr. Traylor was fortunate as a child to be heavily exposed to the life of a Black doctor as both of her parents worked in the medical field. She was often at their heels as a child while they worked at one of the best trauma centers in the Texas Medical Center. "I was lucky enough to grow up in a community of people who made me believe that I had the intellect and attitude for medicine." Diversity Matters Diversity Matters After Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington enacted bans on affirmative action, the diversity of the medical schools in those states dropped by a third. Before Black students were wholeheartedly welcomed at these schools in the 1800s and 1900s, they had a choice of seven medical schools, according to research by the Duke University Medical Center Library and Archives. Now only two remain: Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Black students are more likely to attend black medical schools to seek out those who look like them and have proven that their dreams are achievable. Future Black doctors want to attend schools where they don’t have to feel as if they don’t belong. They want to go to schools where they are encouraged to do well, and those who are instructors and mentors truly believe that THEY can do well. Dr. Tamiya Sam, who is a registered pharmacist and holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, knows that whether it is medical, pharmacy, dental, or nurse practitioner school, having a Black mentor matters. "The face of pharmacy is increasingly non-Black. I believe if there were more hands on and dedicated Black pharmacists who truly mentored Black pharmacy students, it would have a higher impact on their completion because they would serve as someone who has been there and genuinely wants to help them succeed." Rosa Terrance, DNP, APRN, GNP-C, agrees with Dr. Sam. "Mentorship absolutely matters and is influential in producing more providers of color. At all times, I make sure of two things: 1) I have a mentor who looks like me, and 2) I am acting as a mentor to someone else. There is a degree of comfort and trust that is birthed out of just being present with someone of your likeness in an otherwise underrepresented space." The Next Generation of Doctors African Americans have a responsibility to expose our children to all the world can offer them. African Americans have a responsibility as a race to step up and be mentors for brown and black children in all fields, not just the medical field. To improve race relations, Blacks must educate our non-Black counterparts. A change must come, and it must start now with each of us.
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Moulin Rouge! The Musical Premieres in Houston at the Hobby Center February 22 – March 12, 2023
Memorial Hermann Broadway at the Hobby Center announces tickets for the first North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical will go on sale Friday, November 4 at 10AM. Moulin Rouge! The Musical will play the Hobby Center February 22 – March 12, 2023.
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Will the Ron DeSantis Bubble Burst?
Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has made himself into the leading rival to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. He won a sweeping re-election victory as governor in 2022, even as Republicans generally were underperforming. Now, he’s used that position to pick purposeful fights on polarizing social issues, clearly seeking to cater to the fury of the MAGA Republican base. By assailing what he calls “wokeness,” including everything from vaccinations, Dr. Fauci, critical race theory, LGBTQ students, and how American history is taught, he apparently hopes to offer Republicans a new generation culture warrior who can rouse Trump’s base and have a broader appeal to suburban voters.
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This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer
D.C.- based filmmaker streams documentary short about civil rights icon
Director Robin N. Hamilton re-releases the documentary about an extraordinary woman who went from picking cotton at age 6 to becoming an indomitable civil rights leader. Capturing a snapshot in time from her historic speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1964, This Little Light of Mine: The Legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer packs power into 30 minutes.
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Only 5.7% of US doctors are Black, and experts warn the shortage harms public health
When being truly honest with herself, Seun Adebagbo says, she can describe what drove her to go to medical school in a single word: self-preservation.
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Biden set for latest symbolic clash with Putin after surprise Ukraine trip
The last time President Joe Biden spoke from the courtyard of the Royal Castle in Poland, the content of his 27-minute speech was mostly obscured by what he ad-libbed about Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end.
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Brad Daugherty, the first Black principal owner to win Daytona 500, 'already talking trash' with Michael Jordan
NASCAR racing team owner Brad Daugherty made history Sunday by becoming the first Black principal owner to win the Daytona 500 when driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the storied race in double overtime.
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BAFTA Awards 2023: See the full list of nominees
Nominations for the 2023 British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTA Awards, have been announced.
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Breaking Barriers: Women's Entrepreneurship Program Tackles the Capital Gap for Female Founders
Innovating Marketing Group launches the Womens Entrepreneurship Program, a new program aimed to solve the problem Women Entrepreneurs Face with Funding Disparities.
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Biden Cabinet Member and Head of U.S. Small Business Administration to Travel to Houston with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff
On Friday, February 17, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s 33 million small businesses, will visit Houston, Texas. She will join Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff to tour four small businesses and discuss how the Biden-Harris Administration is supporting minority-owned businesses and ensuring equal access to capital and resources.
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Automatic voter registration a sensible first step
As Americans, we hail our democracy as a beacon to the world. And all agree the right to vote is the fundamental cornerstone of democracy. Yet in our election last fall, fewer than half of all eligible voters cast a ballot – and that is considered a relatively high turnout. We need a nationwide drive to extend and promote the right to vote, the most fundamental of all political rights in a democracy. Let’s start by automatic voter registration – registering every eligible voter automatically on his or her 18th birthday.
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Mississippi House votes to create an unelected, state-appointed court system within majority-Black Jackson
Lawmakers in Mississippi are at odds over a bill that would create an unelected, state-appointed court system in a district within Jackson, a majority Black city, with some concerned that the move smacks of a modern-day Jim Crow regime.
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The gunman who killed 3 Michigan State students and wounded 5 may have planned to attack New Jersey schools, police say, as heroes helped classmates flee
The gunman who killed three Michigan State University students and left five others in critical condition may have had plans to target two schools in New Jersey, police there said.
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2nd Annual Black History Cultural Explosion features Fisk Jubilee Singers
The Jackson State University College of Liberal Arts and the Institute for Social Justice and Race Relations present the 2nd annual Black History Cultural Explosion on Tuesday, Feb. 14. The slate of events will include a performance by the Fisk Jubilee Singers from Fisk University in their first performance in the capital city.
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Untold Story: Three upcoming book projects on the history of PVAMU
Prairie View A&M University is affectionately known as “The Hill” by students and alumni. The University is the second-oldest public higher education institution in Texas, and it remains a pinnacle of academic excellence[1].
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Discovery Green® Celebrates 15 Years with an Action-Packed Spring Season
A Quinceañera Celebration, Bank of America’s Screen on The Green, UHD Thursday Night Concerts, Jazzy Sundays and more free entertainment for all.
