Celebrating & Coping

VOL 13 - THURSDAY, APRIL 23

We meet again Notees during both celebratory but also difficult times. One of our favorite movies - "Love & Basketball" - celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this week. Although we were unable to join the national watch party, we're excited to watch Gina Prince-Bythewood's beautiful film this weekend. If you are a fan of movie facts and behind-the-secnes information, check out this article to learn more. One thing that we found interesting is that Gina wrote in Sanaa's scar in the screenplay, as originally Sanaa's character Monica was supposed to lose a tooth in the opening basketball scene. In addition, this reflection written by writer Angie Brown is a wonderful read as she beautifully describes the film in the New York Times piece where 35 Black artists discuss and share how they are inspired by each others' work.

While we celebrate other milestones, anniversaries, birthdays and memorable moments in time, we also mourn the loss of 5 year old Skylar Herbert who lost her life due to the complications of COVID-19. Skylar's parents who are first responders who didn't test positive, but yet Skylar is believed to be the youngest to die due to the coronavirus in Michigan at this time. We express our deepest condolences to the Herbert family.

Later on in this issue, we dive into COVID news and how it is impacting our communities, but acknowledging here as well that we are constantly feeling mixed emotions during these unsettling and uncertain times. We are thankful for the resources that are becoming available. We hope the ones that we've been able to provide on our website and social have been helpful as we will continue to put together and share in the best way and means that we can.

If there is anything that we can continue to do to support you, please let us know in our survey!

Let's get to the good stuff! We’ve Notedd a few things that have occurred over the last week, big news on how the Coronavirus is affecting Black and Brown communities as more data becomes available, a few honorable mentions to check out and words from the wise: Audre Lorde.

Enjoy and always: Stay Notedd!

Last week, April 11-17, was Black Maternal Health Week. Now during this time of COVID, it's important to remember the health disparities that have impacted Black women for nearly 50 years and follow the hard work that health care professionals and government officials are demanding for changes and improvements to be made.

Taraji P. Henson launched the COVID-19 Free Virtual Therapy Campaign to support those who have been impacted by COVID by paying for up to five therapy sessions and aligning those interested with a network of available therapists.

Mamba Academy teammates Gianna Bryant, Alyssa Altobelli and Payton Chester were inducted as the first three honorary 2020 draft picks into the WNBA this past weekend.

In their 2020 Culture issue, New York Times Style Magazine features "The Veterans," seven of the greatest black women actors "who have fought against an industry that for much of its history would have rather ignored them," which include Taraji P. Henson, Viola Davis, Mary J. Blige, Lynn Whitfield, Halle Berry, Kimberly Elise and Angela Bassett. (Highly recommend checking out the rest of issue! The NYT Style Magazine staff put together a masterpiece, putting respect on names and highlighting creatives within multiple industries, cultures, races and nationalities who have and are doing the damn thing.

Black adults are consuming more than 20% of media than the average adult. In addition, streaming consumption is increasing amongst the Hispanic segment, and there's a growing increase of Asian American content as Asia is Netflix's growing region. All of the above continues to show the power and influence of multicultural consumers even during a global pandemic.

When the Forever First Lady Michelle Obama isn't advocating for her nonpartisan group, When We All Vote, you can check her out every Monday for #MondayswithMichelle until May 11 reading classic children's books to encourage young ones to continue their reading.

*Disclaimer: We admit that the increased amount of news on COVID-19 has become more than overwhelming. Reporting shows progress one week and setbacks another, as there continues to be an increasing amount of uncertainty still on the effects of COVID. As a result, it's often challenging for us to keep up.

With this said, please read the below with caution. We want to assist with your awareness and staying informed, but consider your mental health if consuming more of this type of news becomes uncomfortable.

COVID-19 is hitting Black and Brown communities in the worst way:
As the New Yorker pointed out, the saying now goes, "when white America catches the novel coronavirus, black Americans die." It wasn't until recently, data has become more and more available demographically, and the statistics are quite alarming in recent reporting for certain minorities.

• Health Disparities

  • As of April 21, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 33.6% are among African Americans while 23% are among Hispanics. The numbers are even worse when your break the data down, state-by-state, city-by-city while you also have to keep in mind that about 13% of the US population is Black and 18% are Hispanic.

  • Early reports state that African Americans are more likely to die due to COVID-19 than any other group, and the Latinx community is the most uninsured demographic due to a lack of access to quality health care. In addition, both communities have a higher risk of pre-existing conditions - asthma, diabetes, heart disease and lung conditions - which is causing a higher rate of cases.

• Jobs

  • Black and brown communities are highly represented in public-facing, essential jobs from food supply to transportation to farms. Social distancing isn't possible and more exposure is happening not only at rapid rates while working these jobs, but also due to the need to use mass transit.

  • McKinsey reported Black Americans are overrepresented in nine of the ten lowest-paid, high-contact essential services, which elevates their risk of contracting the virus. 12.4% of all registered nurses are African American women, and 33.5% of Nursing Assistants are Black - all of who are sacrificing their lives on the frontlines each and every day.

  • Simultaneously, job instability is a result of COVID, as women of color are disproportionately impacted. Since April 1, Black women reported to be either laid off, furloughed or their hours or pay were reduced twice the rate of white men.

• Racial Profiling

  • As a result of the CDC guidance to wear masks in public spaces (i.e. grocery stores) where social distancing may not be possible, African American men and women are being more racially profiled and facing racial bias, despite abiding by the guidance.

  • An incident was shared on social media earlier this month where two black men wore masks while shopping at Walmart and a police officer followed them in and out of the store. The gag is the officer told them that couldn't wear their masks.

  • As the profiling continues, Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, along with a list Democratic Senators, are asking Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray for racial bias training and guidance across all law enforcement agencies.

As it has been outlined, continue to practice social distancing, the use of masks, check in on your friends and family, and support your local businesses especially black and brown owned.

Check out these honorable mentions, and drop us a note of what you think if you are able to check it out this weekend or next!

Have you ever ordered food with guilt, and hear that inner voice that you have food in the house like your parents used to do when you were younger? Chef Gabrielle McBay created a cookbook to help encourage people to become more comfortable cooking in their kitchens, utilizing a minimalist approach to show how cooking can be a little more easy with less time. Her recipes minimize your prep and cook time in the kitchen to allow you to maximize your time on other life matters. Check out Your Have Food At Home and add some new recipes to your repertoire. We are hoping to diving in the cookbook this weekend to help us with our meal prepping.

We are excited to watch Selah and The Spades on Amazon Prime. Based on her experiences in boarding school, writer and director Tayarisha Poe recounts her experiences in boarding school through the character Selah Summers who is "walking the fine line between being feared and loved" as the head of the most powerful faction amongst the five factions at Haldwell School. Things are going well until Paloma arrives who Selah mentors as a new recruit into her faction. Poe shared that she wanted to make a film where the "black people didn't get caught," meaning a film where black youth could live wild and free without punishment because of the color of their skin. The cast also includes Emmy winner Jharrel Jerome, Gina Torres and Jesse Williams. We're excited to check it out!

If you don't follow us on social, you may have missed our post on Black owned companies that are making and selling masks. As stated earlier, the use of masks are being mandated, state-by-state. HelloBeautiful and XoNecole provided a list of Black owned mask companies to support. In addition, we also want to share a list of Hispanic owned mask companies provided by BESE to support as well. Remember to grab yours today!

Be True to Yourself & Stay Notedd ✌🏾

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