Page 28 - Florida Sentinel 1-29-21

National
Breonna Taylor Grand Jurors File Petition To Impeach Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Three grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case filed a petition with the state House of Rep- resentatives Friday, objecting to the conduct of Attorney General Daniel Cameron and calling for his impeach- ment.
A press release indicated the attorney for three of the grand jurors in the Taylor case signed onto the petition on their behalf in order to protect their identities.
The petition alleges Cameron breached public trust and failed to comply with his duties by misrepre-
ATTORNEY GENERAL DANIEL CAMERON
senting the findings of the grand jury in the Taylor case. “The Grand Jurors did not choose this battle,” stated Kevin Glogower, the attor- ney for the three grand jurors. “This battle chose them. These are randomly selected citizens who were compelled to sit on a grand jury and were terribly misused by the most powerful law enforcement of- ficial in Kentucky. It is truly a testament to the Kentucky Constitution that they are able to be here today and to expose injustice and demand public accountability. I am honored
and humbled to serve them.”
Black Americans Are Being Vaccinated At Far Lower Rates
When the U. S. Food and Drug Administration approved two new vaccines to combat the coro- navirus, the initial concern was whether African Americans would accept vaccination.
The rollout of the medicine from Pfizer and Moderna fea- tured heavy promotion.
High-profile African Ameri- cans like former President Barack Obama, National Newspaper Publishers Associa- tion (NNPA) Coronavirus Task Force Member Dr. Ebony Hilton, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson received their shots publicly.
An African American nurse in New York earned distinction as the first person in the country to receive a vaccination, and Meharry Medical College Presi- dent Dr. James Hildreth, a Black man, sat on the FDA board that approved the vaccines.
Now, concern has shifted from whether African Americans will accept the vaccine.
Many now wonder whether doses would be available to the Black community.
A new Kaiser Family Foun- dation report has revealed that African Americans are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than whites.
The report, released on Satur- day, Jan. 16, shows that in 16 U. S. states where the vaccine is available, white residents are being vaccinated by as much as three times higher than African Americans.
One example is Pennsylvania,
where 1.2 percent of white resi- dents had been vaccinated, com- pared with just 0.3 percent of African Americans in the Key- stone State.
Kaiser Family Foundation re- searchers noted that vaccine dis- tribution is supposed to align with healthcare and frontline workers’ demographics, presum- ably making the vaccine equally available to all races.
Some have hinted the lack of vaccine access is rooted in racism – not an unwillingness of mi- norities to get vaccinated.
Dr. Taison Bell, of the Uni- versity of Virginia, told NBC News that he was “horrified to discover that members of envi- ronmental services — the janito- rial staff — did not have access to hospital email.”
“That’s what structural racism looks like,” Dr. Georges Ben- jamin, executive director of the American Public Health Associa- tion, told NBC.
“Those groups were seen and not heard — nobody thought about it.”
As of Jan. 16, the U. S. had sur- passed more than 25.3 million total cases and 421,000 deaths due to the pandemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported.
Senate Confirms Lloyd Austin As America's First Black Secretary Of Defense
Lloyd Austin being sworn in.
WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed Lloyd Austin as the next Pentagon chief last Friday, making him the nation's first Black Defense secretary.
The Senate voted 93 to 2 to confirm Austin.
Austin's confirmation follows Wednesday's Senate confirma- tion of Avril Haines, who be- came the first woman to the lead nation's 18 intelligence agencies as the director of national intelli- gence.
In back-to-back votes Thurs- day, the House and Senate
passed legislation granting Austin, a retired four-star Army general, a waiver to lead the Pen- tagon. The Senate approved Austin's waiver by a vote of 69- 27 and the House approved the waiver by a vote of 326 to 78.
Under the National Security Act of 1947, Congress has pro- hibited any individual from serv- ing as secretary of Defense within seven years of active-duty serv- ice. Austin left the Army in 2016 and therefore required a special congressional waiver in order to bypass the seven-year rule.
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