Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 11-10-17

Letter To The Editor Local
Governor Appoints Tampa Native To State Committee
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Recently, Governor Rick Scott appointed a Tampa na- tive to a state board. Her term began on October 17, 2017 and will conclude on June 30, 2019.
Dr. Holly Neal Moreau,
Pharmacy Director of Prestige Health Choice, has been ap- pointed to the Medicaid Phar- maceutical and Therapeutics Committee. The Committee maintains oversight of the Medicaid preferred drug list used by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). Its role is to encourage the use of safe, effective, and affordable medications.
Dr. Neal Moreau is one of ten (10) committee members who work closely with the AHCA to recommend additions and deletions from the drug list.
“It’s an honor and a privi- lege to be chosen for this posi- tion. Working for Prestige Health Choice gives me the op- portunity to support the health care needs of underserved pop- ulations throughout Florida. If not for the Florida Medicaid Program, these populations would probably not be able to access quality health care. I find this type of service very re- warding,” Dr. Neal Moreau said.
A Tampa native, Dr. Neal Moreau is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clovis
HOLLY NEAL MOREAU, Pharm.D.
... Recently appointed to State Committee
(Martha Ulmer) Neal, Sr., and younger sister of Clovis Neal, Jr.
She attended the public schools of Hillsborough County and graduated from King High School. Dr. Neal Moreau continued her education at Florida A & M University, where she majored in Phar- macy.
Having attended Beulah Baptist Institutional Church while in Tampa, Dr. Neal Moreau continues to practice the Baptist faith where she lives in Miramar, FL.
She enjoys spending time with her son, Christien, lis- tening to music, attending comedy shows, and traveling. An avid connoisseur of food, Dr. Neal Moreau also enjoys visiting new restaurants. Her motto is “work hard, play hard!”
It’s Past Time For Political Unity
As St. Petersburg headed towards its city elections on Tuesday, I had watched and talked with many friends about how divisive the races have become with great con- cern. While politics has al- ways had a strange way of temporarily dividing people along ideological lines, it ap- pears that in the modern age, the division is more pervasive and has danger- ous, long lasting effects.
Having been involved in a couple of contentious races and regrettably losing some friends over purpose- ful misinformation and de- ceit spread by the opposition, it pains me to see the veracity and anger that has placed families against one another.
If I have any regrets from being involved in politics it’s that I didn’t challenge some of those lies more head on. Relationships are more im- portant to me than politics andIownmyroleinnot doing more to prevent the loss of those friendships.
Understanding this, I have one question for my friends in St. Pete: Regard- less of who is elected, will the conditions of African Americans in St. Petersburg change for the better be- cause of it?
So many politicians claim to have the best inter- est of communities of color as a priority, but once they are elected, don’t do much to back up those claims. Many use surrogates who
abrasively divide our com- munity for financial gain in order to garner votes for their candidate and then leave us more damaged than when they arrived.
Many of those elected rely on the Black represen- tative on the board or coun- cil to address issues affecting people of color; marginalizing that elected official to those concerns and absolving themselves of any real responsibility to ad- dress them.
This attitude has created a narrative within the com- munity that the only Black elected official “isn’t doing anything” while allowing us to forget that in order to change the condition of un- derrepresented people it will take more than just one vote within an elected body.
In other words, non- Black elected officials tend to get a pass on issues that pertain to people of color FROM people of color be- cause the expectation is their representative is the only person responsible for that part of town. It’s a mis- guided idea that has ab- solved too many elected officials from the role they should play in helping EVERY part of a community thrive.
People of color should expect ALL elected officials to listen to and address their concerns. Coming around to listen during election time is nice but failing to follow up on those promises is wrong.
It’s time for people of color to really begin to hold those in office (and those seeking office) accountable without destroying our rela- tionships in the process. Black elected officials can- not accomplish anything working in a silo and it isn’t their sole responsibility to get things done for the com- munities they represent - it’s EVERY elected official.
When the elections are over, we all need to forgive, heal and organize to im- prove our community - to- gether. The underdeveloped condition of one part of town should bother those living in and representing the best part of town.
But that won’t change until the Black community unifies and holds ALL elected officials account- able. We can no longer af- ford to simply elect someone and wait four years to hear from them when they need our votes and are paying surrogates to divide and conquer our community again. Our com- munity and our issues need more than lip service and platitudes; they need real solutions and actions.
While it matters who you elect, maintaining relation- ships and collectively hold- ing Tuesday’s winners accountable to their prom- ises matter much, much more.
ED NARAIN Tampa
PAGE 4-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2017