Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 6-1-18

White House and Political News
U.S. Gov. Reports 64 Died In Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria; Harvard Study Says 4,000+ Died
Yankees Fans Boo Trump’s Lawyer, Former NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani At Game
NAACP And Black Bikers’ Suit Against Myrtle Beach, S. C. Still Pending
Atlantic Beach Bike Week is the largest Black motorcycle rally in the U. S. with between 350,000 to 375,000 turning up. The loop ties up the riders for hours.
The New York Yankees’ announcer wished a very happy birthday to former New York Mayor Giuliani, now personal attorney to Pres. Trump over the loud- speaker during a recent game.
The birthday greeting prompted the crowd to erupt into noisy and sustained boos – with the footage widely shared on social media.
Mr. Giuliani, who joined Donald Trump’s legal team last month to rep- resent him through the Jus- tice Department’s
Rudy Giuliani at the game.
investigation into Russia meddling in the 2016 presi- dential election, was accom- panied by his son at the baseball game.
A Harvard study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine casts doubt on the U.S. govern- ment's official number of deaths recorded in the after- math of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Last December, in the last publicly released death toll numbers, it was reported that 64 people were killed on the island as a result of the storm. However, the Harvard study suggests that at least 4,645 people died in the storm.
The island’s slow recovery has been marked by a persist- ent lack of water, a faltering power grid and a lack of es- sential services.
The study says the large number of deaths can be
Aftermath of Hurricane Maria in PuertoRico.
linked to the hurricane and its immediate aftermath, making the storm far deadlier than previously thought.
Government officials have not yet commented on the possibility the number of 64 recorded deaths could be
grossly inaccurate. According to the Wash-
ington Post, the study found that disruptions to elderly health-care and loss of basic utility services significantly impacted the chronically ill on the island.
Top Adviser To President Obama, Valerie Jarrett Responds To Roseanne Barr’s Racist Tweets
Valerie Jarrett, one of 44th President Barack Obama's top advisers, re- sponded after actress and co- median Roseanne Barr compared her to an ape in a tweet.
"I think we have to turn it into a teaching moment. I'm fine," Jarrett said during a town hall on "everyday racism," hosted by MSNBC Tuesday night.
Then she turned the con- versation toward the inci- dents of racism that occur every day, out of the public eye.
"I'm worried about all the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense -- the person who's walking down the street minding their own business, and they see some- body cling to their purse or run across the street," Jar- rett continued. "Or every black parent I know who has a boy, who has to sit down and have a conversation, 'the talk,' as we call it. And as you say, those ordinary examples of racism that happen every single day."
Valerie Jarrett was the target of a racist tweet by Trump supporter, Roseanne Barr. Her revived show ‘Roseanne’ was cancelled due to her comment.
Jarrett was also asked whether she felt that the president has set a tone that makes people feel more em- powered to express the kind of sentiment that Barr did.
"Tone does start at the top," she responded, "and we like to look up to our Presi- dent and feel as though he re- flects the values of our country. But I also think that every individual citizen has a responsibility too, and it's up to all of us to push back. Our government is only going to be as good as we make it be."
Earlier Tuesday, Barr had apologized for the racist tweet about Jarrett, which
read, "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."
Nonetheless, within hours, ABC announced it was canceling her show, a revival of "Roseanne," which had scored record ratings in its first episode.
Jarrett also noted that Disney CEO Bob Iger called her before ABC announced the show's cancellation. "He apologized," she said. "He said that he had zero toler- ance for that sort of racist, bigoted comment, and he wanted me to know before he made it public that he was canceling the show."
The NAACP spearheaded a lawsuit filed in February against Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and its police depart- ment for discrimination against Black Bike Week atten- dees.
The civil rights organization, along with Cedric and Leslie Stevenson and Simuel Jones, filed the suit to protest unfair traffic restrictions placed on Black Bike Week during the Memorial Day Weekend.
Myrtle Beach and NAACP leaders presented their cases in federal court in Greenville in early May regarding the loop.
The NAACP sought an in- junction to ban the traffic loop created specifically during At- lantic Beach Bike Week, com- monly referred to as “Black Bike Week.”
After a four-hour hearing,
Judge Marvin Quattle- baum told NAACP and Myrtle Beach attorneys that he could- n’t provide a timetable for his decision, so the loop was left in
place for another year.
The city contends the detour
is needed for public safety and to allow emergency responders navigate traffic. The 23-mile loop started in 2015 after the 2014 weekend was allegedly marred with violence and shootings.
NAACP leaders called the loop discriminatory and said it takes away from visitors’ enjoy- ment.
NAACP’s attorney Reed Colfax called the traffic loop “a plan that is unjustified, unfair and unconstitutional.”
The NAACP contends the loop goes against equal protec- tion laws. They argue that statements made by Myrtle Beach officials show that race played a part in creating the loop. They provided quotes from former city officials about wanting to move bike week traffic and people away from the area.
The loop is also not used during Harley Week, which the NAACP contends is a similar sized event and similar crowd.
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