Blacks and Roe v. Wade

By: Latoya Peterson

Today marks the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal. For the last 37 years, the case has remained in a constant state of controversy, with anti-choice activists using any vehicle available to chip away at the right to choose. The most recent manifestation was seen in the health care reform debate, when Rep. Bart Stupak and Sen. Ben Nelson took the already-contentious issue and add another, obstructive layer to the controversy. The debate raged in the feminist blogosphere and the mainstream press, but one group remained silent: the African-American community.

To the untrained eye, it would appear that African Americans are not concerned with abortion rights, one way or another. But that perception could not be further from reality.

Blacks and Roe v. Wade....

Every Woman Has the Ability to Stop the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

By: Sheryl Lee Ralph

Throughout history, African American women have taken a stand and conquered the many challenges that have faced our communities. We have joined together and fought whatever obstacles stood in our way. Now that same sisterhood and camaraderie is needed in order to fight against the HIV/AIDS crisis that continues to take the lives of so many of our African American women and girls.

I am taking a stand against HIV/AIDS and using my voice to speak up. We can no longer allow society’s stigmas to keep us quiet. Join me in an effort to educate others about this disease.

We can start by taking care of ourselves first, getting tested, and knowing our status so that we can win the fight against the AIDS epidemic in the African American community.

Not knowing your status, and not discussing the HIV/AIDS epidemic with your partner, family and friends can be a death sentence. African American women make up 12% of the female population in the United States, yet we account for 66% of new HIV infections. And the number of women infected by the disease is on the rise. This is unacceptable!

Every Woman Has the Ability to Stop the HIV/AIDS Epidemic....

NEW WEIGHT LOSS STUDY

Do African American women rely too much on "faith and fads" to lose weight? A study in the current issue of the journal Health Communication suggests the answer to that question is "yes."

According to a study conducted by University of Iowa researcher Shelly Campo, "African American women's magazines are more likely to encourage fad diets and reliance on faith to lose weight."

This contrasts with magazines oriented at white women which were found to focus more on evidence-based diet strategies.

The study comes in the wake of recent government reports showing that by age 40 nearly 75 percent of Black women are considered overweight or obese compared to roughly 30 percent of white women. In releasing her report, Campo was critical of magazines oriented at Black women saying, "If you are not covering evidence based weight loss strategies, you're not helping your community."

The study found that the Black magazines studied emphasized God or faith 10 percent of the time in weight-loss stories while there was almost no such emphasis in white magazines.

WHY IS OBAMA HAVING DIFFICULTY CONNECTING WITH BLACK FEMALE VOTERS?

One of the most surprising developments of the current campaigns to be elected president in 2008, has been the apparent inability of Illinois Senator Barack Obama to sway a majority of Black female voters to his effort to become the first Black president in American history.

A superficial analysis would suggest that Black women would be the most natural base of support for Obama.

However, if national polls represent a true depiction of reality, Obama has failed to convince Black women that he should be president.

A series of polls support this fact, but the most detailed was released last month by the Washington Post and ABC News.

It showed Black women supporting New York Senator Hillary Clinton over Obama by 52 percent to 35 percent. Meanwhile, Black men were evenly divided between Clinton and Obama (44 percent for each one). A CBC News poll came up with similar results.

The Black female support for Clinton has been labeled by some analysts "the sista factor" suggesting that Black women are more interested in seeing a woman elected president than another man - even if the man happens to be African American.

Democratic Party strategist Donna Brazille (a Black woman) echoed this view when she was recently quoted as saying, "Most Black women simply believe Clinton can win. They loved her husband Bill and would like to see a woman elected first."

[Taylor Media Services, a Black news gathering organization, is collecting views on this topic. Interested persons can share their thoughts via email TaylorMediaPrime@yahoo.com or by leaving a brief message at 202-657-8872.]

BLACK FEMALES MOST LIKELY TO BE OVERWEIGHT

But new study says obesity rates have stopped rising.



According to the latest government surveys, obesity among Americans appears to be leveling off but African American women remain the demographic group most likely to be overweight.

The survey results were published online by the National Center for Health Statistics (www.cdc.gov/nchs) and they showed Americans were most likely to be obese between the ages of 40 and 59.

Within this age range, approximately 53 percent of Black women were obese compared to 51 percent of Mexican American women and 39 percent of white women.

Obesity is defined as having a body mass index of 30 or greater. The index is arrived at through a mathematical formula which compares weight to height.

Meanwhile, within the same age range 40 percent of men were obese with previous studies showing Black men slightly less likely to be obese that white men.

However, according to the latest data, female obesity rates stopped rising in 1999 while male obesity rate did not level off until 2003. The so-called Imperial formula for calculating Body Mass Index is 703 times your weight in pounds times divided by your height in inches squared. Otherwise, there are many Internet sites which will do the calculating for you. Simply search for "Body Mass Index." Again, if the resulting figure is 30 or more, one is considered obese.