New Report Examines Health Disparities Among Indigenous Peoples in NYC

Screenshot of NYC Dept. of Health Report "Health of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Living in New York City" showing a map of the South Bronx, Harlem, and East Harlem: "Snapshot maps provided by the Endangered Language Alliance. More information at: https://languagemap.nyc/. Yellow highlight indicates languages of American Indians/First Nations/Indigenous peoples of the Americas spoken in NYC. These represent languages that have survived 529 years of colonization and forced assimilation."

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF 

 

JANUARY 03, 2022

NEW YORK — More Indigenous people live in New York City than nearly any other city in the United States, but those who live there face inequities in education and health outcomes when compared to their white counterparts.

That’s according to the New York City Health Department’s first ever research project released last month that looks at the health conditions of more than 100,000 Indigenous people from North, Central, and South America who called New York City home from 2013 to 2017.

The report, Health of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Living in New York City, found that Indigenous peoples in New York City have higher rates of poverty and unemployment than white residents, lower rates of health insurance coverage, and spend more of their income on rent. Fewer Indigenous people held high school diplomas than white New Yorkers, a point the study also correlates to poorer health outcomes.

“The analysis …reveals that some health outcomes among Indigenous peoples of the Americas in NYC are comparable to those seen among other communities of color in NYC that have been negatively impacted by many years of racist policies and unjust practices,” the report reads.

Those inequalities were exacerbated by COVID-19. 

While the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that Native American and Alaska Natives were impacted by COVID-19 more than any other racial group across the country, New York City failed to collect specific racial data on Indigenous peoples by instead grouping them in an “other” category.

“The current methods used by the Census, the NYC Health Department, and others likely undercount Indigenous peoples of the Americas,” the report notes. “This has important implications when inequities in health by race are addressed or economic opportunities by race are made available, as Indigenous peoples of the Americas are excluded from consideration.”

As a result, the City’s health department implemented a change to the NYC Community Health Survey, to expand the questionnaire response options from solely American Indian/Alaska Native to also include Native, First Nations, and Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. They also added a follow up question asking respondents to identify tribal heritage or ancestry.

The report also recognizes the circumstances that lead these communities to the City: “Many Indigenous peoples of the Americas were forced to migrate from their homelands in Latin America due to war or persecution, land theft and displacement, and impoverishment.; often their status as Indigenous peoples is unrecognized in the U.S.,” the report notes.

For the first time in the health department’s history, COVID-19 public health information was released in 12 Indigneous languages provided by local community leaders. The health department is also supporting a grant initiative led by the Red de Pueblos Transnacionales (Transnational Villages Network), a group of Indigneous peoples from Mexico, to translate vaccination information and other social services in neighborhoods with large numbers of Indigenous migrants.

UK steel future uncertain without US tariffs deal

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES


UK steel companies have been operating at a significant disadvantage compared to their European rivals since the beginning of 2022.


The EU has done a deal with the US, which took effect on 1 January, to allow companies to export steel to the US again without any tariffs.


The UK is yet to reach a similar agreement though it is hoping for more talks with America this month.


It means British companies still face a 25% tariff on exports to the US.


And the effect of the change is already being felt.

Moving to Spain


At a foundry in Chesterfield, raw materials are being melted in a furnace to make cast iron bars.

Steel and cast iron are no longer a huge chunk of the British economy but they are about to get a little bit smaller.

Because of the US tariffs on products from the UK, United Cast Bar Limited (UCB), the company that runs this foundry, is moving some of its production to a factory in Spain.

"60% of the products we can make here we can also make in Spain," says James Brand, managing director of foundries at UCB. "And our customers don't want that extra 25% cost."


UCB's James Brand says if it moves steel production to Spain it is unlikey to return to the UK even with a US deal

But if the UK manages to do a deal of its own with the US, will that production come back?

"Probably not,' he says. "It really depends on how early the deal is done."

Once US importers get used to consignments arriving from Spain, a new trade pattern will have been established and the way the tariffs have been set up means they can't be avoided if any part of a product originates in the UK.

"It is highly likely we will just leave it over there (in Spain)," Mr Brand says. "Lost to the UK completely, then."

Trump's tariffs

It was President Donald Trump who signed an order in 2018 to introduce the steel tariffs on national security grounds, which he claimed was to help protect US jobs.

Former US President Donald Trump claimed tariffs would protect American jobs

If the UK government had hoped that Joe Biden's administration would change course quickly, it has been disappointed.

Neither public diplomacy nor private negotiation has yet led to any breakthrough.

Following Mr Trump's move, both the UK and the EU retaliated with tariffs of their own against US products. But it is the EU that has got a deal done first, to resolve the dispute.

That's partly because in trade, size matters.

"They (the EU) are just bigger so they account for more steel exports to the US, and that means there is more interest from US importers in getting it resolved," says Soumaya Keynes, Britain economics editor at The Economist.

"And because there is more trade involved with the EU, the retaliation hurts more."

The EU was also more explicit about how it intended to accelerate retaliation against the American tariffs.

The UK was, says Ms Keynes, "a bit friendlier, a bit chummier, and that could mean the EU had more leverage."

Northern Ireland

For the UK government, there is an added complication.

There is political concern in Washington about British threats to suspend parts of the post-Brexit deal with the EU on Northern Ireland.

The two issues are quite separate, but it is possible that one could delay the other.

The government argues that the steel dispute could in fact lead to further complications in Northern Ireland, because of its special status as part of the EU single market for goods.

But it is an awkward mix.

What's next?

There is also the question of stepping up UK retaliation against the US tariffs.

The government's formal response to a public consultation on further counter-measures has already been delayed, and it cannot be put off forever,

Trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan issued a careful warning when she spoke to the BBC last month, after returning from a visit to Washington,

"We had a very frank conversation, and I was very clear that the pressures that we are under to use countervailing measures if we can't solve the problem are becoming more and more acute."

The government certainly hopes the dispute can be resolved soon, before it gets worse.

A solution later this month would be a great relief, and the message from industry is pretty clear.

"Crack on, please," says UCB's James Brand. "Let's get a deal brokered as soon as possible and put us on a level playing field with the rest of Europe."

It wasn't supposed to be like this. After Brexit, the UK was relying on a closer relationship with the US than it had when it was part of the EU.

But in matters of trade, many things are easier said than done.

Former UK Envoy: Tales About Hussein, Soleimani Part of US Record of 'Systematic Deception'

© AP Photo / Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is establishing a record of systematic deception in its now-discredited public accounts of the capture of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the assassination of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, former UK Ambassador to Syria Peter Ford told Sputnik.
Monday marked two years since the US assassination of Soleimani, which comes less than a week after the 15-year anniversary of Hussein’s execution.

"It is helpful when a counter-narrative with the ring of truth eventually emerges, because cumulatively the United States is establishing a track record of systematic deception," Ford said. "When the US kills or captures its eminent enemies, deception is standard operating procedure (SOP)."

On December 30, 2006, Hussein was executed after the United States invaded Iraq on the pretext of searching for weapons of mass destruction - which were never found.

Following Hussein's arrest at the end of 2003, the Pentagon claimed that the former Iraqi president was found hiding in an eight-foot-deep hole under a farm. However, a former interpreter with US forces told Sputnik that Hussein was in a room and unconscious at the time of his arrest.

"In the endgame of the illegal invasion of Iraq the US was terrified lest Saddam emerge as a hero, defeated but unbowed. Regardless of truth the politics demanded that Saddam be arrested in humiliating conditions," Ford said. "It can't be proven, of course, but seen in this light the interpreter's denial of the story that Saddam was found cowering in a hole must be seen as highly likely to be true."

With respect to Soleimani, killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020, Ford recalled that "no proof was ever provided" to support Washington's allegations that the Iranian commander was planning imminent operations against US troops.

"The same SOP was used, obviously, to justify the original invasion of Iraq with fabricated charges of production of weapons of mass destruction. Similarly Syria was framed with crisis actors for alleged use of chemical weapons," Ford said.
Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi, he added, was liquidated after the United States invented a story that his troops were aiming at a bloodbath in Benghazi.
Ford said the US government continues to fabricate these tales basically because "it gets away with it."

"Most international media uncritically relays the US narrative," Ford concluded. "Occasionally, as with Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), the US gets found out, but by that time the caravan has moved on."

USA

Denver, Boulder area King Soopers union workers vote to strike



Photo by: Denver7
By: Blayke Roznowski
Posted Jan 03, 2022

DENVER — King Soopers union workers have voted to strike in the Denver and Boulder areas over what they’re calling unfair labor practices.

According to the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents approximately 17,000 grocery workers from Kroger/King Soopers, the employees voted to strike because the company is trying to “prevent workers from securing a new contract advancing wages, health and retirement benefits.”

In total, 98% of Denver retail workers, 97% of Denver meat workers, 100% of Boulder meat workers,100% of Broomfield meat and retail workers and 100% of Parker meat workers voted to strike.

“King Soopers and City Market have missed a golden opportunity to show workers and customers that, as the industry leader, they want to make their stores the best places to work in Colorado. Local 7 will not rest until we secure a contract that respects, protects and pays these essential grocery workers,” said Kim Cordova, vice president of UFCW International and president of UFCW Local 7.

Cordova said a vote to strike is also occurring in Colorado Springs Monday evening, and Local 7 expects similar results.

The vote to strike comes after Local 7 filed a lawsuit against King Soopers last week, claiming a breach of contract over hiring vendors in the stores to perform work done by Local 7 members, with vendor employees being paid more than many King Soopers employees.

King Soopers employees will remain at work at least through the end of their current agreement, which expires at 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 8.

Jessica Trowbridge, a spokesperson for King Soopers, provided a statement saying the company is focused on negotiating the contract "in good faith," which includes $145 million in new wage investment. She says Local 7 has not provided a counteroffer.

"We take our obligation to provide our communities with access to fresh food and other essentials very seriously. At a time when Coloradoans are coming together to support our communities the UFCW LOCAL 7 is threating disruption?

"Let’s be clear, Local 7 issued a strike authorization vote related to alleged unfair labor practices. These allegations are just that, allegations, as King Soopers/City Market has followed the law and has NOT received any notice of wrongdoing from the National Labor Relations Board.

"The company is in the process of filing unfair labor practice charges against the union president and Local 7 for its bad faith bargaining and tactics as well as pursuing other legal action for unlawful conduct."

CHANGE.ORG PETITION TO RECAST T’CHALLA IN THE ‘BLACK PANTHER’ SEQUEL GETS 50,000 SIGNATURES

by Jeroslyn Johnson

January 3, 2022

(Image: Twitter/TheBlackPanther)

More than 50,000Marvel fans have come together in agreeance that the main character in the Black Panther sequel should perhaps be recast.

A Change.org petition requesting a new actor to play the role of T’Challa in the second installment of the Marvel blockbuster received over 50,000 signatures, the New York Daily News reports. Black Panther fans are hoping for a new T’Challa following the untimely passing of Chadwick Boseman in August 2020.

“THIS IS A CALL FOR THE PRESIDENT OF MARVEL STUDIOS KEVIN FEIGE, CO-PRESIDENT LOUIS D’ESPOSITO, AND WRITER/DIRECTOR RYAN COOGLER TO RECONSIDER THEIR DECISION, AND RECAST THE ROLE OF “T’CHALLA” IN THE BLACK PANTHER FRANCHISE,” THE PETITION READS.

The petition is in response to Feige’s decision to “honor the legacy” of Boseman by not recasting T’Challa within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“To honor the legacy that Chad helped us build through his portrayal of the king of Wakanda, we want to continue to explore the world of Wakanda and all of the rich and varied characters introduced in the first film,” Feige said in December 2020, as noted by Deadline.

But even Chadwick’s brother, Derrick Boseman, is on board with the role of T’Challa being recast to continue the legacy of Black superheroes in mainstream films.

“If Marvel Studios removes T’Challa, it would be at the expense of the audiences (especially Black boys and men) who saw themselves in him. That also includes the millions of fans who were inspired by the character as well,” the call to action continued.

“By not recasting, it could stifle the opportunity for one of the most popular leading Black superheroes to add on to their legacy.”

In November, Marvel VP of Development Nate Moore said T’Challa would not be in the “MCU 616 universe.”

“WHEN CHAD PASSED, IT WAS A REAL CONVERSATION WE HAD WITH [DIRECTOR RYAN] COOGLER ABOUT, ‘WHAT DO WE DO?’ AND IT WAS A FAST CONVERSATION,” MOORE EXPLAINED ON THE RINGER-VERSE PODCAST.

“It wasn’t weeks; it was minutes of we had to figure out how to move that franchise on without that character. Because I think we all feel so much of T’Challa in the MCU on the screen… is tied to Chadwick’s performance.”

Black Panther 2 is set for release on Nov. 11, 2022.

Black women at higher risk for maternal mortality
 

Black women have a higher risk of death during pregnancy than White women. Some lawmakers want to fix the disparity. Jericka Duncan takes a look.

WAGE THEFT
53 Maine Prisoners Sue State After Losing Nearly $200K in Unemployment Benefits

BY AARON MCDADE 

ON 1/3/22 

The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston heard arguments Monday in a lawsuit brought by inmates in Maine who were in prison when they lost their work-release jobs because of the pandemic but were denied unemployment benefits when the payments were halted by the governor and instead placed in a state trust.

The 53 prisoners received and subsequently lost just under $200,000 in unemployment benefits. They sued in the summer of 2020 on the basis that their 14th Amendment rights were violated when the benefits were seized without due process, according to the Bangor Daily News.

The inmates said that after the work-release program was halted as COVID cases began spreading in the early months of the pandemic, prison officials encouraged them to file for the benefits, as they were as entitled to them as anyone else who lost their job due to the pandemic in the state.

The state's attorney general determined the benefits going to inmates was legal before Governor Janet Mills stopped the payments and seized the money that had already gone out, calling it "bad public policy" to send the inmates the payments while others in the state were struggling to receive unemployment benefits weeks after filing for them.

"The central argument that we've made all along is that these individuals should have had some sort of notice or hearing before their benefits were taken," said Carol Garvan, an attorney for one of the inmates who argued the case on Monday.

In March 2021, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that because the prisoners were not using the benefits for necessities because they were incarcerated at the time, their due process could not be violated by the seizure of the funds without a hearing, the Bangor Daily News reported.

An appeals court heard arguments Monday in a lawsuit over 53 Maine inmates having nearly $200,000 in unemployment benefits seized after losing their work-release jobs because of the pandemic. Above, a person files an application for unemployment benefits on April 16, 2020, in Arlington, Virginia.OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

All told, the prisoners received $198,767 in unemployment benefits with an average amount of $3,750 before the governor intervened to stop the payments.

The benefits included an extra $600 per week through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.

Garvan's client worked as a restaurant cook in a work-release program while incarcerated at Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren, Maine.

The prisoner received more than $10,000 in unemployment benefits. About $8,400 of that was in enhanced benefits provided by Congress. He has since been released from prison.

In putting a stop to the benefits, the governor found the payments to be "appalling and to be bad public policy" and said they should be reserved for Mainers "struggling to pay for basic necessities."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Exploding Meteor That Rattled Pittsburgh Released Energy Equivalent to 30 Tons of TNT

BY KATIE WERMUS 

ON 1/3/22 

Officials said the meteor that exploded over Pittsburgh on News Year's Day released enough energy equivalent to 30 tons (27,216 kilograms) of TNT.

People in the suburbs of Pittsburgh reported hearing a loud boom and said they felt the ground shaking but weren't certain where it came from.

Officials in Allegheny County tweeted early on that authorities had received several reports about the mysterious noise but said it wasn't caused by an earthquake and there was no thunder or lightning reported in the area, Trib Live reported.

Just a few hours after the explosion, experts at the National Weather Service in Pittsburg said the loud noise was likely a meteor exploding, Pittsburgh Magazine reported.

Christina Osorio said her sliding glass door was shaking when she thought what she heard was thunder. "It was like 'Boom!' and it sounded like a rumble." She said she was shocked to hear the meteor was the cause, Trib Live reported.

"It's kind of scary, but it's kind of cool at the same time," she said.

NASA posted on their Meteor Watch Facebook page the loud sound was from the energy caused by the meteor breaking apart which created a blast wave resulting in a sonic boom.

NASA officials said the meteor traveling over Pittsburgh was about a yard in diameter with a mass of about half a ton (454 kilograms) and was traveling at roughly 45,000 mph (72,240 kph).

Heather Lin Ishler told the New York Times the sensation of the meteor exploding was similar to when you stand too close to fireworks and can feel it in your chest.

"It was just the feeling of the shock wave," she said, "but no sound or flash or anything like that."

However, Jill Tarasi, 42, said she was sitting on her couch when she heard the noise. "It sounded like a house was exploding," she said.

The NWS and Carnegie Science Center said the meteor explosion could be connected to a meteor shower that is expected to peak Sunday into Monday, KDKA reported.

NASA said the meteor that exploded above Pittsburgh on New Year's day was traveling about 45,000 mph and was about a yard in diameter. Above, a picture taken in Tours, central France on February 5, 2019, shows a 29 kilos Chondrite meteorite named "Elephant foot", part of the French meteorite hunter Gerard Merrier's collection before he sells it at auction on February 28, 2019 in Vendôme.

GUILLAUME SOUVANT/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

If not for the cloudy weather, officials said, it would have been easily visible in the daytime sky—maybe about 100 times the brightness of the full moon.

National Weather Service meteorologist Shannon Hefferan told the Tribune-Review that satellite data recorded a flash over Washington County shortly before 11:30 a.m. Saturday and officials believed it was due to a meteor "falling through the atmosphere." Hefferan said a similar event occurred September 17 in Hardy County, West Virginia.

Residents in South Hills and other areas reported hearing a loud noise and feeling their homes shaking and rattling.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

If not for cloudy weather, people of Pittsburgh would have been able to see the meteor as it exploded New Years Day 2022. It would have been 100 times brighter than a full moon. Above, an image of a fireball produced during the Taurid meteor shower recorded by the NASA All Sky Fireball Network station in Cartersville, Georgia, in 2013.NASA

Biden administration reimposes 'Remain in Mexico' policy

Under court order, the Trump-era policy is being executed with new protocols.

By Quinn Owen
3 January 2022

Migrant surge at the border

Biden administration officials further outlined a plan for the implementation of the "MPP" or "Remain in Mexico" policy on a conference call with reporters Monday while underscoring a commitment to ending the program and describing safeguards designed to improve conditions for asylum seeking enrollees.

A central criticism of the MPP program -- which bars asylum seekers from entering the U.S. while immigration courts review their claims -- was the lack of access to U.S. legal services for enrollees forced into makeshift Mexican border camps. Now, the Biden administration is working with legal service providers and promising 24-hour consultation windows to assist with screening interviews and immigration court cases.


Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
Vehicles wait to cross the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana, Mexico, on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021.

The Justice Department's Executive Office of Immigration Review is working to increase legal representation rates for asylum seekers while distributing "self-help materials" for immigrant applicants who need information on the process.

Improving conditions south of the border was another component in securing the Mexican government's cooperation. U.S. humanitarian workers have built up WiFi access at shelters, and Mexican authorities have stepped up security including at transportation hubs.
MORE: Biden administration asks Supreme Court to hear 'Remain in Mexico' case

Now, migrants enrolled in MPP will have access to transportation services at the port of entry, something Biden administration officials said is a necessary security measure given the level of crime taking place at border crossings.

MORE: Biden admin makes another attempt to end 'Remain in Mexico' policy

Over the holidays, the Biden administration submitted a request to the Supreme Court for expedited briefings on the case to end MPP. The administration previously lost lower court appeals against efforts to reinstate the protocols.


Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images, FILE
Customs agents check vaccination cards at the San Ysidro Port of Entry on Nov. 8, 2021

Under the latest iteration of MPP, migrants who receive an interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be judged on whether there's a "reasonable possibility" they have a fear of returning to Mexico rather than the previously used and more restrictive "more likely than not" standard.

The new standards are accessible to those like the group of 36 migrants brought to El Paso Monday for court hearings, making them the first to be processed under the new rules.
MORE: US rolls out changes to 'Remain in Mexico' policy pending Mexico agreement

Officials did not provide information on the number of asylum seekers subjected to MPP under the Biden administration's latest implementation efforts, but they did confirm enrollments have started in the El Paso and San Diego regions.

One senior Biden administration official estimated on Monday that the program was costing the U.S. government in excess of "tens of millions of dollars."

Fighting Intensifies in Eastern Colombia; at Least 23 Killed

January 03, 2022 
Associated Press

Colombian President Ivan Duque, center, speaks at a security council meeting requesting reinforcement in Arauca, the border with Venezuela, after clashes between ELN and FARC dissidents left 16 dead in Cartagena, Colombia, on Jan. 3, 2022. (Photo by Colombian Presidency / AFP)

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA —

At least 23 people were killed in Colombia this weekend, and 20 had to flee their homes as fighting between rebel groups intensified in the eastern state of Arauca, Colombia's defense minister said Monday.

The killings mark a setback for Colombia's government, which was able to bring down homicide rates in much of the country following a 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. But it is now struggling to control violence in rural pockets of the country where smaller rebel groups and drug trafficking organizations are fighting over smuggling routes, coca fields, illegal mines and other assets.

Arauca is home to some of Colombia's largest oil wells and is crossed by a pipeline that is regularly attacked by rebel groups that steal its oil. The state borders Venezuela, and drug trafficking groups have been fighting over its smuggling routes for decades.

In a statement Monday, Colombia's army said the latest outbreak of violence was caused by fighting between the National Liberation Army, or ELN, guerrilla group and former members of the FARC who refused to join the peace deal. The army said that both groups are currently fighting for dominance over the area's drug trade.

FILE - Rebels of the National Liberation Army hold a banner in the northwestern jungles in Colombia, Aug. 30, 2017.

Juan Carlos Villate, a human rights officer in the town of Tame, told Colombia's Blu Radio that he received reports of civilians who were dragged out of their homes and executed on Sunday by members of armed groups. Villate said that he had reports of 50 people who went missing and 27 who were killed over the weekend.

Human Rights Watch said it has received reports of 24 deaths, as well as forced displacements and abductions.

"It appears that the alliance between the ELN and dissidents with the 10th Front of the FARC in the zone has broken," said the group's Colombia expert, Juan Pappier.

Arauca last year received hundreds of refugees who fled from neighboring Venezuela following fighting between the Venezuelan army and FARC splinter groups that also operate on the Venezuelan side of the border.

Colombian President Ivan Duque said on Monday that he would send more troops to the area and increase surveillance flights to intercept armed groups and monitor their activity along the border with Venezuela. Duque accused Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro of providing shelter to some of these rebel groups and said Colombia would fight them "with all its might."

While Colombia's overall murder rate has gone down since the peace deal was signed, homicides and forced displacement have also gone up in some rural pockets of the country that were previously dominated by the FARC and where smaller groups, including the ELN, are now fighting for territorial control.

The ELN guerrillas initiated peace talks with the Colombian government in 2017, but those broke down following an attack on a police academy that killed 23 people.