Here’s one depressing thing COVID-19 and the 1918 Spanish flu have in common

A new working paper looks at the effects of the 1918 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics on mortality and the economy, plus the role of non-pharmaceutical interventions

Published: Aug. 17, 2020

Economists Brian Beach, Karen Clay, Martin Saavedra said pandemics may exacerbate health disparities by disproportionately affecting groups more likely to suffer from risk factors, such as underlying, chronic conditions, including diabetes, and other cardiovascular issues. (Photo: MarketWatch photo illustration/Getty.)

How much has changed?

The 2020 coronavirus and 1918 Spanish influenza pandemics have many differences and share many similarities, but they also converge on one key point: their impact on the economy and employment and, in particular, how wealthier people had better odds of surviving their respective pandemics.

Both pandemics involve novel, highly contagious, respiratory viruses, spread across the world in a matter of months and, as of August 2020, COVID-19 — like the 1918 influenza — lacks a vaccine. During the 1918 pandemic, people wore masks and employed social distancing as much as possible instead, just like today.

A new working paper released Monday looked at the effects of the 1918 influenza and COVID-19 pandemics on mortality and the economy, plus the role of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as mask wearing and social distancing, and the impact on workers and socioeconomic status.

Even though both of these pandemics occurred 100 years apart, they had one depressing commonality, according to the research carried out by economists at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

During the 1918 influenza pandemic, wealthier people had a better chance of survival: Individuals of moderate and higher economic status had a mortality rate of 0.38%, versus 0.52% for those of lower economic status and 1% for those who were “very poor,” they wrote.

The economists — Brian Beach, Karen Clay, Martin Saavedra — said pandemics may exacerbate health disparities by disproportionately affecting groups more likely to suffer from risk factors, such as underlying, chronic conditions, including diabetes, and other cardiovascular issues.

“Compared to individuals who lived in one-room apartments, individuals who lived in two-room, three-room, and four-room apartments had 34%, 41%, and 56% lower mortality, respectively,” they added. Similarly, multi-generational households were more at risk from coronavirus in 2020.


Women were harder hit by both pandemics economically

Some 500 million people, or one-third of the world’s population, became infected with the 1918 Spanish flu. An estimated 50 million people died worldwide, with about 675,000 deaths occurring in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were some differences between the first and second waves in 1918. Using data from military, insurance, and death records, earlier research showed that Blacks had lower morbidity and mortality rates, but higher case-mortality rates than whites during the second wave in 1919.

“This finding is striking given the evidence from other contexts that lower socioeconomic groups were more affected by the pandemic,” they wrote. “It is possible that Blacks may have had greater exposure to the milder spring wave and thus some immunity to the more deadly second wave.”

Although it seems unlikely that the 1918 pandemic significantly affected gender equality, as few married women participated in the labor force during 1918, a man who lost his spouse to the virus in 1918 likely would been less economically affected than a widowed women.

In 2020, the International Labour Organization said women were likely harder hit economically. They are in greater danger of contracting COVID-19 and less likely to have Social Security coverage, “as they make up the vast majority of domestic, health and social-care workers globally.”

The organization warned that women were disproportionately affected, “with almost 510 million women, or 40% of all employed women, working in the industries with most job losses compared to 36.6% of men, which includes food and accommodation, retail and real estate.”
The 2020 pandemic may have a shorter economic shock


Both pandemics caused an economic contraction, reducing both gross domestic product and employment. “Businesses and schools temporarily shut down in many places, although those shutdowns were less stringent than what occurred in the spring of 2020,” the economists said.

“Many studies disagree on the size of the contraction and how long the effects lasted. Some suggest the economy recovered by the time the pandemic was over, whereas others argue that the economy recovered in two to three years.”

There, however, the two pandemics part ways. “With COVID-19, working-age adults are among the most likely to survive,” Beach, Clay, and Saavedra wrote. “It is thus unlikely that COVID-19 will generate a similarly sized negative labor supply shock.”

As separate research by Deutsche Bank DB, -0.63% said: “For COVID-19, the elderly have been overwhelmingly the worst hit.” Approximately eight in 10 deaths in the U.S. from coronavirus were among those who were 65 or older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Though the 1918 pandemic is forever associated with Spain, this strain of H1N1 was discovered earlier in Germany, France, the U.K. and the U.S. But similar to the Communist Party’s response to the first cases of COVID-19 in China, World War I censorship buried or underplayed those reports.

“It is essential to consider the deep connections between the Great War and the influenza pandemic not simply as concurrent or consecutive crises, but more deeply intertwined,” historian James Harris wrote in an article about the pandemic.

Coronavirus update: COVID-19 has now killed at least 776,157 people worldwide, and the U.S. ranks 10th in the world for deaths per 100,000 people (51.5), Johns Hopkins University says. As of Monday, the U.S. has the world’s highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (5,408,268) and deaths (170,131). Worldwide, confirmed cases are now at 21,720,713.

The Dow Jones Industrial Index DJIA, -0.31% was down slightly Monday, while the S&P 500 SPX, 0.27% and Nasdaq COMP, 1.00% were trading marginally higher as investors await progress on a vaccine and, as Democrats and Republicans debate the details of the next unemployment benefits, round two of the economic stimulus program.

AstraZeneca AZN, +2.33% in combination with Oxford University, BioNTech SE BNTX, +2.36% and partner Pfizer PFE, +0.73%, GlaxoSmithKline GSK, +1.43%, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, +0.54%, Merck & Co. MERK, -1.51%, Moderna MRNA, +0.88%, and Sanofi SAN, -1.11%, among others, are currently working on COVID-19 vaccines.

4 facts about oleandrin, an unproven coronavirus treatment reportedly pitched to Trump

Ben Carson and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell pushed the toxic floral extract as a COVID-19 ‘cure’ to the White House: report

Aug. 17, 2020 By Nicole Lyn Pesce

The entire oleander plant is poisonous because of oleandrin and other compounds. ERIKA PARFENOVA/ISTOCK

Another questionable coronavirus treatment is raising eyebrows.

That would be oleandrin, an extract from the highly toxic oleander plant, which was pitched to the president by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell in July. It should be noted that Lindell, a Trump supporter, owns a financial stake in Phoenix Biotechnology, which is developing the experimental oleandrin product. And Carson, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is a personal friend of his.

Lindell told Axios in a new interview that Trump “basically said: …’The FDA should be approving it,” during their July meeting.

And this Axios interview went viral over the weekend, as it sparked déjà vu over what happened with hydroxychloroquine last spring. (Trump had encouraged the FDA in March to authorize the emergency use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to treat the novel coronavirus. But the FDA revoked this in June after a large, randomized clinical trial found hydroxychloroquine showed “no benefit” for either preventing infection or speeding recovery.)

While some scientific trials have studied whether oleandrin could treat cancer, AIDS and congestive heart failure, there is no evidence that oleandrin works to treat COVID-19 in humans. Yet Andrew Whitney, an executive at Phoenix Biotechnology, told Axios that oleandrin has been tested on humans for treating COVID-19; the study has just not been published or peer-reviewed yet.

Critics have expressed concern that another snake oil treatment is being pushed as a potential coronavirus cure, even as confirmed cases hit 21.7 million globally, with the death toll passing 775,000.

“The involvement of the Secretary of HUD and MyPillow.com in pushing a dubious product at the highest levels should give Americans no comfort at night about their health and safety during a raging pandemic,” a senior administration official told Axios.

Yet when reporters spoke to the president outside of the White House on Monday morning, he said that he has not asked the FDA to look into oleandrin. Trump merely said, “I’ve heard of it,” and, “we’ll look at it. We’re looking at a lot of different things.”

Considering oleandrin is on everyone’s lips, here are four things known about the experimental extract so far.

It’s derived from the oleander plant.

Oleandrin is drawn from the Nerium oleander plant, an evergreen shrub native to northern Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia. It is also known as rose laurel, adelfa, rosenlorbeer and karavira. It has been used in traditional medicine to treat hemorrhoids, ulcers, leprosy and as an abortifacient, aka a drug to induce abortions, although there is no evidence that it is safe or effective for any of these medicinal purposes.

The plant is highly toxic.

Oleander is highly toxic to humans and animals because of compounds including oleandrin. Eating just one leaf from the plant can be fatal for an adult, and all parts of the plant are poisonous. Oleandrin poisoning symptoms occur several hours after consumption, and include vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, skin turning blue, low blood pressure, low body temperature and respiratory paralysis. Symptoms can last two or three days, and hospitalization is often necessary. Even skin contact with the plant’s sap can result in rashes or sores.

Oleandrin has been developed to treat cancer.

A hot water extract of the plant trademarked as Anvirzel has shown some promise in cancer treatment, where it has appeared to slow the growth of tumors and even killed some cancer cells in laboratory settings (aka test tubes). But Anvirzel has not been proven to be effective in the human body yet, so it is still considered an “investigational new drug” that is only being used in approved clinical trials. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center notes that Anvirzel is not an approved treatment in the United States.

It’s also being looked at for treating HIV. A test tube study published in 2012 found that Anvirzel lowered the infectivity of HIV; but keep in mind that something that works in a test tube does not always work in the human body.

There’s no evidence that it can treat COVID-19 in people yet.

So where is the COVID-cure buzz coming from? A July 2020 study out of Texas showed that, in test tubes, oleandrin could inhibit the coronavirus in monkey kidney cells. But this study has not been peer-reviewed or published yet. And while Phoenix Biotechnology exec Whitney also told Axios on Saturday that “we have provided” human clinical evidence to the FDA, he would not share what that evidence is. The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) also conducted some preliminary testing of oleandrin against SARS-CoV-2 (the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19). The results were “inconclusive,” a spokesperson told Axios.

“You’d certainly want to see more work done on this before even contemplating a human trial,” Professor Sharon Lewin, the director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne, told Axios.

What’s more, one of the authors of the Texas study, Robert Newman, is the chairman of the Phoenix Biotechnology advisory board — the company developing the oleandrin product.

FDA's first-ever list of medical supply shortages says US needs more ventilators, gloves, surgical gowns
ichoi@businessinsider.com (Inyoung Choi),
Business Insider•August 16, 2020

Medical gear is placed outside the room of a Covid patient in the ICU at Oakbend Medical Center in Richmond, Texas, on July 15, 2020.
MARK FELIX/AFP /AFP via Getty ImagesMore


For the first time, under the CARES Act signed in March, the FDA issued a "publicly-available, up-to-date list" of medical supply shortages.
The list, which was released on Friday, includes surgical gowns, gloves, swabs, and ventilators.

That same day, President Donald Trump called the US "is now the king of ventilators."

On Friday, the US Food & Drug Administration issued a publicly available list of medical supply shortages for the first time. 

The list cited the CARES Act that was signed in March for adding an additional section in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Part of the new section required the FDA to "maintain a publicly-available, up-to-date list of the devices the FDA has determined to be in shortage," the FDA announced.

In the list, a number of PPE, testing supplies, and ventilation related products are stated to be short in supply. Surgical apparel, patient examination gloves, sterile swabs, and ventilators are among those on the list.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump lauded the nation's supply of medical supplies at Friday's press conference at the White House. He commemorated his administration for using the Defense Production Act "more than any President in history" to help America create ventilators.

"Our nation is now the king of ventilators. I say that: the king of ventilators," Trump said.

While the US struggles in medical supplies like ventilators and PPE shortages, Trump has for long lauded his administration's ability to secure supplies.

In May, Trump said that he's "heard we have tremendous supply to almost all places — tremendous supply" after the President of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners noted that "PPE has been sporadic."

The shortages of medical supply remain critical as the US cases spike at 5.3 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. Last month, the CDC stated that the US may have 10 times higher the number of officially recorded cases of coronavirus.

Read more:


CDC clarifies that science does not imply people are immune to coronavirus in the 3 months after infection


US coronavirus cases are probably 10 times higher than the official numbers, more and more research suggests


6 public-health experts offer a coronavirus agenda for Biden and Harris' first day in office, should they win


The FDA has granted emergency use authorization to a new saliva-based coronavirus test funded by the NBA and NBPA

Read the original article on Business Insider

Hit ’em where it hurts – how economic threats are a potent tool for changing people's minds about the Confederate flag
Jordan Carr Peterson, Assistant Professor of Political Science, North Carolina State University and Christian Grose, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of Southern California – Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences,
The Conversation•August 17, 2020

The Mississippi state flag, with a representation of the Confederate battle flag, is raised one last time over the state Capitol building on July 1, 2020. AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Activists nationwide have resumed demanding the removal of statues and symbols that are considered racially offensive – such as of slave owners, Confederate leaders and the Confederate flag.

The requests – and related boycotts and threats of other economic protests – have been part of the national controversy about racism in American life and have sparked questions about how to recognize traumatic elements of U.S. history.

Typically, the debate about the role of Confederate imagery in public life is seen as a political, social or racial issue. But in recent research, we discovered that economic concerns could be effective in shifting Southerners’ attitudes about Confederate symbols.

Public officials and individual citizens alike are more likely to oppose the presence of Confederate symbols when they learn it may be bad for local business.

Longstanding support

Decisions to build Confederate monuments or display the Confederate battle flag were not, of course, controversial among white Southerners. Even recently, it wasn’t common for many white Americans – either in public service or as private citizens – to actively support removing Confederate imagery.

Yet some organizations have long opposed Confederate symbols. For instance, the NAACP called an economic boycott of South Carolina from 2000 to 2015 because the Confederate battle flag flew over the State House in Columbia, alongside the state and U.S. flags.

As recently as 2011 a plurality of white Southerners saw the Confederate flag as more positive than negative.

Political elites were not much different: In 2000, when South Carolina hosted a debate during the Republican presidential primaries, both George W. Bush and John McCain initially supported leaving decisions up to state officials about whether to keep the Confederate flag flying, though McCain equivocated on the issue throughout the campaign.

A BLACK woman takes a Confederate flag off a public display.

A rapid change

Opposition to public display of Confederate symbols has shifted in more recent years.

In some cases, public officials have encountered changing political circumstances. In 2015, for instance, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley supported a bipartisan call to remove the flag from the State House in the wake of a racially motivated mass shooting of African Americans at a Charleston church.

Our research found that presenting divisive social and political issues in terms of their potential economic consequences can change the views of both political elites and the public at large.

This came up, for instance, during a legislative debate in Mississippi in June 2020. Some of the people arguing that the Confederate flag should not be part of the state flag said that keeping it might impede job creation and economic development in their state.

Those tactics are similar to economic arguments from other groups seeking social change, such as LGBT-rights advocates explaining how the business community would be hurt by continued discrimination.

What’s the effect?

In our research, we surveyed voters as well as elected officials at both city and county levels. We wanted to measure whether, and how much, economic interests might affect Southerners’ attitudes toward the presence of Confederate symbols. We randomly assigned the participants into one of three equal-sized groups.

The first group read a vignette asking them to imagine that a Confederate flag was displayed on local government property in their county, and then asked them, on a scale from 1 to 7, how likely they were to support removal of the flag.

The second group was given the same basic information as the first group, but with additional language indicating that the continued presence of Confederate flag on public property in their county would mean a major multinational company would not want to relocate to the community.

[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]

The last group was given the same information as the second group, but with an additional assertion that the continued presence of the flag would have an effect large enough to affect the stock market in a way that would hurt the respondents’ personal economic bottom line.

A truck carrying a Confederate battle flag is parked next to a Confederate statue.

We found that Southerners were far more likely to support removal of Confederate symbols from public property when told there would be economic harm if they stayed up. Both voters and elected officials became about a half-point more likely on our seven-point scale to support removal after receiving information about the economic threats associated with the continued presence of the Confederate flag.

Controversies around socially and racially divisive monuments and symbols are likely to continue in the U.S. Our findings indicate that social movements might change more people’s minds by emphasizing not only the history of Southern racial injustice, but also by using the potent threats of boycotts and other forms of economic pressure.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:

African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces


Latest legal hurdle to removing Confederate statues in Virginia: The wishes of their long-dead white donors

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Days after deal with UAE, anti-Netanyahu protests resume
SHLOMO MOR,
Associated Press•August 15, 202



Trump: More Middle East talks after UAE-Israel deal

President Donald Trump said Thursday the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state. (Aug. 13)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside the official residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday night, resuming their calls for the embattled leader to step down despite his historic agreement to establish diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates.

Israelis have been gathering outside Netanyahu’s residence several times a week throughout the summer, protesting his handling of the coronavirus crisis and saying he should not remain in office while on trial for corruption charges.

While Netanyahu has tried to play down the protests, the gatherings appear to be getting stronger. Even Netanyahu’s blockbuster announcement Thursday announcing plans to establish ties with the UAE, making it just the third Arab country currently to have formal diplomatic relations with Israel, appeared to have no effect on the protesters’ momentum.

Thousands of people thronged central Jerusalem late Saturday, blaring horns, hoisting Israeli flags and chanting slogans against Netanyahu. A smaller protest took place near Netanyahu’s private beach home in the upscale coastal town of Caesaria, while other gatherings took place on bridges and intersections across the country.


There was a heavy police presence at the demonstrations but no reports of serious violence. In the central town of Hadera, police said they arrested a 20-year-old man who threw firecrackers at demonstrators.

The rallies against Netanyahu are the largest Israel has seen since 2011 protests over the country’s high cost of living. Even so, they do not appear to pose an immediate threat to Netanyahu.

After moving quickly to contain the virus last spring, many believe Israel reopened its economy too quickly, leading to a surge in cases. The country is now coping with a spike in cases, while unemployment has surged to over 20%.

Many of the demonstrators, including many young unemployed Israelis, accuse Netanyau of mishandling the coronavirus crisis and the economic damage it has caused.

The demonstrations, taking place several times a week at locations around the country, are organized by a loose-knit network of activist groups. Some object to Netanyahu remaining in office while he is on trial. He has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in a series of scandals. Many carry black flags, the name of one of the grassroots movements.

US approves oil, gas leasing plan for Alaska Wildlife refuge

Oil and gas leasing program within Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge approved

MARK THIESSEN,
Associated Press•August 17, 2020

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Department of the Interior on Monday approved an oil and gas leasing program within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the sprawling home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife.

Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed the Record of Decision, which will determine where oil and gas leasing will take place in the refuge’s coastal plain, a 1.56-million acre swath of land on Alaska’s north shore with the Beaufort Sea.

“Congress directed us to hold lease sales in the ANWR Coastal Plain, and we have taken a significant step in meeting our obligations by determining where and under what conditions the oil and gas development program will occur,” Bernhardt said in a statement.

Congress approved the program in 2017, and the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in December 2018 concluded drilling could be conducted within the coastal plain area without harming wildlife.

“Today’s announcement marks a milestone in Alaska’s forty-year journey to responsibly develop our state and our nation’s new energy frontier,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said.

The Republican governor called Monday’s decision “a definitive step in the right direction to developing this area’s energy potential,” which he estimated at 4.3 and 11.8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil reserves.

Environmental groups immediately assailed opening the refuge and promised litigation.

“The Trump administration’s so-called review process for their shameless sell-off of the Arctic Refuge has been a sham from the start. We’ll see them in court,” said Lena Moffitt with the Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign.

“Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left,” Adam Kolton, Executive Director at Alaska Wilderness League, said. “And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation’s last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it.”


US Interior Dept approves oil drilling in Arctic refuge

Steven C. AMSTRUP,
AFP•August 17, 2020



The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is home to polar bears such as this one, photographed on sea ice northeast of Prudhoe Bay in Alaska

The US Department of the Interior approved oil and gas drilling on Monday in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that drilling leases could be auctioned off by the end of the year.

Environmental groups vowed to fight the move to allow drilling in the remote area of northeast Alaska which is home to polar bears, caribou and other animals.

"Our climate is in crisis, oil prices have cratered, and major banks are pulling out of Arctic financing right and left," Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said in a statement.


"And yet the Trump administration continues its race to liquidate our nation's last great wilderness, putting at risk the indigenous peoples and iconic wildlife that depend on it."

The then Republican-held US House of Representatives and Senate approved oil leases in part of the vast federally-owned refuge three years ago.

"Congress gave us a very clear directive here, and we have to carry out that directive," Bernhardt said. "I have a remarkable degree of confidence that this can be done in a way that is responsible, sustainable and environmentally benign."

With oil prices at 15-year lows and potential deposits unknown, it is unclear how much bidding interest there will be among the major oil companies.

"We will continue to fight this at every turn, in the courts, in Congress and in the corporate boardrooms," said Kolton of the Alaska Wilderness League.

"Any oil company that would seek to drill in the Arctic Refuge will face enormous reputational, legal and financial risks."

cl/jh

In 'The 24th,' police brutality and unrest, 103 years ago

JAKE COYLE
Associated Press Aug 17, 2020, 

View photos
This image released by Vertical Entertainment shows Trai Byers, center, in a scene from "The 24th." (Vertical Entertainment via AP)More

NEW YORK (AP) — The sole photograph related to the Houston Riot of 1917 shows 64 Black soldiers sitting with arms folded and legs crossed behind a rope. Their sheer number, in a courtroom otherwise populated by white men, suggests they’re part of the audience but they’re not. They’re the defendants in what’s considered the largest murder trial in American history.

When the writer-director Kevin Willmott first came upon the photo 30 years ago, he was mystified by it. What was the story behind it? And how had he never heard of the Houston Riot before?

That led, ultimately, to “The 24th, ” Willmott’s dramatization of one of the bloodiest and most tragic chapters in the dark history of Jim Crow America.

Shortly after the U.S. entered World War I, 156 soldiers in an all-Black regiment, the 24th, were stationed near Houston. After beatings and harassment by locals and police officers -- including the dragging of a Black woman from her home that led to an attack and the arrest of a Black soldier -- the infantrymen mutinied and marched on Houston. Some 21 died in the violence including 11 civilians. After the trial, 19 of the soldiers were hung; 41 were sentenced to life imprisonment.

In a time of reckoning for police brutality, “The 24th” reverberates with injustices past and present. By stretching back more than 100 years, it vividly captures an early example of unrest unleashed by racist policing. Such incidents have typically gone unmentioned in history books. Willmott calls it “a hidden history.”

“Black people have been complaining, shouting, screaming, crying about police abuse for a long, long, long time,” Willmott said in a recent interview. “The movie is really an indictment for how long this problem has existed in the country.”

“The 24th” had originally been slated to premiere in March at SXSW before the coronavirus pandemic canceled the festival. But it’s one of the few films that have managed to find a path forward nevertheless. On Friday, Vertical Entertainment will release it on-demand and in digital rental, two days before the anniversary of the Houston Riot, also called the Camp Logan Mutiny.

Willmott is best known as Spike Lee’s recent co-writer. He helped pen “Chi-Raq,” “BlacKkKlansman” and their recent Netflix release, “Da 5 Bloods.” He also teaches film at the University of Kansas; the star and co-writer of “The 24th,” Trai Byers (“Empire”), was once Willmott’s screenwriting student.

While Willmott was working on “BlacKkKlansman” -- which won him and Lee an Oscar -- he suggested Byers look over the script. Together, they believed the film had the power to educate.

“It’s history. That was our main point. This is history. History that hasn’t been taught,” Byers said. “In order to meet these moments, we need that history, we need that point of reference. Until we know where we’ve been, how can we know who we are?”

While the horrors of slavery have sometimes been depicted in film, the in-between decades of Jim Crow have more seldom been shown. That could be changing. The opening of HBO’s “Watchmen,” set amid the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 -- in which white mobs leveled 35 square blocks of the wealthy Black Oklahoma community known as “Black Wall Street” -- exposed many to a history they knew little about.

“People need to know about the period after slavery. Slavery is the real sin of American life, but it didn’t end after slavery,” says Willmott. “That period after slavery, from the 1880s to the 1930s is for African Americans literally almost a Holocaust. That part of our history was really just erased from history books. Black people don’t know it, white people don’t know it. The fact that you can wipe out a whole black section of town in Tulsa -- that’s like a 9/11 for Black people -- and no one knows about it.”

With Lee, Willmott has been digging into less well-known periods of African American history, tugging at the roots of white supremacy ("BlacKkKlansman") and the nature of patriotism for Black Americans ("Da Five Bloods"). More often than not, they’re finding their films even more relevant than they expected.

“My Brother Kevin Willmott Has The Directing And Writing Skills That Show Us The Stories That Need To Be Seen And Heard,” Lee said in an email.

The obvious timeliness of “The 24th” was one reason its makers wanted it to come out this summer, even if movie theaters are largely closed due to the coronavirus. Descendants of three of the hanged men from the Houston Riot — William Nesbit, Thomas Coleman Hawkins and Jesse Ball Moore — recently petitioned the White House for posthumous pardons.

“It’s almost like we’re dealing with the George Floyds, the Breonna Taylors, the Ahmaud Arberys from a fresh take. But it’s not a fresh take. There’s so many tales of what happens when you push a man too far, push a group of people too far," says Byers. “What we’re hoping is that this film sparks the curiosity of the nation to find other stories.”

Getting “The 24th” made 30 years ago, Willmott says, was unfathomable. It wasn’t easy in 2019 either. The filmmakers didn’t find a home with a major studio or a streaming company but got it made with Jordan Fudge and the socially minded media fund New Slate Ventures. Since then, Willmott believes the death of George Floyd has “changed everything,” including the movie industry. Floyd grew up in Houston.

“I have a saying,” says Willmott. “We don’t own history, history owns us.”

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleA

Dec. 11, 1917: Black Soldiers Executed for Houston Riot
Time Periods: World War I: 1910 - 1919

Themes: African American, Racism & Racial Identity

The primary cause of the Houston riot was the habitual brutality of the white police officers of Houston in their treatment of colored people. —The Crisis Magazine, November 1917



Houston Riot court martial, August 23, 1917. Source: National Archives and Records Administration. Click for caption transcription and more info.

On Dec. 11, 1917, 13 African American soldiers were hanged just outside of San Antonio for alleged participation in the Houston Riot (or Mutiny) in August. The Houston Riot was started after a case of police brutality, as described by the Paris, Texas NAACP here:

At noon [on August 23, 1917], police dragged an African American woman from her home and arrested her for public drunkenness. A soldier from the camp asked what was going on, and was beaten and arrested as well. When Cpl. Charles Baltimore, an MP, learned of the arrest he went to the police station to investigate. He was beaten, then shot at as he was chased away. Rumors soon reached the camp that Baltimore had been killed, and that a white mob was approaching. Soldiers armed themselves and began their march toward the city.

A riot ensued, leaving 16 white people dead, including five policemen. Four Black soldiers also died.

The army held three courts-martial following the Houston Riot and found 110 African Americans guilty.

Nineteen African American soldiers were executed and 63 received life sentences in federal prison. Two white officers faced court-martial, but they were released. No white civilians were brought to trial.


The 13 soldiers hanged on December 11 were:
Sgt. William C. Nesbitt
Corp. Larsen J. Brown
Corp. James Wheatley
Corp. Jesse Moore
Corp. Charles W. Baltimore
Pvt. William Brackenridge
Pvt. Thomas C. Hawkins
Pvt. Carlos Snodgrass
Pvt. Ira B. Davis
Pvt. James Divine
Pvt. Frank Johnson
Pvt. Rosley W. Young
Pvt. Pat MacWharter


Some of the soldiers who received life sentences.

Courtesy of Angela Holder and Buffalo Soldiers National Museum


Marker at site of hanging of African American soldiers in Houston.

Learn more from Executed Today and an extensive collection of primary documents on the riot and trial at the South Texas College of Law.


To put this event in historical context, we recommend Freedom Struggles: African Americans and World War I by Adriane D. Lentz-Smith and Lynching in America: Targeting Black Veterans from the Equal Justice Initiative.
Related Resources

BOOKS: NON-FICTION
The Port Chicago 50: Disaster, Mutiny, and the Fight for Civil Rights
Book – Non-fiction. By Steve Sheinkin. 2014.
The story of 50 African American sailors charged with mutiny during World War II for challenging working conditions after a deadly munitions explosion.


TEACHING GUIDES
Teaching for Black Lives

Teaching Guide. Edited by Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au. 368 pages. 2018. Rethinking Schools.
Essays, teaching activities, role plays, poems, and artwork, designed to illuminate the movement for Black students’ lives, the school-to-prison-pipeline, Black history, gentrification, intersectional Black identities, and more.

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY
July 19, 1919: White Mobs in Uniform Attack African Americans — Who Fight Back — in Washington, D.C.

White mobs, incited by the media, attacked the African American community in Washington, D.C., and African American soldiers returning from WWI. This was one of the many violent events that summer and it was distinguished by strong and organized Black resistance to the white violence.

After being booed for kneeling, FC Dallas was to remain in locker room during national anthem for Nashville rematch

Doug McIntyre
Yahoo Sports Aug 16, 2020

FC Dallas Players Booed By Fans For Taking Knee During National Anthem

VIDEO

\https://sports.yahoo.com/fc-dallas-players-to-remain-in-the-locker-room-for-national-anthem-020214703.html

After being booed and having objects thrown at them by their own fans for taking a knee in protest of police brutality and systemic racism as the national anthem played before FC Dallas’ MLS game against Nashville SC last week, FCD’s players declared their intention to stay in the locker room for the pregame ceremony during Sunday night’s rematch in Frisco, Texas, the team announced.

“In consultation with our players and MLS, we have collectively decided to play the national anthem before the players take the field for tonight’s match against Nashville SC,” FC Dallas said in a statement. It added that there would also be a moment of silence before the game “for the players, coaches and all in attendance to promote racial equality.”

The match was delayed three-plus hours because of inclement weather. As such, no pregame ceremonies — including the singing of the U.S. anthem — were observed.

Sunday’s contest was the second makeup match in the Dallas suburb between the teams, which were both forced to skip the recently concluded MLS is Back Tournament in Florida because of COVID-19 outbreaks within their ranks.

After being booed by some Dallas-area fans for kneeling during the national anthem last week, players from FC Dallas and Nashville SC planned to remain in their respective dressing rooms for the pregame ceremony before Sunday's rematch. (Omar Vega/Getty Images)More

Throughout the five-weeklong MLS is Back event, players, coaches and officials took a knee in solidarity with the worldwide protests that erupted following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed in police custody in Minnesota in May. But with no fans in attendance during the tourney because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. anthem wasn’t played. About 3,000 spectators were in attendance in Frisco last week, making MLS the first of the big five United States-based team sports leagues to welcome supporters back into stadiums.

But some FCD supporters responded to players from both teams kneeling in protest by hurling boos and bottles at them, a display Dallas and U.S. national team defender Reggie Cannon called “disgusting” afterward. The decision to remain out of sight for the anthem and avoid a scene is an approach previously taken by teams in the NFL and National Women’s Soccer League.

Washington makes Jason Wright, 38, first Black team president in NFL history

Sam Cooper

Yahoo SportsAug 17, 2020, 7:06 AM

The Washington Football Team has made a significant hire. 

The franchise announced Monday morning that it has hired Jason Wright as team president, making Wright the first Black team president in NFL history. Wright, 38, played seven years as a running back in the NFL before earning his M.B.A. in business and working the past seven years at McKinsey & Company, an international consulting firm. 

Now Wright becomes the youngest president in the NFL and will be tasked with leading Washington’s business divisions — including operations, finance, sales and marketing, per a team release — while reporting directly to team owner Dan Snyder alongside head coach Ron Rivera. 

Wright replaces Bruce Allen, who was fired in 2019 after a lengthy stint with the organization. Allen, for the latter half of his tenure, oversaw both football and business operations of the franchise. Wright will oversee only business while Rivera controls “on-field responsibilities and football decisions,” the team said. 

While a member of the Arizona Cardinals, Jason Wright served as the team's union rep during the NFL's lockout in 2011. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A turbulent time in Washington

Wright arrives at a franchise embroiled in turmoil. Snyder is in the process overhauling his franchise — both in name and in culture. After years of resistance, Snyder announced last month his franchise would move away from its longstanding and controversial nickname, the Redskins. While a new name and logo are on the way, the franchise is also reeling from a Washington Post story documenting an array of former female team employees who described widespread sexual harassment throughout the organization. A law firm hired by Snyder is currently investigating those claims. 

"If I could custom design a leader for this important time in our history, it would be Jason,” Snyder said in a team press release. “His experience as a former player, coupled with his business acumen, gives him a perspective that is unrivaled in the league.”

Added Wright: “This team, at this time, is an ideal opportunity for me. The transformation of the Washington Football Team is happening across all aspects of the organization – from football to operations to branding to culture – and will make us a truly modern and aspirational franchise.”

In a Monday interview with Good Morning America, Wright acknowledged the challenges ahead but said he is encouraged by the franchise’s recent actions and plan moving forward. 

“We had a phrase when we played: ‘You don’t talk about it, you be about it.’ What I’ve seen from Dan and Tanya Snyder and the hiring of coach Rivera and some of the decisions they’ve made, there are actual shifts in action that suggest it’s a new day. That’s why I’m excited to take this on,” Wright said. 

Wright spent time with the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals after a standout career at Northwestern. He notably served as Arizona’s union representative during the 2011 NFL lockout. He retired in 2011 to attend the University of Chicago’s business school before landing a role at McKinsey. According to a team release, Wright played a key role in creating McKinsey’s Black Economic Institute, helping with the firm’s anti-racism and inclusion strategy.

Why is John Kasich speaking at the DNC?

AND NOT THIS GUY  

TO KEEP IT FAIR AND BALANCED

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