Page 2 The Skanner October 5, 2016
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Challenging People to Shape
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Opinion
Blackonomics: What the Kaepernick Protest Tells
Us about Black Power and Money
T
urnabout is fair play.
Why can’t more of us
see that economics is the
key to our freedom and
the answer to the problems
we talk about all the time?
This political year has and
continues to bring this fact
to light, but the Colin Kaeper-
nick protest illuminates
the issue of economics even
more. Here is a guy who chose
to exercise his right not to
stand at the playing/singing
of the National Anthem, and
as a result folks have called
him everything, but a child of
God. Folks who have burned
the lag have not received the
kind of treatment Kaepernick
has garnered. Now, as other
football players have joined
in to do similar acts of protest,
the real deal — economics —
comes to the forefront.
Sponsors are exercising
their rights to revoke their
endorsements of these ath-
letes. In other words, they
are taking away their money
in an efort to punish these
players, the same thing they
always do when a player says
or does something they don’t
like or agree with. It has hap-
pened to Black and White
players alike.
Opinions abound on what
the players should do now,
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BE A PART
OF THE
CONVERSATION
#SkNews
James
Clingman
NNPA
Columnist
and it’s amazing that some of
us tell them to keep it up no
matter how much money they
lose, but we are unwilling to
“
address those issues by pun-
ishing those athletes in some
form or another. The league
saw dollar signs lying out of
the window and acted accord-
ingly.
Remember the state of In-
diana law that gay people
said was discriminatory to-
ward them?
Corporations
threatened to move their
irms out of the state if the
law was not changed. Gover-
accusing the owners and op-
erators of the NBA as co-con-
spirators in ‘’blackballing’’
him from the league because
of his “outspoken political na-
ture as an African American
man.”
When the Bulls champion-
ship team went to the White
House ater an invitation
from President George H.W.
Bush, Hodges wore a dashiki
and handed the President a
letter that
a s k e d
him
to
do more
to
end
injustice
toward
the African American com-
munity.
Ironically and unfairly,
during that same period,
stars like Dennis Rodman and
Charles Barkley, both known
for doing outrageous things,
were tolerated and even cel-
ebrated. Craig Hodges stood
on his beliefs as did Denver
Nuggets star, Mahmoud Ab-
dul-Rauf, formerly known as
Chris Jackson, who was prob-
ably second only to Michael
Jordan on the ofensive end of
the basketball court.
It’s amazing that some of us tell them to keep it
up no matter how much money they lose, but we
are unwilling to do the same thing at our jobs
do the same thing at our jobs.
Yes, they make a whole lot
more money than most of us
do, but it’s all relative.
Knowing that economics
runs everything in this coun-
try and the world for that mat-
ter, Black folks in general and
Black athletes in particular
must exercise another basic
right: Use money for leverage
and punishment, the same
way other entities do. What
do I mean by that? Remember
the incidents with Michael
Vick, Adrian Peterson and
Ray Rice? Several NFL spon-
sors notiied the league that
they would withdraw their
support if the NFL did not
nor Mike Pence took care of
that problem right away by
changing the law. How about
the latest issue in North Car-
olina with the transgender
bathroom thing? The NCAA
is sanctioning the state by
pulling its tournaments, in all
sports, out of North Carolina.
The NBA has also refused to
hold the All-Star game there.
That’s money talking and
Black folks better take notice
and start using our economic
clout to get what we want.
Do you remember Craig
Hodges, who played for the
Chicago Bulls? He iled a fed-
eral lawsuit, against the NBA
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
Managing Pain and Opioid Addiction in the Black Community
As America grapples with
prescription opioid addic-
tion, an epidemic shattering
communities across our na-
tion, healthcare providers
face a challenging question:
How can we help patients
treat and manage their pain
while reducing the risk of ad-
diction?
Pain management is a
serious health issue, as
chronic cases of pain now
afect more Americans than
diabetes, heart disease and
cancer combined. Not only
does persistent pain alict
the emotional and inancial
well-being of people and their
families, it also exacts a sig-
niicant strain on our country
— in the form of healthcare
costs, long-term disability
and lost worker productivity.
Pain does not discrimi-
nate based on background
or health status, yet research
points to substantial dispar-
ities in the prevalence, treat-
ment and outcomes of pain.
For many African Americans
and other minorities, under-
standing why these dispar-
ities exist is paramount to
achieving pain care equity
and improving quality of life.
Minorities are not at a
higher risk for pain-related
conditions than their White
counterparts, but African
Americans consistently re-
ceive less adequate treatment
Patricia A.
Maryland,
Dr.PH
NNPA
Columnist
for acute and chronic pain
— even ater controlling for
age, gender and pain inten-
sity. What’s more, research
also shows that minorities are
“
bias is perhaps the biggest
factor. While most physi-
cians are strong advocates for
health equity, negative pre-
conceptions can creep into
how pain is addressed in the
clinical setting. Eliminating
these biases is one key way we
can achieve better outcomes
for African Americans expe-
riencing pain, and that starts
by understanding a patient’s
heritage and belief system.
Access is another instru-
prevented. We know some
African Americans continue
to be skeptical of the health-
care system, and that lack of
trust can lead African Amer-
ican patients to underreport
their pain levels, only fur-
thering inadequate pain man-
agement. African American
patients must take charge of
their health and feel empow-
ered to honestly communi-
cate and set expectations with
healthcare providers in order
African-Americans continue to be skeptical of the
healthcare system, and that lack of trust can lead Afri-
can American patients to underreport their pain levels.
more likely to be prescribed
less efective, non-opioid
medications — or opioids at a
lower prescription dosage —
than Whites, even when pain
severity levels are compara-
ble.
That is not to say opioids are
always the preferred tool for
treating pain. However, the
prescription of less efective
medications or lower dosages
does signal a troubling gap in
instances when opioids can
be an efective, pragmatic
solution for African Ameri-
can patients.
Many factors are at play in
understanding why African
American patients are more
likely to receive inadequate
pain treatment, but physician
mental lever in erasing the
pain care gap. The Aford-
able Care Act (ACA) helped
to increase access to health-
care considerably for Afri-
can Americans, but too many
individuals remain unin-
sured or unable to access
basic medical services, in-
cluding pain relief. Encour-
aging loved ones to take ad-
vantage of the opportunities
provided by the ACA can
help them access the care and
treatment they need to live
comfortably.
But access alone is not
enough. Equally important
is building trust with the
healthcare community — so
that pain-related conditions
can be treated, managed and
to receive the right care at the
right time.
At Ascension, we’re work-
ing to achieve equitable pain
management across all mi-
nority groups. We know our
ield is at a tipping point, and
a failure to treat pain is not
only poor medicine, it’s deny-
ing our brothers and sisters a
basic human right. That’s why
we are working in concert
with our patients to devel-
op national, comprehensive
guidelines to pain manage-
ment — standards that embed
healthcare equity with our
understanding of patient his-
tory and cultural sensitivity.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com