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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2019)
Page 2 The Skanner Portland & Seattle March 27, 2019 ® Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now African American Heart Health Is Vital Bernie Foster Founder/Publisher L Bobbie Dore Foster Executive Editor Jerry Foster Advertising Manager Christen McCurdy News Editor Patricia Irvin Graphic Designer Monica J. Foster Seattle Office Coordinator Susan Fried Photographer 2017 MERIT AWARD WINNER The Skanner Newspaper, es- tablished in October 1975, is a weekly publication, published every Wednesday by IMM Publi- cations Inc. 415 N. Killingsworth St. P.O. Box 5455 Portland, OR 97228 Telephone (503) 285-5555 Fax: (503) 285-2900 info@theskanner.com www.TheSkanner.com The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Association and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. ©2018 The Skanner. All rights re served. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission prohibited. Local News Pacific NW News World News Opinions Jobs, Bids Entertainment Community Calendar LOCAL NEWS BRIEFS LOCAL EVENTS F ebo m me • nts TheSkannerNews o k • learn • co in y o u r c o m m u n y ac it Updated daily online. d ay ! • L i ke u s o n • to Opinion ast month, February 2019, was not only Black History Month, it was also Heart Health Aware- ness Month per the American Heart Association. Heart dis- ease is the number one kill- er of men and women in the United States. Generally, heart disease is considered a man’s disease, but more Black and White women die of heart disease than all cancers combined. About 610,000 men and wom- en die of heart disease each year and it accounts for 1 in 4 deaths in both genders. Coro- nary Heart Disease is the most common type and accounts for over half of these deaths. Coronary heart disease in- creases the risk for heart at- tacks and over 700,000 Amer- icans have heart attacks each year. Like other serious health issues, African Americans have disproportionately high rates of heart disease. Every month for 49 million African Americans should be heart health awareness month. The three largest risk fac- tors that lead to fatal heart disease are high blood pres- sure, high cholesterol, and smoking. Diabetes, Obesity, poor diet, physical inactivity, and excess drinking are other risk factors. There are other lifestyle concerns that can Dr. Anisa Shomo Dir. Family Medicine Scholars, Univ. of Cincinnati also lead to high blood pres- sure and obesity such as poor sleep and high stress levels. Heart disease signs and symptoms are chest pain and discomfort, nausea, light- headedness, shortness of breath, sweating, upper body pain or discomfort (jaw, arms, neck, upper back, upper “ Over 700,000 Americans have heart attacks each year stomach). If you or a loved one are experiencing these symp- toms you should call 9-1-1 im- mediately. Now that I have your atten- tion at least for a moment, there are specific ways to improve your heart health. Know your heart-related numbers. Get your primary care doctor at least once per year to check your blood pres- sure, heart rate, BMI (body mass index). and cholesterol. High blood pressure or hy- pertension is called the “Si- lent Killer” because many people have no symptoms of their blood pressure being high. Your doctor will also screen you for depression and other conditions depend- ing on your age and risk fac- tors. Check your weight at home often (daily, weekly, monthly) to make sure that you are not gaining weight. Many people gain 5 pounds per year with- out awareness and that adds up over the years. The goal is a blood pressure under 130/80 and a heart rate be- tween 60 and 80. Smoking cigarettes is not good for your health and in particular smoking is not good for a healthy heart. If you smoke, you should con- sider the health benefits of “stop smoking.” Consistent exercise is also important to keep your heart healthy. Be Active: at least 30 minutes five days per week. Think about how you can move naturally in your home. Can you walk more in your home? Can you routinely bike or lift weights or stretch? Make a plan to walk more by setting goals for how much you want to walk, how often, and how you will track your progress (pedometer, stop- watch, timer, calendar, etc). Eat a “Heart Healthy Diet.” Of course there will always be a range of strategies and objectives to help maintain having a healthy heart. Diet is another user-friendly item. In other words, you can control your personal daily diet. Avoiding becoming over weight and obesity are both related to diet. Studies have concluded that a “Mediterra- nean Diet” has consistently been shown to be the pre- ferred diet for heart health. It is not actually a diet but the way that people in Mediter- ranean cultures eat for their whole lives. It consists of small amounts of meat, fish, and dairy but is mostly plant- based. Weight is directly related to diet and physical exercise. Maintaining a healthy weight is a factor in sustaining a healthy heart. This is a some- what controversial because as recent studies have shown that weight is not as import- ant to heart health as diet and exercise. That is to say that whether your weight is low or high, you should still be work- ing to have a healthy diet and stay active. If you do desire to weight loss, talk with your doctor about long-term plan. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com The Black Women Jailed for ‘Stealing’ an Education A ctress Lori Loughlin was taken into custody by the FBI March 13 in Los Angeles after she, fellow movie star Felicity Huffman and 48 others were charged in a $25 million col- lege admissions scam that ABC News said has prompted repercussions from Holly- wood to the boardrooms of major corporations. A former cast member on the ABC sitcom “Full House,” Loughlin and Oscar-nomi- nated actress Huffman, are among 33 parents charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in the nationwide scam to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the Univer- sity of Southern California. Social media is abuzz over this case, and many are won- dering whether anyone will spend time in jail for their crimes. For some, it’s another exam- ple of the difference between when the White “elite” are charged with crimes com- pared to poor people of color. “Kelley Williams-Bolar and Tanya McDowell enrolled their children into Public School Districts in which they did not reside,” one Twitter user with the handle @dlno- dots wrote. Stacy M. Brown NNPA Columnist “They were both jailed for these crimes. Should Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin be held to that same stan- dard?” the user wrote. “ [McDowell] got 12 years for sending her six-year- old son to Norwalk, Connecticut’s Brookside Elementary School Others on social media con- curred with @dlnodots. In 2011, Williams-Bolar, a Black woman, was sentenced to 10 days in county jail, three years of probation and $30,000 in restitution for ly- ing about her residency to get her daughters into a better school district in Ohio. For McDowell, the punish- ment was worse. “[McDowell] got 12 years for sending her six-year-old son to Norwalk, Connecti- cut’s Brookside Elementary School while she ‘lived’ in Bridgeport, even though she was homeless,” said Bishop Talbert Swan, an activist and pastor. “She was convicted of 1st de- gree larceny for ‘stealing’ an education,” Swan said. When McDowell was sen- tenced in 2012, she vowed to continue to fight for a better education and life for her young son. Authorities said that her charges were compounded by the fact that she twice sold drugs to an undercover po- lice officer. The convoluted case left some scratching their heads, while others who had previously supported McDow- ell began to step away when the drug charges surfaced. Some observers suspected that because of the “stealing” education case, the homeless woman was targeted and set up by authorities, including a relentless cold-hearted prose- cutor. “Who would have thought that wanting a good educa- tion for my son would put me in this predicament,” McDow- ell, 34, said at her sentencing where she received 12 years in prison with seven years suspended. “I have no regrets seeking a better education for him, I do regret my participation in this drug case,” she said. Norm Pattis, a trial lawyer who said he’s fighting for freedom “one client at a time,” recently wrote a sobering blog about the McDowell case. Pattis, who practices law in Connecticut, said the system owes McDowell. “I hope Tanya McDowell will forgive us, someday, for our hypocrisy and cruelty. I hope her son will as well. But first she will have to serve her prison term. Her son will have to learn to get along without her,” Pattis said. Experienced criminal defense lawyers know the charges faced by McDowell often go hand-in-hand with life circumstances: “An addict has to steal, often, to support their habit,” Pattis said. However, McDowell was no ordinary drug user, he said. “She did not steal to support her habit. She stole an edu- cation from the City of Nor- walk. Yeah, that’s right. We now send people to prison for theft of an education,” Pattis said. Read the rest of this commentary at TheSkanner.com nt • lo c a l n e w s • eve