ST. LOUIS — Lying on top of an operating room table with his chest exposed, Larry Black Jr. was moments away from having his organs harvested when a doctor ran breathlessly into the room. “Get him off the table,” the doctor recalled telling the surgical team at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital as the […]
Health
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
COVID Hits Black Americans Harder. New Vaccine Limits Increase the Risk
Upheaval at the country’s top public health agency has left millions of Americans uncertain about access to the updated COVID-19 vaccines at a moment when rising case numbers threaten to disproportionately harm Black Americans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the new shots in August. But it narrowed eligibility to people who are 65 […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Mental Health, Partner Content
What Was Lost: Stories From Hurricane Katrina
As part of Capital B’s coverage of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina later this month, we’re proud to present “What Was Lost,” a series of reflections by Louisianans who survived the storm, produced by our collaborators at Verite News. NEW ORLEANS — Growing up, holidays were a lot of fun because we had really huge family […]
Posted inHealth, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
Medicaid Cuts Endanger Life-Saving Care for Black Families in Rural America
Over the past few months, Marcia Dinkins’ eldest child has been hospitalized frequently. A serious infection swept through her daughter’s body, affecting her pancreas, spleen, and gallbladder. Fortunately, Dinkins’ daughter, Marshale Malone, was able to afford and receive life-saving surgery, thanks to Medicaid. But without it, Dinkins said, the health emergency could have meant either […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Mental Health, Partner Content
What Was Lost: Stories From Hurricane Katrina
As part of Capital B’s coverage of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina later this month, we’re proud to present “What Was Lost,” a series of reflections by Louisianans who survived the storm, produced by our collaborators at Verite News. New Orleans — Ten years before Katrina, my wife, Phyllis, and I were house shopping. […]
Posted inClimate Change, Environmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Housing, Mental Health
20 Years After Katrina, Louisiana Residents Are Most Vulnerable to ‘Die of Despair’
This is the fourth story in our series chronicling the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Trigger warning: This article contains descriptions of suicide, gun violence, and child deaths that may be distressing to some readers. As the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approached in 2015, Michelle McCullum, a 25-year-old mother of two, drove her children, […]
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health, Partner Content
A Brain-Dead Pregnant Black Woman Was Kept Alive in Georgia. It’s Unclear if State Law Required It.
Originally published by KFF Health News A Georgia woman declared brain-dead and kept on life support for more than three months because she was pregnant was removed from a ventilator in June and died, days after doctors delivered her 1-pound, 13-ounce baby by emergency cesarean section. The baby is in the neonatal intensive care unit. […]
Posted inHealth
RFK Jr.’s Public Health Overhaul Could Disproportionately Put Black Lives at Risk
Alarm bells are ringing again for health advocates. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. scrapped a meeting for a federal advisory task force charged with making recommendations for which preventive care treatments must be covered by insurance companies, including cancer screenings and tests for sexually transmitted infections. The future of the task […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Extreme Weather, Mental Health, Partner Content
Extreme Heat Is Causing a Black Suicide Crisis in Phoenix. Urban Farms Offer a Lifeline
LIKE THOUSANDS OF OTHER BLACK AMERICANS, Tiffany Hawkins’ grandparents, Earnest and Mattie Lee Johnson, left the Jim Crow South in the 1950s to pick cotton in Arizona’s desert. Many sought opportunities in cities like Chicago and Detroit, but the Johnsons chose Arizona, where their lives and those of their children — including Hawkins’ mother, Arlene […]
Posted inCourts, Health, LGBTQ, Politics & Policy
7 Supreme Court Cases That Black Americans Should Track This Summer
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued a number of blockbuster rulings that have implications for everything from President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order to the future of LGBTQ books in schools. The justices punted a major Voting Rights Act case until next term, allowing time for further argument in the fall. In the […]
