Sibrina Speaks

I’m sure everyone has heard the news of Harvard Professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates being arrested at his own home for disorderly conduct, which now brings the issue of racial profiling back to attention of the media. The 911 tapes have been released along with the police report of the arresting officer Sgt. James Crowley with the Cambridge Police Department. Now, there are always two sides to every story, and then there is the truth. As one of my friends recently said to me, “I think the truth is somewhere in the middle,” and I do agree with my friend. Last week during his press conference focused on heath care reform, President Obama was asked to weigh in on the arrest of his friend Professor Gates. He admitted he didn’t know all of the facts and he is biased because of their friendship, but went on to say that the police “acted stupidly” in arresting his friend. Now, he also went on to say that cooler heads should have prevailed. Even Gen. Colin Powell gave his opinion last night ...

As I sit here writing this blog entry, I am watching Black in America 2 hosted by CNN Reporter Soledad O’Brien. I watched the first CNN special last year and although I thought it was good, it primarily focused on the problems that plague our communities. However, the current special is focusing on solving problems. The program begins with Malaak Compton-Rock and 30 kids from Brooklyn, New York traveling to Johannesburg, South Africa, through her program “Journey for Change,” with the goal for the kids to see the daily struggles of others. The point being is that when you see folks worse off than you, it can make a serious impact on you personally. They met young people dealing with HIV and AIDS, hunger, and the desire just to attend school. The impact was immediately felt by the kids. At the end of their two week trip one student said quite frankly, “I can’t complain with what I got.” However, when Soledad interviewed Malaak and she broke down crying saying that she only “can give the...

By now everyone is likely aware of the ongoing debate in Congress focusing on how to fix our heath care system, specifically how to reduce the rising costs. Health care reform is certainly a high priority for President Obama. His foot is on the accelerator to get something done, but I do wonder if speed is what we need to fix a very complex system. Don’t get me wrong, something has to be done, but there are a LOT of stake holders sitting at the table too. Yes, the American Medical Association (AMA) is “on board,” but there are 47 million Americans that do not have access to health care. It is time we do something. But even if a solid piece of legislation is passed by Congress, all of us will have to sacrifice in order for every single person to have access to quality health care, which I do believe is a right not a privilege. However, we also have another responsibility as stake holders too—we all need to be proactive about finding the right information when we do seek medical advic...

We all know that the month of February is designated for Black History Month, but we actually celebrate Black History Month everyday. One great online resource celebrating our contributions is Blackpast.org. Blackpast is a website that is truly a one-stop shopping resource focusing on various aspects of African American history. Developed by Dr. Quintard Taylor, a history professor at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA), this website focuses on three main areas—African American History, African American History in the West, and Global African History. Blackpast has over 3,000 pages of information focusing on people, places, institutions, organizations and events, such as the March on Washington in 1963 and the Detroit Riots of 1943 and 1967. In addition to being a fan of Blackpast, I had the opportunity to contribute a few descriptions of African American chemists, including Dr. Nathaniel Oglesby Calloway, Dr. Percy L. Julian, and Dr. Saint Elmo Brady, the first African Americ...