- Just ahead on "Black Issues Forum."

The 4th of July brings barbecues, fireworks and caution about the COVID Delta variant.

We'll have some updated guidance on safety.

Also reflections on American freedom and patriotism from LGBTQ Pride Month to H.R.

1.

Stay with us.

[upbeat music] ♪ Welcome to "Black Issues Forum," I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

As we prepare for fireworks, barbecues and gatherings on the 4th, the COVID Delta variant is not to be ignored.

It now makes up more than 20% of COVID cases in the United States and it's rapidly spreading in the United Kingdom where it now makes up more than 90% of COVID cases.

For some guidance on safety measures, we've invited Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist, Dr. DeLon Canterbury, CEO of GeriatRx and also a member of the African-American COVID-19 task taskforce in Durham.

Dr. Canterbury, can you just share with us, first of all, welcome and tell us how dangerous is the Delta variant of COVID-19?

- [Dr. DeLon] Yes, and thank you again for having me.

So in terms of the actual danger, for those who are vaccinated, this is really business as usual.

You wanna continue keeping yourself protected, washing your hands and wearing your mask.

But for those who may not be vaccinated, this could be a variant of concern.

What we fear is we are still not grossly vaccinated in America.

Even though we are doing better than most other countries, there are packets of people that still don't have access or are still not truly vaccinated, particularly those in the Midwest and those in Southern states as well.

North Carolina ranks 37 out of 50 states in terms of getting people vaccinated.

And so we're gonna see packets of a little bit of waves in those who are still in marginalized communities, those without access and of course our minority communities that may be black, Latino or Native American.

- [Deborah] So the advice I would say is to go ahead and consider going to get that vaccination.

How effective are the current vaccines against this variant?

- [Dr. DeLon] The beauty is the vaccines are stellar at protection, especially when you have your second shot and two weeks after where you're considered fully vaccinated.

For the Pfizer vaccine, we're seeing about 88% efficacy in preventing hospitalizations and death.

And those are the two main things that we didn't wanna avoid at all costs.

- [Deborah] And what can you share about the safety protocols for households with children under age 12, where perhaps all of the adults and people of age have gotten their vaccinations, but you've still got children in the house.

- [Dr. DeLon] Absolutely.

The fact that there's more community transmission with this Delta variant, it's likely that children may be affected.

For those situations, you still wanna continue to make sure your children if they can wear a mask when they're indoors or outdoors or particularly in crowded settings.

That's gonna be our best way to protecting them now and going forward trying to get families vaccinated as a whole.

Because it's not just a one-person effort, it's really a community issue in terms of how badly this thing could be spreading.

- [Deborah] That's gonna be pretty tough for some folks who really don't want to wear the masks and don't want children wearing masks.

And we know that with year-round school, some kids are going back to school soon.

- [Dr. DeLon] Absolutely and it is tough.

And trust me, I think we're all pretty much tired of this, but the pandemic truly is not over.

In fact, the entire globe, we've only vaccinated close to 10% of all people.

And so although we're seeing a little bit of drops in deaths and hospitalizations here, for the betterment of our community and for our families, we wanna get people vaccinated or at least consider talking objectives with someone about what maybe your concerns are about getting vaccinated.

- [Deborah] Well, now there is a new commitment by the Biden administration for 3 billion plus dollars in research on antiviral pill to treat COVID.

How could a COVID pill work in terms of prevention and treatment?

- [Dr. DeLon] Great question.

And the beauty about this technology is that we already have it.

We currently use this type of information for what we use for the current flu virus.

For those who may have heard of Tamiflu, you can basically take a 10 pill, five day course of pills and it can prevent the severity of you getting the flu.

And that same technology applies for COVID.

One of the new agents is called molnupiravir.

And so it's now undergoing phase three trials.

It will get more information in the fall.

The beauty about this is just like how you may take that Tamiflu, this may potentially worsen the severity of COVID if you are to get it if you take it soon enough.

- [Deborah] And you're talking about the severity of symptoms and I know that that is a concern for a lot of folks with regard to even taking the vaccine.

And we've been talking about vaccine hesitation and the reasons for it.

Now for those who might be hesitant because of reaction to the drug, what's your advice as a pharmacist?

- [Dr. DeLon] Honestly, there's so much we're still learning about COVID day in, day out and the long-term effects are innumerable on how detrimental they can be, particularly for those who may have risk factors.

The truth is we know these vaccines are safe and we know they're super effective.

And so the risk of maybe having one or two days of side effects needs to be weighed with the unknown risks of this terrible virus.

- [Deborah] All very important.

Dr. DeLon Canterbury, thank you so much for your time and advice.

- [Dr. DeLon] Absolutely.

My pleasure.

- [Deborah] June offered opportunities to reflect on America's promises with the establishment of Juneteenth as a national holiday and also recognition of LGBTQ Pride Month.

Similar to Black History in February, Pride Month began as a single day of celebration honoring the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York.

Here to talk with us about ongoing work to secure fair and equal treatment for LGBTQ people, I'd like to welcome the Director of Equality North Carolina, Kendra Johnson and journalist, Tim Pulliam.

So pleased to have both of you here with us.

Let me open up with you, Tim.

Just what would you share about the most significant recent pieces of legislation that have been passed in North Carolina to protect and ensure the civil rights of LGBTQ people?

- [Tim] So Deborah, I would say HB 142, the sunset of that law last December was a step in the right direction because it allowed for municipalities, cities and counties to enact their own non-discrimination ordinances.

And so that was a major step in the right direction.

And to date, Kendra, correct me if I'm wrong, we have at least nine municipalities that now have these non-discrimination ordinances that will allow people to be protected even in private employment from the LGBTQ community and at least four of them, if I'm not mistaken have gone into effect today.

So in my opinion, those are our landmark and progressive policies that need to happen throughout North Carolina.

- [Deborah] Absolutely and Kendra, what would you share about that as a step forward and anything that has been countered to that as a step backward?

- [Kendra] So first of all, Tim, you're absolutely right.

That's correct.

Four came into effect today.

It's nine cities and counties.

So that has been really a remarkable advance.

The counter is really, we had three really horrific bills that were filed at the same time that cities and counties were choosing to pass these measures and the bills themselves do so much psychological harm to one of the most marginalized subsets of the LGBTQ plus community that we're still dealing with that harm.

And that's the trans and gender nonconforming community.

And we've had four that's of trans folks murders in North Carolina so far this year and Charlotte is being ranked as the second most dangerous city for trans women.

And so we still have a long way to go, but we're gonna keep pushing ahead.

- [Deborah] And what would you say the most recent legislation on hate crimes has done for the LGBTQ community?

Has it been beneficial?

Does it take into consideration the needs of that community as well?

- [Kendra] Yeah, so some of the legislation on hate crimes that we've seen nationally, et cetera, what it does for me, the value in it because we know that folks who are most likely subject to be prosecuted under hate crimes look like me and you.

And so we don't support the heightened penalties that are put on, but the data collection that comes about as part of it.

So when an incident occurs, we know that policy is data driven and having those statistics gathered helps us be able to target the appropriate policies in order to deal with these issues.

So I think it's a step in the right direction.

Heightened penalties are problematic because our casual system is penalizing the black as brown, as poor and queer folks in the country.

- [Deborah] And I wanna get both of your response on this because even as you mentioned that we know that COVID-19 really put that magnifying glass on the disparities, the racial disparities in many different life indicators from health to education, to social justice.

And I'm wondering, how has that translated for the LGBTQ community of color in terms of disparities?

- [Kendra] So I think in terms of disparities, we know that they're there.

We have multiple intersecting identities that will determine how people enjoy freedom and liberty in this country.

What's been really good about the pandemic is that we've seen LGBTQ organizations and partners start to actually look at racial implications.

I think it's a result of the uprising as well.

And so the HRC, the Human Rights Campaign put out a report looking at the impact on black and brown LGBTQ Americans showing that they were disproportionately impacted by economically and in terms of health outcomes under COVID.

And then we had a recent brief that was issued by Cornell University and the Public Policy Research Portal that looks specifically at how race and sexual orientation and gender identity contribute towards outcomes for people in the workplace and healthcare settings and their interactions with the criminal justice system.

So we're starting to see more data.

And that to me is positive because if you looked at previous representations of the LGBTQ community, you would think that everybody was white and male and cis and gay.

And we actually black and brown folks make up the majority of the LGBTQ community.

- [Deborah] And it's very broad.

Tim.

- [Tim] Absolutely and part of my job is to amplify those voices and find those voices so that you're not just stuck with that image of this white, cis, gay, male.

That you're seeing the color in this community.

And so one thing that I was proud of right after the death of George Floyd, I was able to interview a local black trans woman who was protesting police brutality and was able to share her story about how she has been the target of police and how she's been disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system.

And so it's about highlighting voices like that that don't always get the shine.

And so that is always my goal, especially moving forward after the death of George Floyd is to find those voices that we often don't hear from in this committee.

- [Deborah] To definitely find those voices.

But now we know also that the president and the Biden administration have taken a step to bring some recognition and volume to the LGBTQ community by identifying the nightclub in Orlando as a national memorial to honor those 49 people who were killed in the mass shooting back on June the 12th, 2016.

What are your thoughts, Tim about the establishment of that location as a memorial and the fact that they even did that?

- [Tim] It is so important and it's so monumental.

And full disclosure, I am personally friends with one of the survivors, one of the 53 survivors of the Pulse Nightclub shooting.

I had a chance to interview him last week.

So people can watch that on ABC 11 for Johnson North Carolinian here in Charlotte, but at the time was at that club and was shot twice in his arm.

So I know the trauma that has brought on him and his family.

And so I appreciate President Biden for recognizing our community and recognizing that place that now is a sacred space, a national space that people can go to and mourn.

And it shows that we exist and we matter, this community matters.

And so that is what I love about what happened.

And I'm looking forward to visiting that memorial myself and honoring those people that were injured and killed five years ago.

- [Deborah] It's good to have that location.

Absolutely.

And Kendra, last question, can you share...

I think it's no secret really the secrecy that kind of shrouds how the black community deals with LGBTQ communities and issues.

What do you think is at the heart of this lack of acceptance and what are the next steps to try to move past that nonacceptance to acceptance?

- [Kendra] Yeah, so two things.

First, I wanna counter the narrative that the LGBTQ community is not accepting 'cause I think that's something that has been put out.

I mean, that the black community is not accepting of LGBTQ folks.

You grew up in the south if you have a religious tradition, you know you had the gay choir director, you know the folks who were in your facility.

The African-American community does not talk about sex and does not talk about sexuality.

And I think that's the hugest barrier.

But we all have someone in our family who has a friend.

It is just more of a cone of silence, but I don't think it's a lack of acceptance.

The laws that have been put in place that we fight against every day were not put in place by African-American folks.

They were put in place by the folks who have traditionally been empowered in this country.

And so I wanna reject that sort of statement because it's put out black folks were blamed for the failure of Prop 8 in California when in reality, these laws were being proposed by the people who were in power and that is not reflective necessarily of the African-American community.

And I can't say that there's not prejudice in the community, that would be untrue, but I do believe that we generally take care of our own.

And I think that there is some space for broader is the same issue we faced with HIV, but churches started to move along and actually get involved and hosting H fairs to combat aids.

We've seen progress in that area.

We just need to be having more conversations about sex and sexuality in order to move forward.

- [Deborah] And I think it's important.

Thank you for making that comment about the narrative out there and what's driving it and making that correction.

Thank you so much, Kendra Johnson also Tim Pulliam for being here.

- [Kendra] Delighted.

Thanks for having us.

- [Tim] Thank you.

- [Deborah] The 4th of July is indeed a reflection point with the sentencing of Derek Chauvin, Juneteenth and LGBTQ Pride Month somewhat in our rear view mirror.

It is time to celebrate America's Independence Day.

So we have invited a historian and political science professor, Dr. Arwin Smallwood, Chair of the Department of History and Political Science at North Carolina A&T State University.

Dr. Smallwood, thank you so much for being here.

- [Dr. Arwin] Thank you.

- [Deborah] I wanted to talk to you about American patriotism because so often the patriotism of African-Americans is challenged.

Happens most visibly at sporting events.

And most recently at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials in Tokyo when hammer thrower, Gwen Berry turned her back during the playing of the national anthem.

What do you think about that form of activism?

Or what do you think that that form of activism says about one's patriotism?

- [Dr. Arwin] Well, I think that we have to remember that African-Americans have expressed their political views athletes in particular really since Jesse Owens in the Olympics that we held in Berlin.

We see the same in the '60s during the Black Power Movement.

So when we talk about black athletes expressing their political views, it has happened before and happened throughout history.

In terms of whether the actions are appropriate, I mean, that's something that the athletes have to decide.

And those who choose to express themselves are trying to help usually a situation that most people have seen and whether their actions are appropriate or not, I think each individual has to decide on that themselves.

- [Deborah] And I wanna talk about another kind of patriot.

Certainly, we've mentioned athletes and their right to express their patriotism and how they feel about the country.

But I wanna talk about the American soldier and what can you share about black soldiers in particular and how central they have been to American independence since the time of the American Revolution?

- [Dr. Arwin] Well, African-Americans have been serving in the military really since the revolution and one could argue even during colonial times, but certainly since the American Revolution.

Over 5,000 African-Americans fought for the Americans, 5,000 also fought for the British, but again, they were fighting for their freedom.

And so ultimately, African-Americans have never lost sight of what any one would want and that is freedom and the opportunity to raise their families and be secure.

And so we see them fighting really in all American wars.

We see them fighting in the Civil War.

In fact, my great, great grandfather, Corporal Joseph Cherry fought in the North Carolina first colored volunteers, which became the 35th Infantry and many African-Americans in Eastern North Carolina, over 5,000 fought in the Civil War in calvary units, heavy artillery units and infantry units.

And we also total over 209,000 African-Americans fought in the Civil War.

Certainly, they fought in World War I.

If we talk about North Carolina A&T and our history, Dr. Warmoth T. Gibbs fought...

He was an officer in World War I.

Came back of course to the states and eventually became the chancellor of North Carolina A&T and was the chancellor of the university during the famed sit-ins when the students were protesting segregation in the lunch counters at Woolworth.

So we have a long tradition and we can go through World War II, Korea, Vietnam and we see people like Colin Powell and others.

We have a long distinguished history of serving the country, believe in patriotism and believing in the country and believing that by serving the country and fighting for the country that that guarantees or should guarantee our rights, our right to dignity and our right to be respected as Americans.

- [Deborah] Absolutely.

And one of the fundamental elements of America is the fact that we are a democracy, one voice, one vote and right now there's legislation pending aptly named For the People Act.

What do you think makes this piece of legislation so important right now in our democracy, especially in view of changes to the Voting Rights Act in 2013.

- [Dr. Arwin] Starting with the Voting Rights Act and if we go back to emancipation, we do have to understand that the voting rights of African-Americans have often been challenged and been under siege after emancipation.

Now if we talk about the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, giving African-Americans citizenship, giving them the right to vote and then protecting that right to vote.

And then if we go through the Jim Crow South and we talk about Jim Crow and segregation, we know that many Southern states pass legislation to prevent or put in literacy test or poll taxes to discourage or prevent African-Americans from voting.

And again, you're countering that and contrast that with what you just asked about, which is our patriotism and our serving in the military and serving the country.

So these are historical facts.

We know that the voting rights of African-Americans have been challenged in the past and under siege.

And so as that generation had to... Those generations had to deal with that and rose to that challenge, we have a new generation that has to address the challenges that we are currently confronted with.

- [Deborah] And so we have the For the People Act, we've got the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and there's other legislation out there, but all of these pieces to try to what enforce what ought to be just kind of a given in the constitution and the amendments is what I would say.

- [Dr. Arwin] Right, and again, it's just important to understand and I teach civil rights and I teach African-American history along with American history.

And then I just point out that the constitution, our republic, our democracy, it has gone through evolutions and gone through changes, but people have to be vigilant.

All people have to be vigilant to make certain that we live up to the ideals of our country.

And so and I think we're at one of those moments in time again and even in our state, we have to work together collectively and understand the challenges that we are facing and try to do, I always say, do the right thing, but do those things that are gonna be in the best interest of all North Carolinians, of all Americans.

- [Deborah] And in my mind, it's sort of like working out your faith.

It just doesn't come, but you gotta be working it out on a daily basis, whether it's your faith or apparently democracy and all of the ideals of being an American.

And in recent additions, we have talked about journalist Hannah Nikole Jones' tenure issue at UNC and now the board of trustees has voted to grant her tenure and she has accepted.

People believe that at the heart of contention was her 1619 Project.

And there's been a lot in the wind lately, the 1619 Project, critical race theory, the January 6th attack, continuing protest for social justice.

We just talked about LGBTQ Pride Month and even Juneteenth.

So we've celebrated Juneteenth and here we've got Independence Day coming.

What could you add or how would you say we can celebrate our various interpretations about what it means to love America?

- [Dr. Arwin] That's a difficult question, but a very good question.

And I think that what I have found in interacting with people and my research kinda takes me all over the country.

I've been through Appalachia and in various places is that at the heart of it all, I think we all love America and that's regardless of whether people are Democrats or Republicans, black or white or Native American or other that at the heart of it, we have to understand what we all share in common.

That is a desire to protect our families, to ensure that they have opportunities that they can grow.

And I think as we come together as a people and understand that we really are seeking the same things, that a lot of these challenges, a lot of the things, no one's trying to take anything from anyone, we're acknowledging the flaws, each of us have flaws and we're acknowledging the flaws within ourselves and within our democracy and we're trying to move forward.

When I speak to groups of people around the country and if I asked them talking about slavery for example, the first question I'll ask is, would you want your daughter taken from you and sold off as a slave?

Would you want your wife or your sister taken and abused sexually and sold off as a slave?

And no matter what their ethnic background or racial background, no one wants that.

No one is good says, "Oh, that's okay with me."

- [Deborah] No, but what we do all want is the right to be treated with respect and to make our own decisions and to be independent and have our freedoms and liberties.

And that's what being I think an American is all about.

Respecting and caring for other people.

Dr. Arwin Smallwood, thank you so much for your insights and for being with us on "Black Issues Forum."

- [Dr. Arwin] Thank you.

- [Deborah] I wanna thank all of today's guests for joining us and we invite you to engage with us on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag, #blackissuesforum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbcnc.org/blackissuesforum or listen at any time on Apple iTunes, Spotify or Google Podcast.

For "Black Issues Forum," I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, and thanks for watching.

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