>> Major funding for "Chat Box with David Cruz" is provided by the members of New Jersey education.

Promotional support for chat box David Cruz is provided by Insider NJ, a political intelligence network dedicated to New Jersey political news.

Insider NJ is committed to giving serious political players an interactive forum for ideas, discussion, and insight.

Online at insiderNJ.com.

♪ David: hey everybody.

Welcome to chatbots.

Our team has been hit with flu, cold, and all manner of viruses in the air.

We will talk with epidemiologists about what is going around.

But let's begin today as we move into the middle of Black history month.

A time to do a status check on Black jersey.

We are joined by a distinguished panel of leaders.

The Democratic Party strategist.

A Republican is in treatment -- assemblyman.

Represents the first district.

And the president and CEO of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey.

Panel, welcome.

Good to see you all.

>> glad to be here.

David: so, new president, new outlook.

Does the election of Donald Trump represent a new challenge or a new opportunity for Black people in America?

let's start with you on that.

>> it does open up new challenges.

But I have to be very honest with you.

We have been here before.

This whole discussion around D.E.I.

and minority programs, I have been on this journey on the fate of New Jersey on this issue since the 80's.

I have sat on a lot of the commissions.

When Tom Keene was governor in the early 80's right through Christine Todd Whitman, all of it right onto the present time.

So it does deserve a different conversation and we are prepared for that.

But it's not something that we have not seen before.

David: you are a Black Republican in New Jersey and that's a rarity onto itself.

You may end up getting a lot of the Trump questions today.

How do you look at that question?

>> I see it as a new opportunity.

That's with every new legislator or person that you hear.

It's a new opportunity.

We have an opportunity to talk to him and work things out as a community.

That's what we will continue to do.

We don't like what he does.

We will put ideas into him.

It's a new opportunity.

David: we talked a few weeks ago .

You said something along the lines that Black people needed to start looking to alternatives to the Democratic Party in order to get a better return on investment.

Are you still in that mindset?

>> I think it's an opportunity to get more Blacks to stand in New Jersey.

We have not gotten legislation responded to in this well over a year.

Blacks have the highest poverty, unemployment.

Our net worth is 17,000 versus 322,000 for whites.

I would say my focus is spot on here in New Jersey and anywhere running for governor has to come forth with a credible agenda that they can deliver.

The distinction between what Blacks have received, given 90% support for Democrats, have not yielded incredible returns.

Trump in other words, he has delivered on what he said, unfortunately.

That's the contrast.

You have one candidate who is uncharacteristically an elected official.

But he is delivering.

Black folks are supporting and not getting reciprocity.

I guess that's my response.

David: what about that, Janine?

we saw deflections of Black men to the Trump site in 2024.

>> yes.

First of all, let me say, I don't know that I actually buy-in on the data that's being put out there, the numbers.

I looked at some more data yesterday.

I'm a data person.

We can talk about these issues from an emotional perspective but at the end of the day, when it comes to minority set-aside programs and D.E.I., we have to follow the numbers.

I don't know that it's as high as they are claiming, that that many Black men moved over to the Republican side.

But I know from a party perspective -- I'm a Democrat.

Democrats have lost a lot of areas that they used to hold onto.

Latinos.

They lost some women.

They lost African-American men.

I have to be candid with you.

I can't believe that I know three Black women who are as Black as I am in my family who voted for Trump.

So let's face it.

This is more of a problem.

Democrats have to step back and understand, what is it that we are missing?

there's a conversation -- I will get into trouble with my folks in my party.

When something isn't working, rather than digging in and acting as though we have all the answers, we have to figure out what the problem is.

David: you are state chairman.

Others have talked about the GOP as a big tent party.

But the numbers don't really show that yet.

We did see some Black men deflecting to the Republican party.

Still over 80% for the Democrats.

With Black women, 92% or so.

Is your party really a big tent party?

if not, how do you reach out to Black voters?

>> the people need consistency.

If we want their support, we have to show them that we are willing to support them.

That's not by giving things.

That means by being on the ground in their community and not just showing up in October.

You have to be there 300s exceed five days of the week.

When the community needs support, we need to be there.

Not just with money or with stock.

You need to show up and show out and be there.

I know I do that.

A lot of people that I'm friends with that our elected officials that I know that I Republican do that as well.

When we do that, there's a trust to be gained.

We will continue to move on as far as that is concerned.

We will not just be showing up in October.

David: let's talk business here.

You think that Trump 2.0 will be good for Black business particularly?

>> I don't know.

I will say, based on what he's done in these last 20 days, it makes Blacks lean in.

They want to listen more.

It makes Democrats -- I'm hopeful that they will come to the table.

One, start by apologizing for the fact that they have not delivered commensurate with the level of support that we've given them.

The conversation has not been reciprocal.

The numbers show it.

The poverty numbers.

The lack of access to opportunities.

We heavily tilted towards the trades.

I think it's unfortunate, given that everyone pays taxes.

This is taxpayer money is.

They are distributed not fairly.

At the end of the day, Black people just want to compete.

If you want to expand D.E.I.

and make it small business and local business, unbundle contracts, be intentional about how you structure the relationships to procure opportunities, I think that works.

Right now, you could be best in class and you can't even get invited to the dance to compete.

David: we keep hearing about this disparity study.

20 years in the making.

Less than 1%, less than 1% of state contracts are going to Black business.

Everyone seems to acknowledge this.

A number of bills that were intended to address that disparity, they are sitting in the legislature which is dominated by Democrats.

As is the front office.

What's up with that?

>> I absolutely agree.

If you look at the disparity study in Essex County, where black and brown individuals make up 70% of the population, they get less than 1% of the contracts.

No disrespect.

I don't know how he holds office.

Black people are being taken for granted.

Someone is asleep at the switch.

We didn't get here this way.

Everyone should be accountable for our vote in the Black caucus as well.

David: what do you think when you hear that?

the reality is that the Democrats control the government in the state of New Jersey and 90% of Black voters voted for Democrats.

This disparity is sitting there collecting more and more dust.

What has been -- has to be done to proctor party?

>> one has to be done is what's being done right now.

One of the things we are going to have to have a conversation about is that while Trump is now the president and there are all kinds of Edex being out there, Democrats are saying, look at what Trump is doing to you.

The truth of the matter is that this has been done to us over and over again by both parties.

There's nothing wrong.

There's nothing wrong about having a diverse program and equitable program, inclusive program, doing business and promotions and hiring.

Is not just a Republican issue.

I want to go back to the question.

Do you think that Blacks are going to farewell?

you know who will?

if you look at the minority set-aside programs, white women fared better than Blacks.

If I am married to a guy and he can't get himself in a special group, put the business and my wife's name.

I know people who have done it.

Who is going to fair well this time around?

those with a lot of money.

Elon Musk.

Every single day we wake up with federal contracts.

He's making $8 million every single day we wake up.

White men who are really doing somersaults and excited that these programs seem to be going down the toilet, unless they are in that very special group of multimillionaire, multi-multi -- they don't have to be a billionaire.

But a multimillionaire.

$700 million.

They won't fare much better than Blacks, Latinos, women.

David: diversity, equity, inclusion.

Those efforts are under attack right now.

We've seen corporations and institutions ending their D.E.I.

programs.

In your mind, have D.E.I.

efforts been effective?

if not, how do you address racial disparities, if you believe that those disparities exist?

>> D.E.I.

has not been affected.

You can go into any college that has D.E.I.

or go to some conference that's talking D.E.I.

and you have a 22 or 25-year-old white young woman teaching other white men what diversity, equity, inclusion is about.

David: do you feel that these inequities exist in our business practices, in our access to government contracts?

in general, is there a disparity?

>> is not a feeling.

It's a fact.

You can go and look.

The disparity study that was done.

It's not a feeling.

David: how do you deal with that?

how do you counter that?

>> you take it to the people.

If you have an interest in it, those people that are dealing with business like the African-American Chamber of Commerce that are doing stuff on the street.

Have a conversation with them and figure out what those businesses me.

Talk to the Chamber of Commerce and figure out how we can get those people involved in the chamber.

That's what needs to be done.

You go to it.

You don't just at up a study.

That doesn't help.

They are not getting to the people that really need it.

The people who needed are the people who are working every day.

You need to go to them and knock on their doors and say that we want to support your business.

These are government contracts.

We teach them how to get to those government contracts.

Construction, restaurant, whatever it is.

If we don't go to them directly, it won't help anybody.

Cheering on the mountaintop that you are doing diversity, equity, inclusion doesn't help everybody because we are still sitting here.

>> it starts with intentionality.

In New Jersey, it is skewed.

You have the trade barriers that exclude you from opportunity.

Then they work in partnership of the municipalities.

So the game is rigged, if you will.

David: we will have to leave it right there.

Good to see you all.

Thanks for coming out with us.

>> thank you for having us.

David: it's hard to discuss anything really without running it through the prism of the new administration in Washington.

We are going to talk about why everyone you know seems to have a cold or the flu or some kind of virus that's knocking them out.

But we have to discuss first the reality of budget cuts and policy priorities impacting health care in New Jersey.

Epidemiologist Stephanie Silveira is a professor in the Department of Public health at Montclair State University.

She joins us now.

Stephanie, hello.

>> hi.

How are you?

David: doing good.

Haven't seen you in a while.

What have the past three weeks been like in the world of health care?

what impact could possible cuts to the national Institute of health and all of that stuff have on community health?

>> that is quite the loaded, difficult question.

It's been a stressful time for the past three weeks.

Especially in the field of public health.

When most of our work is really dedicated to creating safety nets to make sure that the most vulnerable in our communities are cared for.

When you see efforts to cut NIH budgets, to freespending, to deny the existence of trans people, it makes the work that we do harder.

It makes our already vulnerable communities even more unsafe.

David: is there a bottom-line like research grants that are at risk light -- right now?

>> essentially, any research grant that has the word equity in it.

I was about to submit one myself and I was told, don't waste your time.

I think there are a lot of areas of work that my colleagues do here at Montclair State University that are really under threat right now.

I think a lot of us are trying to figure out how to quickly pivot to make sure that the work we do can still get done but maybe find some other funding sources.

David: we have heard anecdotally how health care providers are seeing fewer immigrant patients at clinics and ERs.

They are concerned about ice raids.

If immigrants documented and otherwise aren't going to the doctor, isn't going that -- isn't that going to make health outcomes worse for everyone?

>> absolutely.

That's already been the case historically.

Those communities feel less safe showing up at official visit and documenting their symptoms.

It's only getting worse.

We know in public health, the primary prevention is the most inexpensive.

Really the most successful way to treat people.

We want to straw -- stop problems before they begin.

A lot of decisions are going to exacerbate existing conditions and problems.

We saw through COVID that these communities that were already at risk for the ones that were hardest hit and hit first.

I expect we will see more of that.

David: we just got word this week that Robert Kennedy Junior has been confirmed as the new Health and Human Services Secretary.

A lot of stuff in his history, from vaccine denying on.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing for our national health, that RFK Junior is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services?

>> one of the biggest concerns and it has been for several years, the spread of Miss information.

Particularly around things like vaccines.

We saw the impact that that has had on in vaccine rates.

Now when you have an individual that says outrageous things about vaccines and what they do, related to beyond your wrote biomedical issues.

Claiming that it causes children to be gay, it set or a -- etc.

They are now directing the research priorities for the entire nation.

That's really concerning.

David: let's talk about why everyone I know is sick including myself.

I just had a week of a bad cold.

Is this just a bad cold and flu season?

are we suffering from a weakened immune system collectively?

>> so we have seen a particularly high number of cases of flu.

We have people presenting to the hospital with more flu severity.

I can, we historically have never had great turnout for flu vaccination.

It's usually less than 50% for adults.

As a result of the backlash against vaccines, we've seen those rates go down.

We also may still be coming off of some of that isolation but it's been a few years now.

You know, there are patterns.

We have this cyclical pattern where some flu seasons are worse than others.

We are seeing that.

RSV is down so that's good.

It peaked earlier.

The flu numbers are going up.

I also think that COVID is circulating we know that from wastewater.

Most people aren't getting tested or are not testing and clinical centers.

We have no idea how much COVID is circulating.

David: are the rates of COVID vaccinations down as well?

>> absolutely.

They've been declining since we took away any and all mandates that anybody get vaccinated.

David: you know, we have someone here today in the office who had a mask on.

It's rare that you see that.

What about that?

is there still stigma attached to mask wearing?

>> absolutely.

I think the pushback on masks was so strong that people now feel that you are almost ostracized if you wear one in certain situations.

The reality is if you are sick, the best thing you can do for everyone around you if you can't isolated home is to wear a mask to make sure nobody else catches what you have.

David: the thing has always been about masks.

You are doing it for someone else, not even for yourself.

>> absolutely.

Masks, they worked to protect you to an extent.

Masks are most successful when the person who is sick wears them so they are not spreading their respiratory droplets which are infected with any number of viruses to other people.

David: kids are getting sicker this season.

>> yeah.

We are seeing the highest rates of flu are individuals 024 and then the five to 17 range.

It's not unexpected.

People with a more severe outcomes tend to be six to five and older.

A lot of children coming down with the flu and being knocked out of it.

David: quad Deming.

A combination of COVID, influenza.

What is it?

>> we keep coming up.

Essentially, we are in respiratory illness season.

It used to be cold and flu.

Cold, flu, RSV, COVID now.

The reality is, the way to prevent the spread of these is exactly the same.

We need cleaner air in indoor spaces.

Keep your windows open as much as you can.

If you are sick, stay home.

It's not like we need to come up with different prevention methods for each of these.

We just need to use the tools we already know we have.

David: too late to get a flu shot right now?

>> never too late to get your flu shot.

You should go ahead and do that.

Flu season continues into the early spring.

If you haven't gotten it, I highly recommend it.

As a reminder, the flu shot does not necessarily prevent you from getting the flu.

It -- he will not feel as bad as you get -- if you get the flu.

It keeps you out of the hospital and lowers your risk of dying.

David: David: should I be worried about bird flu?

>> so you know, I think the biggest concern that I have right now for bird flu is the impact it's having on our food production and agriculture.

It is spreading like wildfire through birds and dairy cattle.

The only way to deal with it is to call -- cull the herd.

This is part of the reason we are seeing meat, chicken, dairy prices go up.

We need to be mindful of that.

There's only been one human death.

There is 68 cases in the U.S. so far.

The concern is we are now seeing that spread among some of our domestic animals.

Whenever you start to see these things spread differently, there's always the chance that it could mutate to human to human transmission.

That's what we really need to be aware of.

The good news is, there are antivirals that can reduce the symptoms early on.

They seem to work for bird flu as well.

We are not starting David: from zero like we did with COVID.

David: people said, you should dump your carton of eggs.

>> no.

Those are expensive.

Don't do that.

As with any food product, never eat unpasteurized dairy.

That's a problem.

You would be at risk.

Raw milk, etc.

Make sure that any dairy products are pasteurized.

For general safety, you should make sure that your foods are cooked thoroughly.

David: always cover your mouth and wash your hands, yeah?

>> please do.

Cover your mouth, cough into your elbow, wash your hands regularly.

If you cannot get to water, use Purell.

Water and soap is the best way to prevent the spread of multiple illnesses.

David: don't know if you made me feel any better but it's always nice to talk to you.

Thanks for coming on.

>> thank you.

David: that's Chat Box for this week.

Thanks to Janine Leroux and John Harmon for joining us earlier.

You can follow me on X and see what the rest of the news team is up to when you subscribe to the NJ spotlight news YouTube channel.

For all the crew at -- here, stay well.

>> major funding for chat box with David Cruz is brought to you by the New Jersey education Association, making public schools great for every child.

Promotional support is provided by Insider NJ, a political intelligence network dedicated to New Jersey political news.

Insider NJ is committed to giving serious political players an interactive forum for ideas, discussion, and insight.

Online at insiderNJ.com.

♪