“John Singleton's family urges black men to get their blood pressure checked - NBC News” plus 3 more

“John Singleton's family urges black men to get their blood pressure checked - NBC News” plus 3 more

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• John Singleton's family urges black men to get their blood pressure checked - NBC News
• Minneapolis Police Officer Convicted of Murder in Shooting of Australian Woman - The New York Times
• For Black Drivers, Traffic Stops Can Be a Matter of Life or Death. Can the 'Not Reaching' Pouch Make Them Safer? - The Root
• ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Writers Break Silence on Killing Off Major MCU Superheroes - IndieWire

John Singleton's family urges black men to get their blood pressure checked - NBC News Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:53 AM PDT Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. SUBSCRIBE April 30, 2019, 6:53 PM UTC By Shamard Charles, M.D. Filmmaker John Singleton's death is a reminder that many African American men struggle with a silent killer — hypertension. Singleton, the 51-year-old Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter and father of seven who died on Monday, suffered from the disease, according to a statement by his family. On April 17, he suffered a massive stroke, an early and frighteningly common occurrence in young black men. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African American men are at greatest risk of having a stroke in the U.S. and are more likely to have a stroke at a younger age. Some reasons include higher rates of obesity and diabetes. Researchers have also found that there may be a gene that makes African Americans more salt sensitive. In people who have this gene, as little as one extra gram — half a teaspoon of salt — could raise blood pressure as much as 5 mm Hg. "The prevalence of high blood pressure (HBP or hypertension) in African Americans in the U.S. is among the highest in the world. Almost 40 percent of African American men and women have high blood pressure. For African Americans, high blood pressure also develops earlier in life and is usually more severe," said Dr. Carrie G. Lenneman, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Not only does high blood pressure seem to hit black men hardest, but it underscores the difficulty in controlling blood pressure even for those who have access to top doctors. In a statement released Monday, Singleton's family took the opportunity to raise awareness around high blood pressure in the African American community and urged people to familiarize themselves with symptoms: "Like many African Americans, Singleton quietly struggled with hypertension. More than 40 percent of African American men and women have high blood pressure, which also develops earlier in life and is usually more severe. His family wants to share the message with all to please recognize the symptoms by going to Heart.org," a representative said. Hypertension has been making headlines. In March, the 52-year-old actor Luke Perry died of a massive stroke, and an American Heart Association report in January found that nearly half of all Americans — 121 million adults — had some form of heart disease, largely due to changes in blood pressure guidelines. Why high blood pressure is a 'silent killer' High blood pressure damages blood vessels and can lead to organ damage such as kidney and heart failure, as well as heart attacks and stroke. It's hard to detect because it does not always cause symptoms, hence why many doctors call the disease a silent killer. "If you are looking for a list of symptoms and signs of high blood pressure, you won't find them," Lenneman told NBC News. "This is because most of the time, there are none. High blood pressure is largely symptomless, thus it is important for people to know risk factors for high blood pressure like family history of high blood pressure, obesity, sleep apnea, diet and chronic kidney disease." Dr. Raegan Durant, an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, also notes that having no symptoms means that the damage is often done without warning. "By the time individuals with hypertension begin having symptoms, it means that the cumulative effects of elevated blood pressures, often over many years, have begun to cause damage to body organs such as the eyes, brain or kidneys." Only a blood pressure reading by a professional can diagnose the condition. blood pressure of 120/80 or above is considered elevated 130/80 to 139/89 is considered stage 1 hypertension anything 140/90 or above is considered stage 2 hypertension If blood pressure reaches 180/120 or higher — and either number in the blood pressure reading counts — people are in hypertensive crisis, with need for immediate treatment or hospitalization. Understanding black men and hypertension Encouraging black men to see doctors is an important public health initiative. Black men often don't trust doctors, live in underserved communities with little access to doctors, and work during the hours when primary care offices are usually open. To counter such distrust in the health care system, local initiatives such as incorporating health and wellness clinics in churches and barbershops have become more popular. Not only have these efforts helped to de-stigmatize the disease in African American communities, but it has also made it more convenient for black men to get checked. March 12, 201803:28 Fortunately experts say that once black men know about high blood pressure, they usually do something about it, even though their hypertension remains harder to control than people in most other groups. "Once diagnosed with hypertension, African Americans diagnosed with hypertension are just as aware of their disease and just as likely to be treated compared to whites in the U.S. Yet, African Americans receiving treatment for hypertension are often much less likely to bring their blood pressure under control," Durant said. How to lower heart disease risk Regular physical activity and following plant-based diets such as DASH, a meal plan that emphasizes fruits, vegetables and whole grains, are shown to protect the heart. "Lifestyle modification is often an untapped approach to lowering blood pressure in addition to medications," said Durant, via email. "Of course, taking medications regularly is important, but regular monitoring of blood pressures at home, adopting a low-sodium, vegetable-rich diet, and pursuing physical activity multiple times weekly can also be helpful in lowering blood pressures." Not all patients have the same optimal targets, but it's important to know blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol numbers, Lenneman added. "It is important to know your blood pressure numbers and the new recommendations of goal blood pressures." Shamard Charles, M.D. Dr. Shamard Charles is a physician-journalist for NBC News and Today, reporting on health policy, public health initiatives, diversity in medicine, and new developments in health care research and medical treatments.

Minneapolis Police Officer Convicted of Murder in Shooting of Australian Woman - The New York Times Posted: 30 Apr 2019 03:16 PM PDT Jurors in Minneapolis convicted a former police officer of murder on Tuesday in the 2017 shooting death of an unarmed woman, The Associated Press reported. Rarely do police shootings result in such convictions. The shooting of Justine Ruszczyk, 40, set off outrage as far away as Australia, where Ms. Ruszczyk had lived for most of her life, and forced changes in the policies and leadership of the Minneapolis Police Department. The trial drew intense attention among Minnesota's Somali-American residents, many of whom wondered whether the former officer involved, Mohamed Noor, who was born in Somalia, would be treated fairly. From the start, the case had been a mystery. Mr. Noor, who was later fired by the Police Department, declined to speak with investigators about why he opened fire a few minutes before midnight on July 15, 2017. At trial, Mr. Noor, speaking publicly about the shooting for the first time, said he feared for his life when he saw Ms. Ruszczyk approaching his cruiser and made a split-second decision to shoot. "I fired one shot," Mr. Noor said in court, according to The Star Tribune newspaper. "The threat was gone. She could have had a weapon." Prosecutors said Mr. Noor, 33, acted unreasonably — firing at a shadowy figure without a verbal warning — and that he should be convicted of murder. "Justine was approaching the car unarmed. They couldn't even tell whether it was a male or a female, an adult or a child," said Mike Freeman, Hennepin County's elected prosecutor, when charges were filed last year. "What is the threat that requires the use of deadly force? What was the serious crime that was going on?" Ms. Ruszczyk had called 911 twice that night to report what she thought was a sexual assault in the alley behind her home. Peter Wold, a lawyer for Mr. Noor, acknowledged that Ms. Ruszczyk, who was about to get married and sometimes used her fiancé's surname, Damond, had in fact posed no threat. She had been holding a glittery cellphone and standing outside a rolled-down window of the squad car when she was shot. Image Johanna Morrow played a didgeridoo during a memorial service for Justine Ruszczyk in Minneapolis in 2017.CreditAaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune, via Associated Press Mr. Wold said it was a tragedy, but not a crime. "Sometimes your job has negative and unintended consequences," Mr. Wold told jurors, who heard arguments throughout April at a downtown Minneapolis courthouse. "That's exactly what happened in that narrow and dark alley in those split seconds." American police officers have wide discretion to use lethal force, and few are ever charged in on-duty shootings. Of those who stand trial, many are acquitted, though there have been recent exceptions in Illinois, Florida and Texas. In Minnesota, Ms. Ruszczyk's death stoked outrage and reinvigorated debate about how officers use force — a familiar topic following protests over the deadly police shootings of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile. In Ms. Ruszczyk's neighborhood, a safe, affluent area near the southwest corner of Minneapolis, the shooting has harmed relations with the police. "People's willingness to interact with police officers has taken a decline," said Todd Schuman, who lives near the shooting scene and is part of group calling for Mr. Noor to be convicted. "I have two children here, and how I talk to them about their interactions with police officers is going to change as a result of this." After Ms. Ruszczyk's death, the Minneapolis police chief was forced out, and the mayor was voted out of office. The Police Department also revamped its body camera policy: Both Mr. Noor and his partner, Officer Matthew Harrity, had been wearing cameras that night, but neither officer had them turned on at the time of the shooting. In some ways, the case was an outlier. While much of the national debate about police shootings had focused on young, African-American men being killed by white officers, Ms. Ruszczyk was a white woman, and Mr. Noor is Somali-American. During the trial, Mr. Noor's lawyers detailed his journey from a farm in Somalia to a refugee camp in Kenya to a new home in Minneapolis. Since the shooting, some activists and members of Minnesota's large Somali community have questioned whether Mr. Noor was treated differently by prosecutors than a white officer would have been. "Everybody's very nervous and following this case very closely," said Omar Jamal, a Somali-American activist and consultant, before the verdict. "They feel a sense of him being targeted." Ms. Ruszczyk, a meditation coach and a dual citizen of Australia and the United States, had made her own journey to Minneapolis. She moved to the city a couple of years before the shooting to live with her fiancé and had been building a small business. When she called 911 that night, her wedding was just weeks away.

For Black Drivers, Traffic Stops Can Be a Matter of Life or Death. Can the 'Not Reaching' Pouch Make Them Safer? - The Root Posted: 30 Apr 2019 09:30 AM PDT Screenshot: Notreaching.com As a black person in America, we've all been there. The anxiety in our stomach as we pull our car off the road, watching police sirens dance in our rear view mirror. The despair of not knowing how the forthcoming chain of events will unravel. The uncertainty of whether or not we'll live to see another day. Those who've been tasked to protect and serve often abuse their authority and opt to harm and harass instead. So in an effort to thwart this behavior and protect black lives, Jackie Carter has created what she believes to be a necessary, if not unfortunate, solution: the "Not Reaching" pouch. The pouch is attached to the driver's side air vent of your vehicle and makes your car registration, driver's license and insurance readily accessible. Since its launch three years ago, it's sold more than 1,000 units, with dozens more given away to drivers in her community. She created it with the intent to minimize potentially dangerous interactions with police, the type of interactions we discuss ad nauseam when we have "The Talk" with our children once they become old enough to drive. Advertisement "I'm more fearful [for my son] in a car here than [when he's serving] in Afghanistan," Carter admitted to NBC BLK. The inspiration for the pouch came from the 2016 murder of Philando Castile, who was killed by officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop after Castile reached for his license. She was so distraught by the details of the case she told herself, "Someone has got to come up with a solution." The Stanford Open Policing Project released a report in March detailing their findings after "collecting and standardizing" over 200 million records of traffic stop and search data from across the country and the results aren't pretty. According to their study, despite the fact that white drivers "are more likely to be found with illegal items," black and brown drivers still get pulled over at a noticeably higher rate. Advertisement From the report: After accounting for age, gender and location, we find that officers ticket, search and arrest Black and Hispanic drivers more often than Whites. For example, when pulled over for speeding, Black drivers are 20 percent more likely to get a ticket (rather than a warning) than White drivers, and Hispanic drivers are 30 percent more likely to be ticketed than White drivers. Black and Hispanic motorists are about twice as likely to be searched compared to White drivers. And there's also the startling stat that since 2005, only 33 law enforcement officers have been convicted of a crime resulting from an on-duty shooting where someone was killed, according to Philip Stinson, an associate professor of criminology at Ohio's Bowling Green State University. Advertisement So when you combine the two, Driving While Black puts each of us in very real danger. So while it's disheartening that a product like this has to even be created in the first place, the "Not Reaching" pouch has received support by Philando's mother, Valerie Castile. And if it saves even one life, it's creation was not in vain. "The murder of my son started with a police stop," Castile said.

‘Avengers: Endgame’ Writers Break Silence on Killing Off Major MCU Superheroes - IndieWire Posted: 30 Apr 2019 07:57 AM PDT [Editor's note: The following post contains spoilers for "Avengers: Endgame."] "Avengers: Endgame" is leaving fans across the world heartbroken over the death of Iron Man/Tony Stark (one woman in China was so upset she had to be hospitalized for hyperventilation), but that's not the only shocking death that unfolds during the film's three hour runtime. Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson since "Iron Man 2," sacrifices herself on Vormir in order to get the Soul Stone. The decision has proven to be a polarizing one for fans, but screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely knew it was the only one that made sense for the character. "Her journey, in our minds, had come to an end if she could get the Avengers back," McFeely told The New York Times. "She comes from such an abusive, terrible, mind-control background, so when she gets to Vormir and she has a chance to get the family back, that's a thing she would trade for." Related While Johansson has yet to comment on Black Widow's death, she did talk about the character's "Endgame" story-arc in a pre-release interview with Entertainment Weekly. The actress said Black Widow has never been able to make "active choices" in her life, so it was a priority for both Johansson and the "Endgame" story to bring the character's active decision making to the forefront. "She's come into her own as a woman, saying, 'Who am I? And what do I want? And what do I need out of my relationships and also out of my own self?'" Johansson said. "She's someone who's understanding her own self-worth." "Avengers: Endgame" Disney Black Widow's decision to sacrifice herself to save the Avengers is certainly the most active choice of her life. The character is accompanied to Vormir by Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), who gets into a fight with her over who should be the one to die in order to retrieve the Soul Stone. McFeely said there had also been an outline of the "Endgame" script in which it was Hawkeye that died, although the screenwriters felt that wasn't an emotionally rewarding decision for either character. "It was him taking the hit for her," Markus said. "It was melodramatic to have him die and not get his family back. And it is only right and proper that she's done." Added McFeely, "The toughest thing for us was we were always worried that people weren't going to have time to be sad enough. The stakes are still out there and they haven't solved the problem. But we lost a big character — a female character — how do we honor it? We have this male lens and it's a lot of guys being sad that a woman died." The idea that Tony would get a massive funeral and Black Widow would not troubled Markus and McFeely, although again it served the character. "Tony's this massive public figure and she's been a cipher the whole time," Markus said. "It wasn't necessarily honest to the character to give her a funeral. The biggest question about it is what Thor raises there on the dock. 'We have the Infinity Stones. Why don't we just bring her back?'" As fans come to learn during "Endgame," bringing Black Widow back would give up the Soul Stone and thus ruin the mission. Killing off Tony was more of a no-brainer for the screenwriters. As McFeely puts it, "Everyone knew this was going to be the end of Tony Stark." The writers said Tony's arc since "Iron Man" in 2008 has been to achieve selflessness, so simply letting him live a peaceful life in retirement with Pepper and his daughter would not have been true to that goal. "We had the opportunity to give him the perfect retirement life, within the movie," Markus said. "[He already got that]. That's the life he's been striving for. Are he and Pepper going to get together? Yes. They got married, they had a kid, it was great. It's a good death. It doesn't feel like a tragedy. It feels like a heroic, finished life." "Avengers: Endgame" is now playing in theaters nationwide. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.

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