How Childhood Trauma Could Be Mistaken for ADHD

Dr. Nicole Brown’s quest to understand her misbehaving pediatric patients began with a hunch.

Source: www.theatlantic.com

Though ADHD has been aggressively studied, few researchers have explored the overlap between its symptoms and the effects of chronic stress or experiencing trauma like maltreatment, abuse and violence. To test her hypothesis beyond Baltimore, Brown analyzed the results of a national survey about the health and well-being of more than 65,000 children.

Brown’s findings, which she presented in May at an annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, revealed that children diagnosed with ADHD also experienced markedly higher levels of poverty, divorce, violence, and family substance abuse. Those who endured four or more adverse childhood events were three times more likely to use ADHD medication.

Cultural Appropriation: Homage or Insult? | Racialicious – the intersection of race and pop culture

by Guest Contributor Tami, originally published at What Tami Said

Source: www.racialicious.com

" . . . some confusion among people who wondered “What’s so wrong with being inspired by another culture?” Nothing, really. But “inspiration” drawn from a historically oppressed culture comes with a tangle of baggage born of generations of marginalization and bias."

Report on the Extrajudicial Killings of 110 Black People | Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Since January 1, 2012, police and a much smaller number of security guards and self-appointed vigilantes have murdered at least 110 Black women and men. These

Source: mxgm.org

This report documents how people of African descent remain “without sanctuary” throughout the United States. Nowhere is a Black woman or man safe from racial profiling, invasive policing, constant surveillance, and overriding suspicion. All Black people – regardless of education, class, occupation, behavior or dress – are subject to the whims of the police whose institutionalized racist policies and procedures require them to arbitrarily stop, frisk, arrest, brutalize and even execute Black people.

FELLOW AMERICANS, DON’T LET OUR IGNORANCE DESTROY US  Φ The Wattree Chronicle

The Souls of Black Folk (FULL Audiobook) – part 1 – YouTube

The Souls of Black Folk audiobook by W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) http://free-audio-books.info/history/the-souls-of-black-folk-audiobook/ The Souls of Black Fo…

Source: www.youtube.com

A must read for all Americans. Creating independent, strong minds. 

2014, The Meaning of July Fourth for the African American l Dr. Wilmer Leon

2014, The Meaning of July Fourth for the African American  July 3, 2014 Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III “I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glo…

Source: ourcommongroundtalk.wordpress.com

"As we enjoy the Fourth, eating ribs and hot dogs, we must ask ourselves, are we as a people able to enjoy the blessings, the justice, and the liberty that are celebrated on this day?  If not, what must we do to bring about substantive and permanent change? " See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2014/07/03/2014-the-meaning-of-july-fourth-for-the-african-american/#sthash.b9W4uagX.dpuf

2014, The Meaning of July Fourth for the African American l Dr. Wilmer Leon

2014, The Meaning of July Fourth for the African American

 July 3, 2014

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

LTCWashington-hi-fireworks_1“I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common.-The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.” Frederick Douglas – The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro – 1852

As America celebrates July Fourth, as the grills smoke, the salads are tossed, pools filled, and fireworks displayed take a moment to reflect.  Reflect upon how far we have come as a nation and yet how far we have to go.

I implore African Americans to read the entire text of Frederick Douglas’ famous speech, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.  Are we as a people able to enjoy the blessings, the justice, and the liberty that are celebrated on this day?

We have become all too familiar with the data.  According to Bread for the World, one in four African-Americans lives below the federal poverty line and more than a third (35.7 percent) of all African-American children live in poverty.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that for 2013, the underemployment rate for African-American workers was 13.4 percent compared 6.7 percent for white workers. That does not account for those who have lost faith in the process and dropped out of the system.  The Pew Research Center reports that the Median Net Worth of Households for Whites is $113,149 and for African Americans is $5,677.  The NAACP reports that African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million of the incarcerated population. African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of Whites.

These are just a few examples of the frightening realities with which we are faced.

Douglas asked, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”  Yes, slavery ended in 1865 but that two hundred- fifty years of slavery was followed by ninety years of Jim Crow; sixty years of separate but equal and thirty-five years of racist housing policy.

Yes, legislative and judicial progress have been made.   The Civil Rights Act of 1866 provided for the equality of citizens of the United States in the enjoyment of “civil rights and immunities.”  That Act was undermined by the Tilden/Hayes compromise of 1877. We have recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and will soon celebrate the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.   One problem is that too many have confused the legislative successes with the ultimate victory, changing the racist core and premise upon which this country was founded as memorialized in the U.S. Constitution.

I take this moment to focus on the past because as Douglas said, “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future.”

Douglas continued, “At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.”

As we enjoy the Fourth, eating ribs and hot dogs, we must ask ourselves, are we as a people able to enjoy the blessings, the justice, and the liberty that are celebrated on this day?  If not, what must we do to bring about substantive and permanent change?

Our plight, our success, and our future have always been in our hands.  Dr. King once said, “…nobody else can do this for us; ?no document can do this for us?; no lincolnian emancipation proclamation can do this for us;?no kennesonian or johnsonian civil rights bill can do this for us; ?if the negro is to be free, he must move down into the inner resources of his own soul and sign with a pen and ink of self-asserted manhood his own emancipation proclamation.”

Here is one, just one very simple yet challenging thing to consider.

The former President and CEO of the NAACP, Ben Jealous has just released a report entitled, “True South: Unleashing Democracy in the Black Belt 50 Years After Freedom Summer.” According to the report, “The first and most important lesson is that massive voter registration can overcome massive voter suppression. Our analysis shows that registering just 30 percent of eligible unregistered black voters or other voters of color could shift the political calculus in a number of Black Belt states, helping blacks elect candidates who share their concerns or alternatively, forcing all candidates to pay attention to the community’s concerns. Registering 60 percent or 90 percent would change the political calculus in an even greater number of states.”

I opened with Douglas and I will close with Douglas, “…Allow me to say, in conclusion, notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented, of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. “The arm of the Lord is not shortened,” and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.”

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the Sirius/XM Satellite radio channel 110 program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon He is an OUR COMMON GROUND Voice.

 Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email:wjl3us@yahoo.comwww.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com  © 2014 InfoWave Communications, LLC

– See more at: http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2014/07/03/2014-the-meaning-of-july-fourth-for-the-african-american/#sthash.b9W4uagX.dpuf

 

wilmer promo

In Conversation with Cynthia McKinney l OUR COMMON GROUND July 5th LIVE

LIVE   Saturday, July 5, 2014   

“In Conversation with Cynthia McKinney”

“Confronting the New Amerikkan Empire”05  July  2014“Confronting the New Amerikkan Empire”
In Conversation with Cynthia McKinney

 

 

Join us here: http://bit.ly/1sSZxR7

We are honored to have as our guest, Cynthia McKinney former U. S. Congresswoman, international human rights activist and former Presidential candidate, to discuss domestic and foreign policy in the new Amerikkan Empire.

Our two-hour live program will span a discussion of topics which include the American relationship and funding of the State of Israel and its impact on the Palestinian people; the increased surveillance of Americans domestically; the increasing militarization of law enforcement in this country; the American destabilization of the Middle East; the resurgence of open and affirmed white supremacy in the US homeland; the education of Black children; the military, prison and health industrial complex and the reparations for descendants of the American chattel slavery system. We will of course, take calls from our listeners.

ABOUT OUR GUEST
Former U. S. Congresswoman, international human rights activist and former Presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney will open the 2014 2nd Session of OUR COMMON GROUND on July 5, 2014. Cynthia McKinney served twelve years as a Member of the United States Congress House of Representatives. She was elected six times by the people of the State of Georgia.

As a Member of Congress, Cynthia challenged then-Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff to tell the truth about his failures as an important leader in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She challenged the Africa Policies of both George W. Bush’s Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Her political career shows her as a tireless defender of her constituents in Georgia as well as all American poor, the middle class, farmers, students, and veterans.

Cynthia authored the legislation that authorized the disparity study that found that Black farmers in the United States had suffered intentional and willful discrimination for generations. Cynthia continues to work with the farmers as they seek delayed justice. Cynthia continues to contribute to the scholarship on important issues in her work researching COINTELPRO against the American Indian Movement, the Black Panther Party, and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. Cynthia believes that while COINTELPRO might have ended, U.S. government surveillance on its own people did not. Her thoughts have been vindicated by recent revelations by Eric Snowden of National Security Agency wiretapping practices.

Ms McKinney has become an internationally renowned human rights activist, serving with distinction as a juror on the Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine and of working with: Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s Perdana Global Peace Foundation; the Brussels Tribunal on Iraq, and a successful effort in Spain to indict and hold accountable soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Army who committed genocide against Congolese citizens inside Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result of her activism around Israel/Palestine issues she served 7 days in an Israeli prison for attempting to deliver school supplies to Gaza’s children in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead.

Cynthia has written an autobiography, “Ain’t Nothing Like Freedom” (http://claritypress.com/McKinneyII.html&nbsp😉 and she maintains a Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinneyOfficial). Visit her official website All Things Cynthia (http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/).

As a liberation leader she has demonstrated throughout her political and advocacy career a willingness to step into the line of fire in order to pursue justice for oppressed people.

We have long admired her courage and respected her work and achievements at OUR COMMON GROUND. We will be honored and pleased to have her with us.

 

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July ? l Frederick Douglas July 5, 1852

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required…

Source: thenewliberator.wordpress.com

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

Frederick Douglass
July 5, 1852

"The fact is, ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slave plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable—and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight."

For-Profit Prison Corporations Are at It Again

The latest effort by for-profit prison corporations to laud their superiority over publicly-run prisons is supported by two Temple University professors who failed to initially disclose that their research study was funded by the private corrections …

For-Profit Prison Corporations Are at It Again

OUR COMMON GROUND Voice, Dr. Byron E. Price

Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Medgar Evers College, City University of New York in Brooklyn, New York

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

For-Profit Prison Corporations Are at It Again

OUR COMMON GROUND Voice, Byron Eugene Price has posted a new piece on Huffington Post. He describes what the "for profit prison industrial complex" is up to now. A new model of using intellectual resources to spew lies. Check it out.

Dr. Price is a Professor of Public Policy and Administration, Medgar Evers College, City University of New York in Brooklyn, New York