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Why Black joy on Juneteenth is an act of resistance against racism

June 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Opal Lee, 95, has spent much of her life advocating for civil rights. When she was just 12, her family home was vandalized and set ablaze by white supremacists, none of whom were arrested.

It led her down a lifetime of trying to force the nation to pay respect to those impacted, oppressed or killed by racism throughout U.S. history. Each year on Juneteenth, she and her family in Texas go on a picnic and celebrate the day in 1865 when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed over two years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect.

In 2016, Lee went to Washington, D.C., and led a 2.5-mile march to symbolize the 2.5 years it took for the Emancipation Proclamation to be enforced in Texas, and to free the final enslaved Black people.

The joyous day, filled with love and comradery in the Black community, was one she wanted to turn into a federal holiday.

Social activism can take many forms: protests, petitions, boycotts — but for some, joy can be also a revolutionary tool against systems of oppression. Black joy, as an act of resistance against white supremacy, takes center stage on Juneteenth.

Lee’s grandaughter, Dione Sims, who is also a civil rights advocate, has been helping her in the fight and says joy is key to bringing the movement forward.

“Folks usually think that to be an activist, you have to be negative in protesting and marching and, but when you come together and you celebrate and you commemorate Juneteenth, it is a form of social awareness,” Sims told ABC News.

“It is a show of support, not just for the African American community, but the fact that Juneteenth represents freedom for all,” she said.

In 2021, Lee and Sims stood with President Joe Biden when he officially made the commemorative day a federally recognized holiday.

“You know when you smile a lot and your cheekbones hurt? That’s how it was that day, because I’m just smiling, seeing her having a dream fulfilled,” Sims said. “A lot of times we have dreams, and we don’t get to see the culmination of it until maybe after a person has passed on.”

Shaonta’ Allen, a sociology professor at Dartmouth University, says that joy is the opposition to widespread anti-Blackness and racism seen in the U.S. It’s inherently resistant to oppressive forces, she says.

“When Black communities and Black individuals decide to identify for themselves and provide value in Blackness, when everything around them tells them that they should not value blackness – That’s where we see that opposition to this widespread racism and inequality,” Allen said.

She said Juneteenth, as well as June’s Pride month and other heritage month celebrations, are great examples of celebrating as a form of protest.

“We see other communities, intentionally drawing on self validation, self valuation, self definition, rather than more dominant notions of what their community is and how their communities should be viewed,” Allen said.

In celebrating the vibrancy and comradery of Juneteenth, Black communities refuse to accept suffering against oppression.

For Sims, joy has been a motivating factor in continuing Lee’s legacy. She said it’s what helps keep activists going.

“Black freedom and Black emancipation in America is definitely something that Black communities are excited about and have been, but we also celebrate with caution, because we know that there’s still a lot of work to do to,” Lee said.

Recession isn’t ‘inevitable’ but inflation remains ‘unacceptably high’: Janet Yellen

June 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A recession is not “at all inevitable” as the Federal Reserve takes increasingly aggressive action to address sharply rising inflation, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday.

“I expect the economy to slow,” Yellen told “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “It’s been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered and we have reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable.”

“Clearly, inflation is unacceptably high,” Yellen continued. “It’s President [Joe] Biden’s top priority to bring it down. And [Fed] Chair [Jerome] Powell has said that his goal is to bring inflation down while maintaining a strong labor market. That’s going to take skill and luck, but I believe it’s possible.”

The current inflation rate, year-over-year, is at a 40-year high of 8.6%, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On Wednesday, in an effort to cool those rising costs, the Fed increased interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point — marking the largest rate increase since 1994. A higher interest rate increases borrowing costs for consumers and companies, potentially slowing inflation by decreasing demand.

“You say it’s not inevitable, but I guess the question is: Is it likely?” Stephanopoulos pressed Yellen, citing data on consumer pull-back and slowing movement in the job market and noting that she, Biden and Powell were all wrong about inflation’s lasting impact last year.

“Consumer spending remains very strong. There’s month-to-month volatility, but overall spending is strong, although patterns of spending are changing and higher food and energy prices are certainly affecting consumers,” Yellen said.

“But bank balances are high,” she continued. “It’s clear that most consumers, even lower-income households, continue to have buffer stocks of savings that will enable them to maintain spending. So I don’t see a drop-off in consumer spending as a likely cause of the recession in the months ahead. And the labor market is very strong, arguably the strongest of the post-war period.”

Yellen attributed inflation partly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying the conflict had increased global prices on energy and food.

“It’s important to recognize that the United States is certainly not the only advanced economy suffering from high inflation,” Yellen said. “We see it in the U.K., we see it in France, Germany, Italy; and the causes of it are global, not local.”

She said “energy prices spillover is really half of inflation,” but that Biden has been working to keep oil prices from going even higher.

Gas prices remain at record highs after months of increases. The current national average is about $4.98 per gallon.

Yellen cited Biden’s “historic” release of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve over six months in an effort to reduce prices — though costs continue to climb.

“[Biden] stands ready to work and is encouraging producers of oil and refined products, gas, to work with him to increase supplies, to bring gas prices and energy prices down,” Yellen said.

On Wednesday, Biden sent a letter to seven major oil refiners in the U.S., blasting them for posting record profits while consumers face record-high gas prices and calling on them to increase production.

The American Petroleum Institute fired back, with its CEO and president arguing it’s “the administration’s misguided policy agenda shifting away from domestic oil and natural gas [that] has compounded inflationary pressures and added headwinds to companies’ daily efforts to meet growing energy needs while reducing emissions.”

“How do you respond to that?” Stephanopoulos pressed.

“I don’t think that the policies are responsible for what’s happening in the oil market,” Yellen said. “I think that producers were partly caught unaware of the strength of the recovery in the economy and weren’t ready to meet the needs of the economy. High prices should induce them to increase supplies over time.”

While long-term efforts to bring down the cost of gas are being debated, Stephanopoulos asked about the short term.

“Several in Congress are calling for gas tax holidays. Prices average around $5 a gallon. Is that on the table?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“President Biden wants to do anything he possibly can to help consumers,” Yellen said. “Gas prices have risen a great deal and it’s clearly burdening households. So he stands ready to work with Congress, and that’s an idea that’s certainly worth considering.”

Yellen also said the administration is considering lifting some Trump-era tariffs on Chinese goods.

“We all recognize that China engages in a range of unfair trade practices that it’s important to address,” Yellen said. “But the tariffs we inherited, some serve no strategic purpose and raise costs to consumers. And so, reconfiguring some of those tariffs so they make more sense and reduce some unnecessary burdens is something that’s under consideration.”

Juneteenth offers message of hope, resiliency

June 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — While most Americans prepare to celebrate the country’s freedom on July 4, many Black people in the United States recognize June 19 as their Independence Day.

The day widely known as Juneteenth, and referred to as Jubilee Day or Black Independence Day, is a significant date in Black history. It marks the day when the last enslaved African Americans found out about their freedom.

The news was delivered to Black people in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which lawfully marked the end of slavery for those of the Southern Confederate states.

ABC News caught up with prominent African Americans in the fields of film, music and media during the Bounce Trumpet Awards on April 23, 2022, and asked about how Juneteenth has played a role in their lives. The awards telecast will air on June 19.

“Our people are great and we started with nothing and came into something,” Emmy Award-winning actor Courtney B. Vance told ABC News. “Yes, things may be difficult now, but when you go past the first Google page and just look and see what our people had to deal with and still they rose. Everywhere they looked was a no. Everywhere they looked was darkness.”

The “61st Street” actor, who has also won a Tony Award, said he appreciates the opportunity to educate, especially young children, about his ancestors’ greatness and adversity. “It’s a message for us all that sometimes life is difficult and it’s going to be trial. But if we just press on, there will be a victory.”

With Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to hold the second-highest office in the executive branch, by his side, President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law last year, on June 17, 2021. But the African American community had been celebrating long before Juneteenth was made a federal holiday.

Essence Magazine CEO Caroline Wanga, a woman of Kenyan descent, emphasized the creation of Juneteenth as a celebration borne out of the struggle Black people face. During the Bounce Trumpet Awards celebrating Black humanitarians, she posed a question of reflection to the Black community.

“If you think about how long it took for Juneteenth to happen, then what are the things that you currently aren’t celebrating that you should be that are already yours, that you don’t know about?”

In addition to the usual music and food festivals and gatherings, Wanga suggests a different way to celebrate.

“That’s what I would love people to spend Juneteenth doing, is recognizing that that holiday was about the last of us finding out that we were freer than we thought,” she said. “What I want us to do is never have to do Juneteenth again and celebrate all the things that are true about us that are already here right now that we just don’t know about. Go Google something and celebrate that on Juneteenth.”

The country’s delayed acknowledgement of what has long been an erased part of American history encourages Black people to research and educate themselves on unknown facts about their ancestry.

Naomi Raine, a member of the Grammy-winning gospel group Maverick City Music, plans to commemorate the holiday by opening up honest conversations with her children.

“I think everybody’s kind of evolving how they’re celebrating this holiday because some of it is just coming to light for many of us,” Raine told ABC News. “Now, it’s more about educating my children and letting them know the roots of our nation and talking about how freedom is for everybody.”

With the many in-person celebrations taking place all across the country this year, some artists do plan to go out and take part in traditional festivities. Rising soul singer Jordan Hawkins, a North Carolina native, says he looks forward to attending the Juneteenth music and arts festival in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park on June 18, which will feature more than 300 Black-owned businesses.

Juneteenth serves as a reminder of the decades-long fight for equity and equality of African Americans. And while the fight to fulfill America’s promise to all continues, Vance offers another message of hope: “I think we’re going to succeed. We’re going to push through.”

6 in 10 Americans say Trump should be charged for Jan. 6 riot: POLL

June 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With the first full week of hearings for the House select committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol now complete, nearly 6 in 10 Americans believe former President Donald Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the incident, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.

Six in 10 Americans also believe the committee is conducting a fair and impartial investigation, according to the poll.

In the poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in partnership with ABC News using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, 58% of Americans think Trump should be charged with a crime for his role in the riot. That’s up slightly from late April, before the hearings began, when an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 52% of Americans thought the former president should be charged.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll that asked a similar question days after the attack in January 2021 found that 54% of Americans thought Trump should be charged with the crime of inciting a riot.

Attitudes on whether Americans think Trump is responsible for the attack on the U.S. Capitol remain relatively stable. In the new ABC News/Ipsos poll, 58% of Americans think Trump bears a “great deal” or a “good amount” of responsibility for the attack on the Capitol. This is unchanged from an ABC News/Ipsos poll in December 2021 and similar to the findings of an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted just after the attack in January 2021.

The poll divides along party lines, with 91% of Democrats thinking Trump should be charged with a crime compared to 19% of Republicans. On whether Trump bears a “great deal” or a “good amount” of responsibility for the attack, 91% of Democrats and 21% of Republicans say he does.

Among self-described independents, 62% think Trump should be charged and 61% think he bears a “great deal” or a “good amount” of responsibility.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted after the committee held its third of seven public hearings scheduled for this month, which detail what the committee says was a “sophisticated, seven-part plan” by Trump and his supporters to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

On Friday, Trump lambasted the hearing, calling the panel “con artists,” while continuing to air false claims about the 2020 election.

“There’s no clearer example of the menacing spirit that has devoured the American left than the disgraceful performance being staged by the unselect committee,” Trump said at a conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Nashville, Tennessee.

Overall, 60% of Americans think the committee is conducting a fair and impartial investigation while 38% say it is not, the new ABC News/Ipsos poll found. That was evenly divided at 40% in the April ABC News/Washington Post poll, which also found that 20% of Americans had no opinion on the matter just two months ago.

When it comes to the fairness of the committee, Americans are again divided along party lines in the latest poll, with 85% of Democrats finding the investigation fair and impartial, compared to 31% of Republicans. Independents’ views fall in-between at 63%.

Democrats are more likely to be following the hearings. Overall, 34% of Americans are following the hearings very or somewhat closely, with 43% of Democrats and 22% of Republicans saying so. In a reminder of where political attention is, just under one in 10 (9%) Americans say they are following the hearings very closely.

On whether the investigation will have an impact at the polls, just over half (51%) of Americans say that what they’ve read, seen or heard about the hearings has made no difference in who they plan to support in this November’s election. Meanwhile, 29% say they are more likely to support Democratic candidates and 19% say they are more likely to support Republican candidates.

The bipartisan committee, led by chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and vice-chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is in the midst of summing up its 11-month-long investigation into the attack. So far the hearings have largely focused on how Trump pushed the “big lie” of a stolen 2020 race and the pressure campaign on then-Vice President Mike Pence.

The panel has also shared never-before-seen footage from the riot and interviews with Trump administration and White House officials.

This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted using Ipsos Public Affairs‘ KnowledgePanel® June 17-18, 2022, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 545 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 4.5 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 28-26-40 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s topline results and details on the methodology here.

ABC News’ Dan Merkle and Ken Goldstein contributed to this report.

CDC gives the go-ahead for Pfizer and Moderna COVID vaccines for kids as young as 6 months

June 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A panel of advisers at the Centers for Disease Control have greenlit the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for kids as young as 6 months old, finding them both safe and effective.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky issued a recommendation for how doctors, nurses and pharmacists should administer the shots on Saturday.

The CDC panel’s review and joint support for the vaccines comes after the FDA’s committee of independent experts also voted to recommend the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday, and the FDA authorized the vaccines on Friday.

Vaccines will start shipping out over the weekend and are on track to arrive as soon as Monday, a spokesperson with the Department of Health and Human Services said.

Kids could begin to get their shots Monday if the CDC director signs off, but given the federal holiday in honor of Juneteenth, some offices may be closed and it’s more likely that shots ramp up starting on Tuesday.

“As doses are delivered, parents will be able to start scheduling vaccinations for their youngest kids as early as next week, with appointments ramping up over the coming days and weeks,” President Joe Biden said in a statement applauding the news on Friday.

Ten million doses were made available by the federal government to states for pre-ordering over the last few weeks. Of those, 3.8 million doses have been ordered so far, according to HHS, including 2.5 million Pfizer doses, about half of the doses available, and 1.3 million Moderna doses, about a quarter of the doses made available.

Officials cautioned that preordering is generally slow when a new age group becomes eligible for shots as doctors and clinics get their vaccine programs up and running, but they expected orders to ramp up in the coming weeks.

Both Pfizer and Moderna’s CEOs said in statements they’re proud to finally be able to offer a vaccine option for parents of the youngest kids.

“Children need to live highly social lives to develop and flourish. With this authorization, caregivers for young children ages 6 months through 5 years of age finally have a way to safeguard against COVID risks in classroom and daycare settings,” said Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna.

Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said they are “grateful” to those who enrolled children in the clinical trial to make the authorization possible.

And while the vaccines are both valuable options for COVID protection, some parents have struggled to decide which vaccine would be best for their child.

The nation’s leading health officials said Friday they’d give their kids whichever shot was available first. Dr. Robert Califf, the FDA commissioner, said he has two grandchildren under 5: “They’ll get the first one that’s available,” he said.

“The differences between the two are so much less than the fundamental benefit to risk balance,” he said in a press conference.

Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s vaccine chief, said the same but acknowledged the nuances that particularly attentive parents might consider.

“It may be that the Moderna vaccine brings an immune response slightly more rapidly. On the other hand, the three-dose Pfizer regiment may also bring a greater immune response after the third dose, and there are some subtle differences in the safety profile,” Marks said.

“But again, these are relatively subtle, and unless you really want to dive into the subtlety, to a first approximation the correct answer here is whatever vaccine your health care provider pediatrician has, that’s what I would give my child,” Marks said.

Data from Moderna, which is a two-shot series, showed its vaccine was about 40% to 50% effective at preventing mild infections after both shots.

But representatives for Moderna said they expected a third shot, or booster, would be available to kids in the coming months — either the current vaccine, or the omicron-specific vaccine the company is developing for the fall — which could increase efficacy.

Pfizer’s vaccine is one-tenth the size of the adult dose, given as a three-shot series.

The company’s early data showed it was 80% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19. But that protection largely didn’t kick in until the third shot — the data showed very minimal protection after doses one and two.

Marks also cautioned that the data from Pfizer was based on a much smaller group of children and that the FDA was waiting to see more follow-up data to know for sure what the efficacy rate was — though they remained confident there would be no concerns based on other data.

He urged parents to get their kids vaccinated regardless of past COVID infections, detailing new studies that showed the omicron variant in particular didn’t offer the same lasting immunity after infection as the vaccine does, and said parents should not wait for the fall, when there could be a new-and-improved vaccine, because getting vaccinated now would build up “foundational immunity.”

“I would strongly recommend that with the availability of this primary series, which provides excellent foundational immunity against a broad range of COVID-19 variants, that I would have children start this right now. And if it turns out that there is a very major change in strains that needs to occur in the fall, we will adjust and make sure that there is an option available for the youngest children and throughout the pediatric age range as appropriate,” Marks said.

“But for right now, this is something where we would recommend that people start this now because it will provide that foundational level of immunity.”

Killer Mike calls for protection of Black art amid Young Thug and Gunna indictment

June 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — Atlanta rappers Young Thug and Gunna were hit with gang-related charges in a case that sent shock waves through the music industry and spotlighted the controversial use of rap lyrics as evidence in court.

“[Young Thug] came out of a very desperate situation,” Atlanta rapper and activist Killer Mike told “Good Morning America.”

“The side of town he comes from — Cleveland Avenue, southeast Atlanta — has been wrought with poverty forever … he managed to escape the streets using rap lyrics, and he’s managed to help people change their lives.”

But now some of those lyrics have been named in a sweeping 56-count grand jury indictment in Fulton County, Georgia.

Young Thug, whose legal name is Jeffrey Williams, and Gunna, who name is Sergio Kitchens, were each charged with one count of conspiring to violate the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) act and have entered not guilty pleas.

Young Thug is also charged with an additional count of participating in street gang activity, according to charging documents obtained by ABC News.

Top music executives launched a Change.org petition this week, calling for the protection of Black art and legislation that addresses the criminalization of rap lyrics.

“Today in courtrooms across America, Black creativity and artistry is being criminalized,” wrote 300 Entertainment CEO Kevin Liles. “With increasing and troubling frequency, prosecutors are attempting to use rap lyrics as confessions. This practice isn’t just a violation of First Amendment protections for speech and creative expression. It punishes already marginalized communities and silences their stories of family, struggle, survival, and triumph.”

Killer Mike, whose real name is Michael Render, is a longtime advocate against the use of rap lyrics in court. He said it’s important to remember that hip-hop is a form of entertainment and artists are performers who play characters.

“Young Thug — that’s a character that Jeffrey Williams created … but Jeffrey Williams is a father,” he said. “He’s a human being that’s capable of love, care and compassion.”

Erik Nielson, the author of “Rap on Trial,” told “GMA” he has advised and testified in close to 100 cases around the country in which rap lyrics were used as evidence in court — a practice that often targets amateur local rappers.

“I was surprised that prosecutors were brazen enough to go after somebody as well known as Young Thug,” Nielson said.” “But I was also surprised at the extent to which lyrics seem to be part of the prosecution as part of their early argument that he is involved in criminal activity.” .

Young Thug was among 28 people listed allegedly associated with the Atlanta-based Young Slime Life (YSL) gang, which authorities say he co-founded in 2012. YSL is also the name of Young Thug’s record label, Young Stoner Life, to which Gunna is also signed. It is an imprint of 300 Entertainment and is not named in the indictment.

Court documents detail instances where individuals allegedly associated with the YSL gang wore or displayed symbols of “YSL” in music videos posted on social media between 2016 and 2021 and rapped lyrics that mention “YSL” and/or various descriptions of criminal activity.

“These lyrics are no more than braggadocio rap lyrics,” Killer Mike said. “It is no more than Killer Mike saying I’m a killer on the mic.”

Prosecutors allege that YSL is responsible for three murders, including the 2015 killing of Donovan Thomas — an incident that they claimed “triggered” additional gang-related killings in the city.

Young Thug, a Grammy-winning rapper, is accused of various crimes, including theft and possession of illicit drugs with intent to distribute.

“Mr. Williams has committed no violation of law, whatsoever. We will fight this case ethically, legally and zealously. Mr. Williams will be cleared,” Young Thug’s attorney Brian Steel told ABC News.

“Mr. Sergio Kitchens, known as Gunna, is innocent. The indictment falsely portrays his music as part of criminal conspiracy,” the rapper’s attorneys, Steve Sadow and Don Samuel, told ABC News.

“It is intensely problematic that the State relies on song lyrics as part of its allegations. These lyrics are an artist’s creative expression and not a literal recounting of facts and circumstances,” the attorneys said in a court filing obtained by ABC News.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis defended including the lyrics in the indictment.

“The First Amendment does not protect people from prosecutors using [lyrics] as evidence,” she said at a May 10 press conference when asked about First Amendment concerns. “We put it as overt within the RICO count because we believe that’s exactly what it is.” ABC News has reached out to the DA’s office for further comment.

Nielson, a liberal arts professor at the University of Richmond, claims hip-hop music is the only genre that is targeted in courtrooms in this way.

“Rap music is the only fictional form — musical or otherwise, that is targeted this way in the courts,” Nielson said.

“It’s absolutely racist,” he added. “… essentially what’s happening is rap music is being denied the status of art.”

Killer Mike, who wrote the foreword to “Rap on Trial,” said that targeting Black art speaks to the dehumanization of Black people in America.

“Hip hop is not respected as an art because Black people in this country are not recognized as full human beings,” he said.

“… If we allow the courts to prosecute these men based on characters they created and stories of pretend that they tell in rhyme then next, they’ll be at your door.”

Young Thug and Gunna were both denied bond and their trials are set for January 2023.

Import of baby formula worth 19 million bottles set to arrive in US next month

June 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Over a million pounds of baby formula is set to ship into the United States sometime next month, the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday.

Approximately 750,000 cans of Danone formula — equivalent to 1.3 million pounds of formula or roughly 19 million 8-ounce bottles — will be imported from the company’s facility in Ireland and is expected to be sold at major retailers in July.

The batch will be Aptamil First Infant Milk Stage 1, which is a formula for most healthy babies. The formula may not be suitable for infants who are born prematurely, those at risk for iron deficiencies or who have a low birth weight, the agency warned.

The import is part of the Biden administration’s ongoing “Operation Fly Formula” to address a nationwide shortage of baby formula that has left parents scrambling to find available stock in stores.

Vice President Kamala Harris greeted the latest shipment on Friday at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. The shipment included the equivalent of 200,000 8-ounce bottles of Kendamil formula flown by United Airlines from the United Kingdom.

“Let’s be clear, this really is about what should be one of the highest purposes for any one of us, which is to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our children, the children of our country,” Harris said in remarks delivered at the airport.

The administration, which faced criticism for its response to the shortage, invoked the Defense Production Act to ramp up domestic production and expanded access to baby formula for recipients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (also known as WIC).

“There’s no doubt there’s more work to do,” Harris said, adding: “We have seen progress, but the work that we need to do is to continue to move the formula as quickly as possible and get it on the shelves.”

This weekend, three more flights carrying Kendamil infant formula will arrive at Dulles International Airport. Once it arrives, Kendamil products are transferred to Target and made available to their stores nationwide.

The FDA said by June 19, “Operation Fly Formula” flights will have brought nearly 13 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents of formula to the U.S.

As flights continue to arrive, production at Abbott Nutrition’s baby formula plant in Michigan has once again halted due to flooding in the area after severe storms.

Abbott’s plant was closed for nearly four months due to contamination concerns. The shuttering of the site and Abbott’s voluntary recall of products exacerbated the shortages.

FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said he’s been in contact with Abbott CEO Robert Ford and the two have a “shared desire to get the facility up and running again as quickly as possible.”

In a statement, Abbott said the latest shutdown “will likely delay production and distribution of new product for a few weeks.”

Uvalde officer passed up chance to shoot gunman for fear of hitting children

June 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(UVALDE, Texas) — A Uvalde police officer had the opportunity to shoot the gunman before he entered the school, but did not take the shot for fear of hitting children, according to an official briefed on the investigation. The officer was armed with a AR-15-style rifle.

The officer who arrived with a rifle only had seconds to make the decision and feared he would hit children with his weapon, according to the official. The account was first reported by the New York Times.

The decision is the second missed opportunity for officers who were responding to reports of a gunman outside Robb Elementary School.

A Uvalde school district police force officer had arrived on the scene while the gunman was still outside, but drove past him, not seeing him in the parking lot.

Additional details on the investigation into the Uvalde school shooting are expected to be released next week. Two teachers and 19 students were killed after a gunman walked into the school through an unlocked door and opened fire.

Officials revealed it took 77 minutes from the moment the gunman entered the school to the moment he was shot and killed by Border Patrol officers.

Police response to the shooting is currently being investigated by the Texas Rangers, the U.S. Department of Justice and a special committee of the Texas legislature.

ABC News’ Josh Margolin and Alyssa Pone contributed to this report.

Juneteenth holds new meaning for Buffalo, New York, following shooting tragedy

June 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Buffalo, New York, has one of the country’s largest Juneteenth celebrations outside of Texas, according to event organizers.

Each year on June 19, the community comes together to honor the day that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free, about 2 1/2 years after they were legally freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.

However, this year, the celebration of freedom in the U.S. means much more to this city.

Buffalo is grieving following a mass shooting by an alleged white supremacist at a Tops supermarket that left 10 Black people dead and another three people wounded on May 14.

Authorities have called the attack a racially motivated hate crime.

The alleged shooter ranted in a 180-page document detailing the racist motivations behind the mass shooting, saying that he targeted the area because of its predominantly Black population.

Jomo Akono, who helps organize the Juneteenth celebration, said the suspect drove past his house to get to the supermarket that day. In this tight-knit community, everyone felt the weight of the attack.

“Many of the people in our community have direct or one or two degrees of separation from someone who was injured or killed or inside of the facility — someone who survived being shot at,” said Akono. “They have the mental and emotional scars.”

This year, Buffalo residents are taking this moment of grief and heartache and using Juneteenth as a way to remind the world that racial injustice is not over in this country.

The weekend-long festival is being dedicated to all of the victims affected by the tragedy and their families, and there will be a place of silence near the festival for people to relax, reflect on the tragedy and honor the victims, organizers said.

The event organizers say there is a long way to go in the fight for racial justice — and Juneteenth is a chance to celebrate both how far the country has come and acknowledge how far it has to go.

“This will be a defining event that really displays our rich culture and history and shows that we are really a part of this American landscape in every which way imaginable,” said Jennifer Earle-Jones, president of Juneteenth Festival, Inc.’s board of directors.

The 47th Juneteenth Festival of Buffalo will aim to educate attendees about the past histories of the Black community in America — from slavery, to Jim Crow, to modern-day oppression via police brutality and systemic racism, according to organizers.

The recent mass shooting highlighted the growing threat of white supremacist violence in the U.S.

“Put May 14 as one of those traumatic forces against Black people here in America,” said Akono. “I feel optimistic that people are going to wake up and be more vigilant.”

He continued, “If everything was okay, why are we still fighting for voting rights? Why are we still talking about equal and respectful police protection?”

Though there will be plenty of discussion about ways to address racial injustice, organizers say they also want residents to revel in the love and joy of the community after years and months of facing such burdens.

“We want to be that communal place, where the village comes together again after the wolf is gone,” she added.

Event organizers say healing — not just in Buffalo, but the Black community as a whole — is a vital part of achieving racial justice. Residents need a break, they say, and the multigenerational love and community of the festival will satisfy that need.

Several generations of Buffalo residents will come together for a dayslong schedule of events including parades, parties, festivals and performances by local students, fraternities and sororities prepared just for this day.

“People have been crying for months and months,” Earle-Jones said. They want “people to come out and be able to laugh.”

Juneteenth and its implications for the economy and generational wealth

June 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — While June 19, 1865, is widely regarded as a day of liberation, its celebration for some simultaneously brings into question just how far that freedom goes.

For real estate entrepreneur Jude Bernard, Juneteenth is a reminder of generational wealth deprived.

“The whole story behind Juneteenth was that we were technically free, but we didn’t know it and it was years before we actually truly got our freedom,” Bernard told ABC News.

Bernard said Juneteenth can be used to highlight financial equality, which is the type of freedom many, like him, have fought for.

He used student loan funds to buy his first property 25 years ago with the goal of earning extra income on the side. Now, with an extensive portfolio, the investor is the founder and CEO of The Brooklyn Bank–a nonprofit focused on financial literacy and development for people of color.

“My mission is equality,” he said. “The goal of the Brooklyn Bank is to pretty much bring the information to those that don’t have it. So many times, us as a people, we miss out on opportunities. Not because we’re not willing to learn, but because we don’t even know what we don’t know.”

Reflecting on his upbringing as a first-generation Haitian-American in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Bernard said he feels “lucky” to have come across the information that has brought him to where he is today. He said that not having a “formal financial education” during his childhood encouraged him to share what may not be readily available in their communities with others.

Bernard said education is key to resolving economic inequality.

On Juneteenth, The Brooklyn Bank will be holding its first annual Black Money Forum in collaboration with personal finance app Stash. The free event will focus on “financial freedom, financial education, financial empowerment, and most importantly, changing the financial mindset,” Bernard said.

“A lack of information keeps people on a treadmill,” he said. “A lack of education, has people not saving and not passing wealth down to the next generation.”

According to Wealth of Two Nations: The U.S. Racial Wealth Gap, 1860-2020, the white to Black per capita wealth ratio is six to one. The paper, by researchers Ellora Derenoncourt, Chi Hyun Kim, Moritz Kuhn & Moritz Schularick, drew information from census data and tax records to analyze racial economic disparities over time and what steps should be taken to equalize them.

“So the average white American has six times the wealth of the average Black American. That’s equivalent to Black Americans holding about 17 cents for every white dollar of wealth,” co-author Derenoncourt, an economic historian and assistant professor of economics at Princeton University, told ABC News.

She said while much of the work on the racial wealth gap focuses on recent years–from the 1980s onward–, she sought to show the evolution of the gap since the Civil War to examine “the importance of American history for where the wealth gap is today.”

In 1860, the white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio was 56:1, translating to the average Black American owning less than 2 cents to the dollar of every white American. Legal prevention of enslaved peoples to accumulate wealth exacerbated this gap and continues to severely constrain the ability to close it, she said.

Contrarily, in opening up the possibility for Black Americans to possess and bequeath capital, “emancipation was the single biggest closer of the racial wealth gap.” Policies enacted afterward, however, did not go far enough to continue to resolve this disparity, according to Derenoncourt.

“One major thing that was lacking was any sort of reparations or provision of some form of capital to the formerly enslaved,” she said. “W.E.B. DuBois called this a reckless experiment in emancipation, one that you’ve never seen in the history of humanity–to emancipate a people, but not provide them with any means for providing for themselves while the other group has had the opportunity to accumulate wealth and pass that wealth on to future generations.”

“… I like to regard Juneteenth as not just a day off, but it’s a freedom day,” Bernard said. “A financial freedom day, where it’s an opportunity to learn a little bit more about things that you need to gain the equality that we’re supposedly entitled to.”

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