Onchocerciasis or River Blindness

The Farmer And Fisherman Who Lost His Sight To River Blindness Emmanuel Kwame, 60 (NPR)

Above is an image of Emmanuel Kwame of Ghana who suffers from Onchocerciasis, otherwise known as River Blindness among locals. Kwame has been affected by River Blindness for 40 years at this point and hasn't allowed his disability  to take advantage of his life as an avid farmer and fisherman. 

Onchocerciasis, (or River Blindness) is caused by a roundworm infection which is spread by black flies. Kwame explains, "I started having nodules [lumps of worms just under the skin] and swelling all over my body, and then it would appear as if some worms were on my eyes. I would see them moving across my eyes and I realized my eyes were no good."  Hundreds of thousands of larvae spread throughout the affected persons body and blindness occurs once the majority of these worms disease, just below the surface of the person's skin. 

The Ghana village of Asubende has seen far too many cases of this disease. Six out of twelve of Kwame siblings have fallen victims of blindness. Thirty years ago, 80 percent of Asubende residents were affected with the disease. After the distribution of Ivermectin (the drug which kills the parasite associated with River Blindness) in the late 1980s, the infected number of residents has dropped just below 3 percent. Kwame's generation seems to be the last one infected with onchoceriasis, and the Ghanans hope that remains true. 

Although we see tragedy while looking at the life of Emmanuel Kwame and others in his situation,we also see inspiration. For his disability does not keep him from earning a living and continuing his  life as a farmer and fisherman. If Kwame had happened to be a United States citizen, he'd receive benefits from the government to accommodate for his disability, but this isn't the case. It's important that we recognize all of the privileges we endure as Americans because in other areas on this globe, such as Ghana, people aren't so fortunate.   

Long-Overdue Justice for Black Artists

Norman Lewis, an underappreciated black artist (died in 1979)

A revolution is on the rise for the justice of black artists across the nation, past and present. We are finally heading towards a time where works of art are judged on the content of the work rather than who created it and the race and heritage of that person. Norman Lewis, an artist who passed away in 1979 predicted that it would take 30-40 years for his work and the work of other black artists to be appreciated with race-blinded eyes. Today, museums such as the Museum of Modern Art (Manhattan) and the National Gallery of Art (Washington) are more inclusive of artwork by black artists. This creates a more even and diverse playing field in the field of contemporary art for new and upcoming black artists, a field that was previously dominated in the public by white artists. Norman Lewis and similar black artists may now rest peacefully.

http://nyti.ms/1YBgImI
In the video attached to the link above, Eldzier Cortor (1916-2015), a black painter and printmaker speaks about his life and career as an artist of black decent. Cortor who died at the age of 99 this Thanksgiving worked in New York for many years and was ignored by museums for much of his life, until recently. He got see his work presented in the inaugural show of the new downtown Whitney Museum. Due to the ignorance of the art world for the majority of Cortor's life he still owned many original works and began donating them to various museums. "It's a little late now, I'd say. But better than never" the artist stated in a recent interview with the New York Times.

"Southern Landscape" a painting by Eldzier Cortor

Bayard Rustin

On this celebratory day for the civil rights movement, we should remember not only Martin Luther King and the hard work he did as a servant toward desegregation and the overall betterment of this country, but also those people who fought for equal rights among all throughout their entire lives and who's efforts and achievements remain unnoticed by the general American public today. Let us remember Bayard Rustin, an initiating leader in civil rights, gay rights, nonviolent resistance, and socialism. Due to the criminalization of homosexual activity in some parts of the United States in the 1950s, Rustin carried a criminal charge with him. He was criticized for this charge and for his open sexuality by fellow civil rights leaders because it detracted from the effect of his work. As a result, Rustin rarely stepped out as a public figure and worked influentially behind the scenes for more known civil rights leaders such as Dr. King. This remained true until the 1980s when issues regarding gay and lesbian rights surfaced, redeeming him a public advocate for this cause. At the age of 75, Bayard Rustin passed away in 1987. May he rest in eternal peace.  

STOP Blaming the Victims of Police Brutality

http://youtu.be/Wq7pyg3Rczo

I came upon this clip accidentally. It started playing as one of those advertisements that plays before the desired clip and you have the ability to skip after 5 seconds. Once it started, I decided to keep watching and I'm glad I did. A very intriguing and important discussion to be had. The victims of police brutality are not to be blamed anymore. The fact that people die due to police brutality in this country and people are able to blame the victims outrages me. When are we going to finally move past this racial barrier that is causing all of these incidents to happen? After every mile stone the black community has surpassed, police brutality is still taking place in the United States.

#SoWhiteOscars Part II

http://youtu.be/a9foV1hs4AY

Above is Whoopi Goldberg and the panel at The View reacting to Jada Pinkett Smith's boycott of the academy awards. Whoopi Goldberg, in complete disagreement with the statistics of the race within the academy being the issue, she wants to direct attention to this ongoing issue not only at the time of oscar nomination announcements, but all year long. She exclaims that there aren't enough roles or movies for black actors and actresses and it's always been this way.

Jada Pinkett Smith Boycotting the Oscars #SoWhite Oscars

http://youtu.be/E9GqeY5XjWE

For the second year in a row the 20 most acclaimed awards at the Academy Awards are going to be received by all white people. Not a single black person nominated. This infuriates Jada Pinkett Smith. She's decided to boycott the Oscars this year due to the lack of diverse nominations and many are following behind her. Looking deeper into this issue, I've found that it turns out that 94% of the academy is white. Many would agree that this is the main factor behind the lack of black nominations. This kind of thing is getting old.

CNN- How the Media Missed Bernie Sanders

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/18/politics/bernie-sanders-media/

some interesting factors to consider if questioning why Bernie Sanders is suddenly taken seriously by the media

Political Cartoon

Above is an over-dramatized representation of what is actually going on. Hillary is backed by Wall Street and big banks while Bernie Sanders is backed by the working class and the American people.

Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine

I stumbled upon this award winning documentary about Matthew Shepard whilst browsing through netflix looking for something to watch on this glum sick day. I didn't know much about Matthew Shepard prior to watching this documentary, but after doing so I was glad that I invested an hour and a half of my time into watching it and you should definitely consider doing so if you're reading this.

If you're unaware of who Matthew Shepard is, allow me to give you some background: he was beaten to death by some bigoted fools in 1998 at the age of 21 after vocalizing his homosexuality to said bigoted fools. 11 years later, the Matthew Sheppard Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed. This was put into action to ensure the safety of Americans who are susceptible to hate crimes, especially those regarding sexual preference.

I would strongly advise anyone to watch this powerful documentary, an interview based heart breaking tale displaying the views of those close to Matthew Shepard regarding the horrific incident that permanently removed him from their lives. As you can tell by the poster image above, this documentary has won several awards, which gives even more reason to watch it.

Bernie Sanders Finally Being Seen as "Electable"

The Young Turks Panel- Democratic Debate January 2016

Placed above is a link to a liberal online panel known as The Young Turks discussing the Democratic Debate which happened on Sunday night. They discuss the debate and especially the political views of Bernie Sanders and how they positively oppose those of Hilary Clinton's. 

All I have to add is that it is vital to do your research on the presidential candidates and their values before making the decision on who you're voting for. America is our country and it's very important to take advantage of the opportunity to vote for the candidate who has paralleling views to you and what you want for this country. Given of course that you happen to be of voting age by November. 

The Photo Society

If you are interested in the beauty of the visual art of photography regarding nature and humanity you will enjoy exploring the social media and official website of The Photo Society, a group of diverse professional National Geographic photographers. These skilled photographers are located all over the world and all contribute to the world renowned National Geographic magazine.

Photo by Marco Vernaschi, (@marcovernaschi) of Buenos Aries, Argentina 

Photo by Luciano Candisani of Ilhabela, Brazil 

These are two of the nearly 4,000 original images among those posted on thephotosociety on Instagram. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you are a user of the app. It's always enjoyable to see what they've posted and to check out the pages of the different photographers of each image.

David

David Bowie passed away early this morning at age 69. Rest in Peace...

The 1960s: Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton

I discovered this picture on a twitter account that is obviously in favor of Bernie Sanders for the democratic nomination for the upcoming primary election. I found these captions intriguing because I wasn't formerly aware of this information. Not to suggest Hillary Clinton's more recent claims are invalid, for anyone is able has the capability to change their stances on issues concerning civil rights or other subjects of that nature, but seeing that Bernie Sanders has always been committed to the betterment of rights for minorities gives me confidence that he is the right choice (for me) in the upcoming elections. Unfortunately I won't be able to vote in the primary election because my 18th birthday isn't until July, but I have been supporting Sanders on social media and in person, as I participated in his Worcester rally on January 2nd. I believe that he has a lot to offer the United States of America, which could ultimately affect the entire world in a positive way.