Rekindling The Spirit Of Giving; Ways And Tips For Black People To Protect And Accentuate Their Health
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Welcome to The Politocrat. I'm Omar Moore. It is Monday, January the 13th, 2025. On this edition of The Politocrat, health. Your health. Black people and health. Your health in 2025. A critical, critical thing that we must take care of. This year and always. All of that coming up next.

This fire has burned more than 23,000 acres, only 13% surrounded. We've got a red flag warning in place with the National Weather Service predicting wind gusts of up to 70 miles an hour for early tomorrow. They're saying that could cause explosive fire growth and what they're describing as a particularly dangerous situation in parts of Southern California.

Hundreds of homes burned in this fire here in Pacific Palisades. It's described as the most destructive in the history of the city. President-elect Trump has blamed Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass for policies that led to this disaster. In one social media post, the president-elect claimed Newsom had blocked a measure that would have allowed water to flow from Northern California to Southern California.

which Newsom says is not true. Over the weekend, Governor Newsom responded in an interview with NBC.

President-elect Trump has blamed you for this crisis. He called you incompetent. What's your response? Well, I called for him to come out, take a look for himself. We want to do it in the spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist. He's the president-elect. I respect the office. I don't know what he's referring to when he talks about the Delta smelt and reservoirs. The reservoirs are completely full of the state reservoirs here in Southern California. That mis- and disinformation, I don't think, advantages or aids any of us. Responding to Donald Trump's insults,

We would spend another month. I'm very familiar with them. And we will all become very reacquainted, if you will, with those insults in exactly one week's time as Donald Trump returns to the White House to destroy it and the country as well.

Dear listener, welcome to this, our Monday edition of the Politocrat Daily Podcast. Always a pleasure to have you aboard. Thank you so very much for listening. Really appreciate you. I hope your weekend was good. I hope you were able to make of the weekend what you can and what you did and what you could. And I do hope that you found some light

and enjoyment and love and peace and contentment during the weekend. Of course, the weekend goes by so darn quickly. You really don't get to enjoy it too much, but make the most of it. I think that's so important that we must do that. And as you heard there in that opening audio,

KTLA broadcast in Los Angeles, Channel 5 in LA, talking about the Palisades fire. That was the fire that they anchor or the reporter, I should say, on scene down there was referring to. Only 13% contained. It was a week ago tomorrow that the fire occurred.

began and really started to create the chaos and devastation that we have seen in Los Angeles in the greater Los Angeles area so now with 87% of this fire still to be contained

You know, it's been really heartbreaking for the residents, for the people in that area. I've tried to get in touch with some people, other people that I know down in Los Angeles, and I've not been able to reach them. And so that obviously concerns me. I expect that you probably have some people that you know, be they relatives, be they friends, be they people that you know from work or wherever it might be.

And I hope that you're able to get in contact with them. But I have not been able to get in contact with one or two people. So that is something that you do worry about and get concerned about.

It's a very difficult time. People are doing some really great things in Los Angeles and in these other cities, Altadena, Pasadena, Pacific Palisades, Malibu. These are all towns. They're not all under one umbrella. They are in the greater Los Angeles area, but they are not Los Angeles. I think people really need to understand that. People who don't live

down in Los Angeles or in the greater Los Angeles area are thinking that all of this is L.A. Well, no, you know, these are all separate cities in the greater Los Angeles area. Malibu, there's a mayor of Malibu, you know, there's a mayor of Pacific Palisades, there's a mayor of Alta D, you know, these all have separate mayors.

The Los Angeles mayor is Karen Bass. Now, there are mayors for all these other places as well. People seem to not understand that. For example, up here in the San Francisco Bay Area, which really comprises of several cities and counties, there are mayors in each area.

part of these counties, each part of each of these cities. For example, there's an Oakland mayor. Oakland makes up part of the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco obviously does. You know, you've got Pacifica that does. You've got Daly City and you've got all these different cities that are part of the San Francisco Bay Area, Livermore and all of these areas. And each of them has a separate mayor.

So, you know, people have to understand that. People who aren't geographically sharp to California, to the northern part of the state or the southern part of the state where Los Angeles is concerned, needs to be aware of that because there's been a lot of nonsense flying around. As you've heard there, the Governor Gavin Newsom,

having to waste some time responding. But as he quite, I think, astutely said, if I had to respond to all his insults, you know, it's just a waste of time responding to Donald Trump, because that's what he's going to do, as he did last time, as he's been doing when he wasn't in the White House, making up things, lying, and having the media do his job for him, carry his water for him. Oh, well, Donald Trump said this. Well, who cares what Donald Trump has to say? Who cares?

But, you know, this is what happens when you have a media that is lazy, that is an absolute dog and is something that kowtows to whatever the politics of the day are when it concerns politics.

kissing up to Donald Trump. That's what you have. So the media in this country has capitulated to him and carried his water, and they will continue to do it. They carried his water when he wasn't in office, and they're going to carry his water again when he comes into the office one week from now. So, you know, instead of the media ignoring what he says, or at least just

Just demonstrating that it's untrue what he says and then moving on. They now have reporters and they've done this for a long time saying, well, what do you think? Donald Trump says this. Well, you know, again, that's part of the problem with the media. So I like the way that the California governor, Gavin Newsom, who I expect will run, definitely will run in four years if there is an election to run for in four years. I'm expecting that he will be running and, um,

That's what you're seeing here. So, you know, I just think that Governor Newsom did the smart thing there. And people in Los Angeles are doing some really great things given all the adversity. You know, they are managing to keep themselves going. It's very, very difficult for many, many people down there. And there are people helping. There are people in the communities who are helping.

poor communities, rich communities, all kinds. There are people on the ground who are helping each other out and who are delivering food, clothing, you know, items that they don't need. They've been donating them. And there's been a number of GoFundMe pages. I spotlighted one of the many GoFundMe pages for a brother who is 83 years of age, Walt Butler, who has helped people all his life, has been well known in the community of

Al Tadina for helping people and helping people all his life. And, you know, he lost his home last week, lost everything. And so, you know, now it's time to help him. And he does have a GoFundMe page, which I linked to in the line of notes of the episode on Friday. And I will link to it again

in the line of notes for this episode. And there will be some other people that I'll be linking to. My advice, by the way, would not be, my advice would be not to donate to the Red Cross. I know that that's a very easy thing to do because the Red Cross is all seen all these disasters. And I know that the Red Cross has done good work in the past. But I think the better thing to do

is to donate directly to people who are in need. It is not, these funds don't necessarily go directly to people. They may go to efforts, but they may not go to people. In fact, I think a lot of these Red Cross, again, this is me speculating, but a lot of these things go to administrative things in the Red Cross. A lot of this stuff does not go directly to

the families and the people who are in need down there in the greater Los Angeles area. And so I really would advise you to avoid donating to the Red Cross. What you really need to be doing is donating to actual people who have lost their homes. Now, again, there are ways to tell authentic GoFundMe pages from ones that aren't. And I can tell you that the one

that I have linked to from for Walt Butler is an authentic page at this point as the last count over half a million dollars and of course that will change by the time perhaps you go to this page over half a million dollars has been donated to Walt and he has responded about by how over with how overwhelmed he is by the support there's a video of him on that GoFundMe page if I remember correctly when I went out to that page

This is someone who is one of the many, many people who lost their home, lost everything in their home, lost their home. And so I think it is a much better bet to donate directly to people

than it is to directly to invest or direct to, let me just say that again. I think it's important that we spend the time donating directly to people rather than donating to any company like the Red Cross or anything like that. The Red Cross has been caught up in a number of scandals, by the way.

Over the last few years. And you know I just don't. The spidey sense if you will. That I have. Is not jiving with donating anything. To these organizations. Who in some cases capitalize on. And exploit these tragedies. Now yes. Are there fake or artificial. Or you know malicious. GoFundMe pages. Of course there are. And you have to be discerning about that too. But what I am saying is.

There are ways to tell whether they're authentic pages or not on GoFundMe. And the one that I've directed you to is an authentic GoFundMe page. And so, you know, there's also a listing of Walt's relatives, I think, who set this page up.

So I'm very pleased that Walt's getting that kind of response. I really hope that you donate to him as well. Anything you can afford would be greatly appreciated. That's who we are, you know, as human beings, when the chips are down,

vast majority of us tend to show who we really are as people in these adverse situations and whether we're near or far whether we're in California or whether we're in New York whether we're in the United States or whether we're in the United Kingdom or whether we're on the African continent or

We as human beings show, for the most of us do, show our best selves in situations where we need to help people, when people are in need. That's where you know that people are really good. We have lots of doubts. I have lots of doubts about people sometimes.

about are people decent, but I do really feel that the vast majority of people are decent people, do want good things. There are obviously people who don't, who are destructive, who do some very evil and malicious things, but I assure you that's not the majority of this planet. I would assure you of that very confidently.

People are decent at their core. And then, of course, there's obviously a minority of people who are not decent at their core. What we do, unfortunately, the corporate news media

focuses on the minority of people who are not decent at their core and they blow that up to make it seem as if everyone is like that. And it's not true. It definitely is not true. And how do I know that? Because I talk to lots of people. How do I know that? Because I travel. How do I know that? Because I read. How do I know that? Because I have experienced this firsthand. There are decent people on this planet.

Sometimes it's a question of where you find them. But I can tell you that there are people, when push comes to shove, when the chips are down, who help.

who do provide help, and you'd be shocked and surprised who those persons can be at a time of need in any given situation or scenario. So I want to say that to you. Obviously, this year has started really miserably for a lot of people in California, but not just in California, a lot of people across the world who have seen a lot of upheaval through natural disaster measures.

and through situations that are personal to them, situations that have been challenging to them. And so we start with the 13th day of the year, for goodness sakes. And, you know, already nearly two weeks full into the year, we have already experienced a lot of turmoil in terms of what climate has done. And again, it's a good time to remind people that climate change is real. Global warming is real. These are not gimmicks. These are not jokes.

And yes, the corporate news media will pretend that there is nothing to see here on climate change, but climate change is here and it's real, whether the media wants to focus on it or not, whether the corporate news media decides it's interested in doing so or not. And so that is another reminder to us that these things are very real.

obviously have played a major role in these fires as well here down in Southern California, I should say. And also remember, the winds are supposed to come back again today and tomorrow in Southern California. These winds are going to be a tremendous challenge for firefighters. So, you know, firefighters are under a lot of strain.

It's very difficult. It's a very tough situation for them. It's a very tough situation, obviously, for the people who've lost everything. It's a very tough situation, obviously, for people who've lost loved ones. At this point, as of this recording, at least 24 people have died from these fires. 16 of those people have died from the Ethan Fire, which is the fire that took Walt's house and many people's houses in Altadena and Pasadena.

and that area of greater Los Angeles, and then the other eight people who have died to make up that 24 so far as of this recording have died in the Pacific Palisades fire, which as you heard there from the news reporter, is the worst fire in the history of the Pacific Palisades, but it's also the worst fire in the history of Los Angeles County, the most devastating fire that Los Angeles County at large has ever experienced. And so

You know, that's what makes this very, very painful, very, very difficult. People have lost lives. People have lost loved ones, you know, and that's first and foremost. And there's expected to be more people, news of more people passing away or dying, dying in this fire, you know. So, you know, this is a really, really, this is a really grave situation that requires a lot of mental health.

counseling and dealing with mental health issues, which I've talked about the importance of dealing with and that this year is going to be the year of mental health. Every year is, but it's so important for us. And I'll be talking about health, of course, coming up in this episode, but it's so important for us to really key in

And even if you're not someone who lost a loved one in the fire, even if you're not someone who lost a home in the fire, even if you're not someone who even lives in Los Angeles or even lives in California or in the United States for that matter, there are traumatic effects that are rolling back to all of us.

having to experience this, to see these photographs even, to see video. And I've tried to be discerning about what I post, but I don't think I've done a great job of that. I think I posted one post on social media that showed a burning fire and also showed what location it was in. I didn't just say, here's a fire and not provide anything else. There was also a location to it. So people...

who were in the area who happened to follow me might have seen where that location was and might have seen if it was anywhere near them if they happen to live down in the Pacific Palisades. But for all of us, there's a knock-on effect to all of this. Obviously, those of us who didn't lose a home or didn't lose a loved one or anyone that we know is not suffering the same way, obviously, that someone who has lost a loved one or who has lost their home is. That's obvious.

We are suffering in the sense that, again, the coverage, the nonstop coverage, which is why I always say that you really should limit your consumption of social media and really avoid a lot of these newscasts, even KTLA 5, which I've criticized and I played you a clip from them just now.

They've done this too. Their coverage can be very irresponsible. And a lot of these corporate news networks or local news can be very irresponsible about how they cover these kinds of events. And these are

events that need to be covered in a very sensitive way and there's so much more emphasis on all the destruction rather than on the human survival stories rather than on those people who are really helping people in these troubled times rather than on the human spirit because again in the industry of the media if it bleeds it leads so if you have news stories about death tolls and destruction and how much of the fire is contained and i've just told you that myself and

You know, if you have all that, that sells. Whereas, you know, stories about people helping each other in the news media ecosystem don't tend to sell as well because we want the train wreck. And human impulse says train wreck, please. That's more entertaining than saving someone's life or the human spirit of giving that somehow gets relegated. And that's cultural. I don't think that's even I just said that's a human thing.

But that's more cultural, even though, yes, the train wreck is something that attracts us and we want to linger at it. If we walk, you know, drive past a train wreck, literally in the street and the highway, we're all glued to it. But I think the culture also provides us this idea that, you know, we shouldn't really be caring so much about giving. We shouldn't be emphasizing that. We actually should be emphasizing giving.

You know, we've just had a barrage of Christmas that really has become over the last God knows how many decades, a commercial holiday, a commercialized holiday. It's not even a religious holiday. Well, it is, but the culture and the society don't treat it as such so much. It's much more about materialism. And that's the culture. And that's part of the problem. And so the same thing with

How we view these natural disasters. We keep focusing on the disaster, the devastation, the destruction. And you have to talk about that and report it at least. But what we really need to be focusing a whole lot more on is the giving spirit of human beings. Because that is what keeps us going. That is the kind of thing that we need. We need to be reconnected to the giving spirit.

The human spirit, you know, as I said, we were barraged with Christmas and spending money on gifts and giving gifts to people and all that. Now there's a different kind of spirit that needs to happen. Yes, it's a giving spirit, but a giving from the heart to help someone because the gift of giving that can help someone can make all the difference. No matter where you are in the world, if you are somebody who has the capacity to give, the ability to give,

whether it's with money, whether it's with whatever it might be, clothing in the case of what people need in Los Angeles, food, anything like this, any of the cities down in the Southern California, greater Los Angeles area, if you can give, do so. That is the real gift here. You giving to someone and it can change their lives. It can really lift their spirits. It can let them know that people do care.

Every now and again, we do need that reminder that people really do intrinsically care. Despite what we see at times, despite who's coming into the White House next week, despite that whole regime, we understand that we have the power to give and that we are giving people. We are humane. And the vast majority of us respond to helping people who are in need. Please, please, I really advise you to help someone that you know

is affected by these fires, please go online and you see these GoFundMe pages. Be careful with them. But remember, there are ways to tell if they're authentic or not. And again, I will be providing the authentic pages in the liner notes of this episode for the next few days for people that really need the help and really desperately need your help. The giving spirit is here. Now let's contribute to it.

Dear listener, welcome back. Omar Moore here once again with you. Thank you again for listening. I really appreciate you and I want you to again be aware that you are a well-respected and highly valued listener. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Again, I hope you are well and it is good to be here again with you on this Monday, January the 13th, 2025. Well, the main focus of this edition of The Politocrat is health, your health,

Black people and health. Very, very important. We, as black people, are the people who really have some of the worst, or I should say the worst health comes in the United States and in a number of other countries. Our health outcomes are not good in a number of cases.

A lot of it is down to the anti-black racism and the systemic racism, systemic anti-black racism in societies. A lot of it is down to that. A lot of it is down to the racism in the medical profession. You know, it's really, really important to understand that. There was a story that was circulated by Dr. Uche Blackstock.

She is a medical doctor in New York City. And she said, I've got to get in. I've got to try to get the link to that if I can and put it in the liner notes. And she is on social media. And her first name is U-C-H-E. Last name is Blackstock. Common spelling. She circulated an article about the decline of black doctors in the United States. How black doctors and brown doctors have...

been completely wiped off the landscape pretty much, not totally, but in very severe numbers because of these anti-affirmative action programs, these anti-DEI actions that have been done

by these white groups led by people like Leonard Leo, I believe, and there was someone else as well whose name, Ed something or other, forget his last name, who had been leading these kinds of things, these attacks that have come to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court's decision striking down a lot of these DEI initiatives and affirmative action initiatives. But DEI is the same thing. DEI is just what, DEI is another way to say affirmative action.

And we all know that affirmative action benefits white women more than it does anybody else. Anybody else. And so Dr. Uche Blackstock had put out this article or recirculated an article. And again, I've got to find that where the article went into detail about how these initiatives have meant that medical schools aren't accepting black applicants anymore.

and or drastically not accepting them. And that obviously affects the pool from which doctors come from. And so they are denied an opportunity to get into these medical schools. And then you weaken the pool. You weaken the pool when you only stick to one group, when you're only looking at white doctors.

You have weakened your pool. If you're only looking at white doctors or white and Asian doctors only, you're weakening your pool. You need to have a diverse array of doctors. And when it comes to black health outcomes, you really would like to see black doctors be part of the equation.

Because black doctors would understand much more about black health and relate better to black people who have health situations and challenges than any other doctor would. I mean, that's just obvious. It's just obvious. And you don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that. And so that's the challenge now. And with that backdrop in mind,

Our health outcomes as it is in a racist society and in a racist medical profession is something to really key onto and key into.

With all of that put on the table, dear listener, it is imperative for you and I to really focus on our health this year. I know January is still here and maybe you've broken a New Year's resolution. Maybe you haven't ever made New Year's resolutions. Maybe you haven't made them for the reasons that you know they're going to be broken in 2.2 seconds. Or maybe you just really don't believe in New Year's resolutions anyhow. But one thing you must believe in is your health. Your well-being is so critically important.

It's important to monitor your health. I understand that there's lots of people on this planet who do not have health insurance. So lots of people in America who don't. Very important because this is the only industrialized country on Earth where you're paying anything for health insurance and you're paying through the nose at that. The vast majority of countries on the planet have health insurance that you can get for free.

healthcare for free, right? The vast, vast majority of the countries in the world do that. This is the only one that doesn't, really. The only industrialized country that doesn't, and there's all this for-profit healthcare. And that's just a rotten thing, because if you don't have the money to pay for your health to be checked out, then you might suffer an early, early departure from this planet. And that's as gently as I can possibly put it.

But if you go to Canada, if you're so fortunate enough to be able to get citizenship in Canada, if you're so fortunate enough to get citizenship in the United Kingdom, even though they have some issues with the National Health Service and there's a lot of work that needs to be done to turn that around. If you have citizenship in Denmark and in numerous, pick a country, Cuba, you will get your health care for free. And you don't have to worry about having to pay some exorbitant bill. You don't have to worry about getting bankrupt.

After getting some kind of major surgery, you don't have to worry about that in those other countries that I've just listed off to you. You don't have to worry about that kind of thing. But in the United States, whoa, Nelly, you do have to worry about the possibility of being bankrupt or having to sell your home.

if you get some major operation that you need, some, you know, emergency surgery that you need. I mean, this is real, real, real life in the United States. It's very, very serious. And of course, with what happened in Los Angeles last week, in Southern California last week, that's, I mean, just imagine that. You don't think that that has caused some issues with health outcomes? So we really need to take care of our health. Now,

I have talked a lot, dear listener, about things that we need to do. Mindfulness, getting a good night's sleep, drinking water, at least eight glasses of water a day, eating healthy or healthier, avoiding alcohol. I've talked about that. I know that people talk about, well, in moderation. And I've talked also, I believe, about the report that the Surgeon General of the United States released, I think, late last month,

or maybe earlier, I think earlier this year, sorry, earlier this month, I should say, where he, and that's Vivek Murthy, who is going to be the outgoing Surgeon General here in a few days, released a report that talked about alcohol and cancer risks. And where that report even said, in part, that even moderate drinking carries a risk of

And so that's something to really pay heed to. That's something to really pay attention to. Even moderate drinking. So even if you do drinking in moderation, you do run a risk of being exposed to a cancer risk. And that's not something you want. You just don't want that, obviously. And so health is really important. I do believe in the importance of listening to your body.

I think that that is very important. I think a lot of times we don't do it. You know, we want to believe, oh, it's nothing because we don't want to go to the doctor because some of us, whether we're male or female, don't have the health insurance if we're in the United States to do that. And some of us, whether we have insurance or not, just aren't as health conscious in terms of just, we just don't listen to our bodies. We just think it's something else. It's just whatever it

You know, and we really need to get into that habit, whoever we are, whether we're in the United States, whether we're in a different country, we all have to get into the habit of listening to our bodies. If you're feeling a certain way, whether you're feeling panicked or stressed, whether you're feeling, you know, tired all the time, fatigued, or whether you are getting up during the middle of the night a lot.

You need to be really looking at those things. Those aren't just things that just happen. Aging does play a role in some of this, but even so, it'd be really helpful to you to get more education on these issues, but also most importantly, to see a doctor. To see a doctor, that is what you must really do in these situations.

Because I do think that seeing a medical professional can really be the difference between you getting some treatment for something or getting some medicines for something that you need to take care of, some kind of issue medically, and ending up in the emergency room. I really think that, or worse...

So it's very important. Make this your New Year's resolution or make it something you vow to do. If you don't want to call it a New Year's resolution, make it a to-do list resolution. And that would be to pay more close attention to your health. And that means your mental health. That means your physical health.

I have, as you know, dear listener, listening to this podcast, you know I've spent a lot of time talking about the importance of exercise and the importance of getting out into the outdoors, whether you are able-bodied or not.

the importance of taking in sunlight of course wear sunscreen obviously but and i'm not saying you have to be at a beach but even if you do go to a beach and you want to take in the sun make sure you have sunscreen and make sure you don't stay out in the sun for more than an hour really especially if the sun is very oppressive in its direction because you really don't want to be on a beach for more than an hour and even that might be a little bit too long uh

And if you are, make sure you wear sunscreen, even if you're out there for an hour. But my whole point is,

Make 2025 the year that you really take care of your health. You'll be really thankful that you have done so. And I'm telling you, there'll be people in your life who will be very thankful that you have as well. I do think that our health is the most important thing we have. We've got love and we've got health. Those two things are the most important things. And time. Those three commodities are critical. Love, health, and time.

And they're all extremely important things. And so health is critical to us. Pay attention to these things, please. If you have issues with high blood pressure, and a lot of black folk do, hypertension, high blood pressure, please get it checked out. Please, if you don't want to go to a doctor,

Buy one of those blood pressure cuffs, you know, the cuff that gets attached to your left or right arm. And, you know, you've got the pump that you can pump that will squeeze that cuff around your arm. Get yourself a blood pressure machine. You can get them from, you know, a local grocery store, you know, a local supermarket. You can buy one of them. You can probably get them online. I'm sure you can. But you can buy them from a grocery market or supermarket, you know, a grocery store.

In your area, you know the ones, the Walgreens, whatever they are, right? You can, Duane Reade, you can buy one of these things and it probably doesn't cost more than what, 25, 30 bucks or so? Maybe much less than that. You know, maybe around 15 or 20 bucks. I don't know how much these things cost.

But buy a blood pressure cuff. If you don't want to go to a doctor and do this and you're worried about insurance or anything else, and don't forget, there is the Affordable Care Act and you can go to healthcare.gov. I think in some states in the United States, you can still apply for that if before, I think before the end of January. And I would do it now. If you are someone in the United States, for example, who benefits from the Affordable Care Act and can't afford regular insurance,

please do it now. Apply to healthcare.gov. Go there. I'll put the link to that website on the line of notes for this episode as well. Apply to healthcare.gov for health insurance because believe me, before this, you know what gets in next week, a week from today, it really will be a good time for you to do this because he wants to get rid of all of this stuff. And I'm just telling you, he is hell bent on it.

Which is why, one of the reasons why I'm doing this episode now is that you can really apply for all of this if you're in the United States. But generally speaking, we need to be paying much more close attention to our health. It's just so critical. Again, get that blood pressure cuff and measure your blood pressure. Make sure that you eat the right kinds of foods. And I will tell you some of what those foods are right after this.

Dear listener, welcome back. Now I mentioned in the previous block, Uche Blackstock, Dr. Blackstock. Her first name is U-C-H-E and her last name is Blackstock. That's the common spelling of her last name. And she actually also has a twin sister who I also think is a medical doctor as well. But Uche Blackstock, the doctor I refer to, has a book out now called Legacy. I think it's been out for the last year or so.

And it's called Legacy. And the subtitle is A Black Physician Reckons With Racism In Medicine. Now, I talked a little bit about racism in medicine during that previous block episode.

And I really do urge you to read the book by Dr. Uche Blackstock. Purchase that book now. It's available in all independent bookstores and all bookstores and, of course, online as well. Legacy, L-E-G-A-C-Y. That's the title of the book. The subtitle is A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. There are some really good chapters in Dr. Blackstock's book. I urge you to buy that book and read it.

And really, it will really help you. This book is very illuminating and very illustrative of the things that black people are experiencing in health. And specifically in this case, in the case of Dr. Uche Blackstock, a black physician experiencing in the racism in the medical health profession and the racism in it, the anti-black racism in it. And so,

I think this book is a must and we really need to be reading that book and understanding and being aware of these stories told from the perspective of a black doctor. I think that's really important. You know, I think of a movie called No Way Out, not the No Way Out from 1987 with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman and Sean Young. I'm talking about the No Way Out film from 1950 that was directed by Joseph Mankiewicz starring Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark.

Remember, in that film, if you cast your minds back 70 plus years, 75 years, Sidney Poitier starred as a doctor facing, experiencing racism, anti-black racism from white patients who refused to let him treat them. Seriously, and this goes on today. You have lots of white people who do not want to be treated by black doctors.

I can tell you so many stories about this that I've heard from black physicians personally, that I've heard from watching stories and reading stories about black doctors who face racism from the very people whose lives they're trying to save, who are white, who refuse treatment, some of them, from a black doctor. And there was one actually that I heard last week on Roland Martin's show, Roland Martin Unfiltered, and he...

Had a story on there and there was someone on there saying that, you know, as a doctor, they were told by a white person who was in the hospital that they didn't want to be treated by them. And the doctor said that he told her, well, you'll die then. You'll die and we won't touch you, but you will die. And he also said that that white woman who refused the treatment got religion real quick and decided to do an about-face.

These things are happening in 2025, dear listener. This is not something from 1950 only. This is, you know, a film like No Way Out from 1950 would not have been possible if there weren't actual cases of this happening. And this is not just in 1950, as I'm saying. This is happening now. You still have a percentage of white people who will not be treated by a black doctor.

It's just, again, the insanity and the irrationality of the racism practiced by white people, the anti-black racism, the irrationality of racism, period, and the irrationality of anti-black racism leads to these kinds of very self-destructive things. So I just wanted to say that.

please read Uche Blackstock's book, Dr. Blackstock's book, Legacy, A Black Physician Reckons With Racism in Medicine. I think I'll put a liner notes link in there for that book as well. Really good book. I strongly recommend it.

You know, it's a very important book and it really does shed light on racism in the medical profession and also of Dr. Blackstock's own personal experiences as a black doctor in the medical health care profession and as a patient in that profession and in that system. So.

Black people, we know and can identify very strongly with these experiences of things that happen to us. And there's chapters like one on misdiagnosis, which is something that black people really need to be aware of because that happens frequently to us. We get misdiagnosed.

You know, we can talk about the story with Serena Williams having to fight for her health. And we really do have to fight for our health in this country, especially here in the United States. We have to fight for our health. It's just no one else has to do that, really, by and large, you know, as a group substantially. We're the ones that have to do that. And so...

It's very, very important to read this book, Legacy, by Dr. Uche Blackstock. The title is A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. So again, I might even give that book away, actually, at some point. But not just yet, not just yet. But I do urge you to buy that book. I really, really do. And read it. Please read it. It's a book that can literally, I think, help to save your life.

And I promised you, dear listener, that I would talk about the foods. And I've talked about this before, but I think it's important to do a refresher course on this. The foods that I think will really benefit you health-wise and that are good for your immune system and your health.

These might not be the sexiest foods because usually the things that are best for you and that are really good for you are not the sexiest things. They don't taste very nice and they usually leave a horrible taste or they usually are not very remarkable to your palate. Things like broccoli, which some people love and a lot of people don't love, I strongly recommend that you get organic broccoli.

I strongly recommend that you buy arugula that's organic. Arugula, A-R-U-G-U-L-A. I strongly recommend salmon, particularly pink salmon, you know, which would typically be something like wild Alaska salmon or king salmon or coho salmon. Those are all kind of orange. They've got orange and orange color to them.

Those are really healthy salmons. Fish of any type is typically really good, particularly if it's wild, especially wild fish, because that's really what you want to concentrate on, wild fish. The greatest number of nutrients are in wild fish. Less antibiotics. Obviously, you wouldn't find typically antibiotics in wild fish.

or you'd certainly find a lot less of them, but salmon, wild salmon is really important. B12, it's rich in B12, which gives you energy, which is helpful to your immune system. And you can get B12 supplements, which are also good, but I think you want to have a natural source of B12 and salmon is very good for that. So is chicken. Uh, I would recommend that you get boiled chicken, uh,

roasted chicken is good for this as well. Fried chicken, I would stay well away from. Fried chicken is not good for you. It's just not good for you. That will drive your cholesterol level through the roof. So look, you might love fried chicken. You might not get enough of it. And I get it. Moderation, moderation. I understand that. But I really do believe that

To make the radical changes perhaps that you might need to if your health and eating is to wean yourself off of some of the things that aren't good for you, all the things that aren't good for you. You can't stop it. Cold turkey, obviously, very rarely can people do that, especially if you've been eating some of these foods for many a year, many a decade, decades.

That I really do urge you, dear listener, to take a very active role in reducing eating these foods and eliminating them. You know, fried chicken needs to go. French fries need to go. You know, those are things that while we need carbohydrates, French fries are in oil and that oil is not good for you. You really want, if you want any oil at all in any kind of French fry, it should be something like olive oil, sunflower oil.

Those things are a lot less toxic. They are much more healthy for you. But the things I really recommend for you food-wise are those things I mentioned, spinach as well, celery, greens. All these greens, very important to have. I would also strongly recommend that you have organic carrots. The greener and more colorful your plate, the better. And I also recommend that you have lentils.

And, you know, and I also think that you should do those kinds of things. If you're going to eat popcorn, try to eat no salt popcorn or salt or popcorn that has very little butter in it.

Popcorn is good for you because it's got fiber, F-I-B-E-R or F-I-B-R-E, depending on where you are and how you spell it in the world. But these things are good for you. Fiber, having a source of fiber and mushrooms provide fiber as well. Organic mushrooms particularly are good with fiber. That's good for you. And, you know, it's important to have some kind of fish, as I said. So these are some of the things that,

that you will greatly benefit from. Having peanuts that are unsalted, very important if you want to snack on something. If you're going to snack on any chips, please make sure that they are no sodium, that there's no sodium in them. And make sure, you know, if they're blue corn chips, preferably, rather than the white chips. But even if they are white chips, make sure you get ones that are no sodium.

No salt in them because we love to snack in the world. Snacks are good, but sometimes you want to, it's the right kind of snack that you want. Um,

Yeah, snacks can be problematic if you're snacking on things that aren't good for you and add a lot of weight and a lot of calories and a lot of sugar. You want to avoid sugars. You really do. If you're going to get any kind of sugar at all, make sure it's more natural sugars rather than the sugars that are really bad for you like in chocolate cake. That kind of sugar is not good for you.

And you really would like to instead do a chocolate that is, you know, dark chocolate, 92% cacao. The calorie level is relatively low, 140 calories, which is not too bad, I guess. It could be a little bit lower. But there are brands like Lily's. Lily's intensely dark, extra dark chocolate. Those are ones that have lower sugar and they are typically healthier for you.

And they have no sodium in them either. So there's no sugar in these typically. And so they don't taste great, perhaps if they're 92%. But they are good chocolate. And that's good for your heart, good for your health. Having salmon is very good for your heart, especially good. It really is eating fish like that, like salmon, very good for your heart health.

Eating blueberries, organic blueberries, very good for your heart health. These are very important things. And so those are just a few of the foods that I highly recommend for your consumption, dear listener. Obviously, potassium bananas, organic bananas are very healthy and helpful. You know, watermelon. I don't eat watermelon, but watermelon is also helpful as well. It's a good source of a lot of nutrients, and I think it's also good for your heart as well.

You know, these are the kinds of things that you will need to eat for better heart health, for better health overall. And I think the key, again, as I've often said, dear listener, is not to eat late at night. If you can have your dinner no later, if you can have your dinner cooked and ready to eat no later than seven o'clock and you finish eating no later than 730 at night,

or I say no later than seven, I think you're in really good shape. Why do I say that? Because your digestive system has a lot more time to process the food. You don't want to be eating something any later than seven o'clock at night, really, because between that time and the time you go to bed, if you go to bed at, say, 11 o'clock at night and you've just eaten half an hour before that, not good for you because

Because your digestive system has to work so much harder. It will interrupt your sleep. You won't get the proper sleep that you want. But if you are able to eat food, your last meal around 7 o'clock at night, and then say you go to bed at 10 o'clock,

I'm telling you, your sleep is likely to be better. Now, you may have sleep apnea. You may have some other issues. But believe me, your sleep is going to be better having not eaten so late and having eaten something healthier rather than if you eat some junk food, right? If you have pizza, which look, there's some things about pizza that are good. But one thing that is not good is the oil. One thing that is not good is all that cheese. That stuff you want to stay away from.

And let's say you had that late at night, say like nine o'clock at night, 10 o'clock at night, and then you go to bed at say 11 o'clock or 12 o'clock. And look, you know, that stuff's going to be very heavy in your stomach. It's going to add fat. It's going to exploit your fat cells. And you know, it's going to make your heart work harder to pump blood all around. It's a real issue. And you don't want to be doing that. Even if you do that once or twice a month,

I really would urge you not to. I come from the school of being much more strict on these things because again, your health will thank you for it in your future life, future down the line, I should say, in your future years. You will be thankful for this because I'm telling you, what you put into your body now can really affect you, not maybe just at the minute that you put it in your body, but five years from now, perhaps it could. A couple of years, 10 years,

And as we get older, we are much more susceptible to health issues and problems. And at least we can put ourselves in positions now.

to safeguard our health and practice better health hygiene, if you will, better diets. And I don't mean diet by that means going and eating nothing. I mean diet in which the kind of foods we eat. Eat more greens, have a lot more salads, avoid putting salad dressing on salads. I know that's a thing that people love to do, but a lot of the salad dressings that people use and that get used are high in all the wrong kinds of things

high in sodium high in cholesterol it's just a nightmare because you eat this healthy salad and then you put all this stuff on it that really reverses the effect that kind of cancels out any benefit or outweighs any benefit to actually eat the salad in the first place so very very important to state that as well breads I would avoid as best as possible and so I would avoid rice as well

and I would try to eat a lot healthier rice if you're going to eat that little brown rice. And then for pasta, the same thing. I would try to avoid pasta. I know people love pasta, but if you're going to eat any pasta, eat brown pasta. It's much healthier for you than white pasta is.

more nutrients in brown pasta or black pasta, because there's a lot of black pasta out as well that's healthier. I would also eat black beans, organic black beans in particular are very healthy for you, very healthy for you, rich in all kinds of nutrients, I think rich in ions and proteins and also good for your heart. So beans are very good as well. So look, I've just run through a million different foods, right, in a few minutes. And also, again, I want to remind you, eat

Drink a lot of water, please. Eight glasses a day at least. So I've just run through a whole lot of things there. I've talked about this before, but I want to remind you of it again, dear listener. And by the way, there are books out there that you can read that really help with this as well. Eric Adams, the current New York City mayor, wrote a book in the last few years called Healthy at Last, a plant-based approach to preventing and reversing diabetes and other chronic diseases.

illnesses. That's right. Eric Adams wrote that book and based it on his own personal experiences as somebody who constantly ate junk food or basically had that as his diet. Then, you know, he had some health situations and then he had to really change his diet radically. And he did. And he reversed diabetes, which a lot of us as black folks suffer from.

Right. So and hypertension. And he was able to get rid of those things by radically changing his diet, by eating things that were much healthier, like the things I've just talked about and being very disciplined about it, because discipline is the key in all of these things. You know, you have to commit to it. If you're disciplined enough to shop on a certain online store, for example, over and over again, then you've got to be disciplined enough to

take care of what is being put in your body.

And, you know, that means giving up alcohol. That means giving, you know, I mean, this year I'm not drinking any alcohol. That's one of my resolutions. And, you know, I listen, I obviously when you bring in the new year, December 31st into the midnight hours, technically I did drink on January 1st because, you know, you celebrate the new year. You have a lot of fun and you bring in the new year. OK, so except for January 1st, I won't be drinking this year at all.

And, you know, that's one of my New Year's resolutions.

And alcohol is not the thing. And believe me, I know people who haven't had a drink for a long, long time. And I'm talking many, many years. I know people who have never, ever had alcohol. And they are living into their 80s and 90s and beyond. And by the way, the orange convicted felon who is walking into the White House next week, he has never had any alcohol either. And look at him.

Not that it's worked out too well for him in terms of the way he looks, but at least for him, he knows that drinking is not a healthy thing. And so he has never had a drink of alcohol ever, as far as I know. Now, I know the movie The Apprentice says otherwise, but he's never had a drink because he's had issues in his family with alcohol. And then one of his brothers, his older brother died from alcoholism.

and things related to that, complications from it. So again, these are things that can literally save your life. And so again, I urge you to read the books that I've mentioned. I'll be putting links to these in the line of notes. The other book that I want to mention as well is called How Not to Die. How Not to Die.

And that's written by Michael Greger, Dr. Michael Greger, last name G-R-E-G-E-R. And the subtitle is Discover the Foods. Let me read that again. The subtitle is Discover the Foods, Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease. So that's another book I highly recommend. Those two books are...

In this section, and in three books in this section of this episode, Legacy, A Black Physician Reckons We Have Racism in Medicine by Dr. Uche Blackstock, the book by Eric Adams entitled Healthy at Last, the subtitle to that book is A Plant-Based Approach to Preventing and Reversing Diabetes and Other Chronic Illnesses, and the book by Dr. Michael Greger entitled How Not to Die.

And the subtitle there, Discover the Food Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease. All three of those books are books that you can get at bookstores and elsewhere. And I really urge you to patronize your local independent bookstore. I really, really do. But these books are really important books. And I urge you to buy them and read them. I really, really, truly do. Your health is critically important. And particularly as a black person,

who really does look at health and follow it very closely, it's essential that we as black people do that. And we must keep looking after our health. Sometimes people find that unpleasant to be looking at your health constantly, not constantly, but to be monitoring your health, especially if there's something that's not right and you know there's something that's not right, but you don't know what it is and maybe you really don't want to know what it is.

I urge you to get in touch with a medical professional. I urge you to sign up with healthcare.gov and I urge you to see someone, see a doctor, really. I know that these things can be difficult for people because of course, health insurance in the United States, for example, is an arm and a leg. I understand that perfectly.

I just think that if it means the difference between you feeling better and being better and having a better life health-wise versus being in the emergency room or worse,

I really think that you've got to see some medical professional who can actually help you. And it is really important that we take good care of our health, our mental health, especially this year and beyond, and take good care of each other and take care of ourselves and get a lot of sleep. I think sleep is indispensable. Exercise is indispensable.

Exercise is critical, I think, to our well-being. As I've said, if you can get out and walk, or even if you're not someone who is able-bodied to do that, get someone to get you outdoors. If you're able to move your limbs, make sure you do that. Movement is very important, particularly as you get older. Taking a walk, if you're able-bodied, take a long walk. Walk at least three or four miles a day if you can, if you can.

And make sure you exercise at least between a half hour and an hour at least three times a week. And, you know, whether it's running, whether it's walking, whether it's swimming, you know, whether it's whatever it is and practice mindfulness. Get some sleep, practice mindfulness, have sex, relax, meditate, read a book. These things are really important for your overall mental health and your physical health.

Very important. Drink water, eight glasses a day at least. Eat fruits, whether it's bananas, organic ones, organic blueberries, especially. Very important. Very important. Omegas, they're good for you. Good for you. So I would strongly recommend that. And sleep is very important. So make sure you get...

At least seven hours of sleep a night. It's not always easy because as you get older, you do wake up earlier or you do at least end up getting less sleep. That just happens. You know, you might have been getting eight or nine hours of sleep. But now that you're older, you're maybe only getting six and a half, you know, six hours maybe or less than that.

But getting sleep makes a big, big difference to your whole mental health, mental well-being. And it certainly will be good for you in the long run. So those are the things I wanted to say about your health. And particularly if you're a black person listening to this, please take real heed to this. Your health is so important.

Take note of the books that I've talked about. And please, please, please be good to yourself. I mean, to quote George Michael, be good to yourself because no one else has the power to make you happy. That's what from one of his songs actually is called Heal the Pain. That song that that line is quoted from. And whether you agree with that line or not, please, please take closer and better care of your health in 2025 and beyond.

And in some news you may not have been aware of. In Boston, a judge has ordered the white supremacist group Patriot Front to pay $2.7 million to a black musician who was attacked in Boston, Massachusetts in 2022. Shelley Murphy at the Boston Globe said,

on January 13th, 2025, wrote the following story, from which I will read an excerpt. A federal judge on Monday ordered the white supremacist group Patriot Front and its leader to pay more than $2.7 million in damages to a black musician, Charles Morrell III, for violating his civil rights by attacking him in Boston's Back Bay in 2022,

during a flash march through the city over the 4th of July weekend.

The assault on Charles M. Murrell III as he walked along Dartmouth Street on his way to the Boston Public Library to play his saxophone was encouraged by the group's leader, Thomas Rousseau, who led the marchers and glorified the attack afterward by celebrating a video clip that had been posted online, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani wrote in a 27-page decision.

The video clip showed the group pitting Murrell against the light post and pushing him into the busy road to promote the view that non-white individuals like Murrell should be subordinated to white people, Talwani wrote. Murrell suffered physical injuries to his hand that make it difficult for him to continue to support himself by playing music, as well as psychological trauma, and has essentially been in survival mode since the attack, she said.

The judge found Patriot Front and Russo both liable and ordered them to pay $2 million in punitive damages and $755,000 in damages for his injuries, pain and suffering, lost wages and future earnings. She also ordered them to pay Murrell's attorney's fees, which have yet to be determined. Quote, I thought I was going to die, end quote, said Murrell, 37.

while testifying in U.S. District Court in Boston last October during a hearing to determine how much money the Patriot Front and Rousseau must pay him for violating his civil rights. The judge previously found Patriot Front and Rousseau liable for the attack after they failed to respond to a civil rights suit filed by Murrell in August 2023. Now that is just a part of the article that appeared today.

in the Boston Globe. That's all for this brand new edition of The Politocrat on this Monday, January the 13th, 2025, dear listeners. Thank you very much indeed for your time. I really do appreciate it. I hope that you found this episode to be beneficial to you in some way. Please pass this episode on to friends and family, to people on your social media circle, your followers. I really do find that that will be a good thing.

Because I think this is information that they can use as well. So please share the information. I'm always a big fan of that. Share information with people. Don't keep it to yourself. Share it. Because the more people who are informed, the better that we are as a human society.

species and look as people in general around the world so please share this episode and any other of this particular podcast that you have been listening to thank you very much for your time you can find me of course on social media in a few social media places of course the the blue sky podcast not podcast the blue sky platform is one

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Don't forget to invest in Fanbase. Startengine.com forward slash Fanbase. And of course, spoutable.com forward slash popcorn R-E-E-L and says S-E-Z dot U-S forward slash popcorn R-E-E-L. This podcast is available on numerous podcasting platforms, including Apple and Spotify, as well as Pandora and GoodPods. Thank you very much for listening to this edition of The Politocrat.

I'm Omar Moore.