Newspaper Page Text
Page8
N-Word
Continued from page 4
His alleged reasoning was that a
Daily News story published on June
22 used the word in its opening lead.
Burlington is a weekend co-anchor of
FOX 29 News and an award-winning
investigative reporter.
He joined Fox 29 in December 2004
and has received numerous honors
during his career, including the presti
gious Edward R. Murrow Award from
the Radio and Television News
Directors Association.
When contacted by the Tribune, ]J.
Whyatt Mondesire, President of the
Philadelphia Chapter of the NAACP
said he didn’t know anything about the
situation with Burlington and stated
that he “didn’t want to talk about it.”
Mark Morial, president and CEO of
the National Urban League, said in a
prepared statement that the use of
the term is as logical as re-instituting
slavery. Morial also said that the
Black community must shoulder
some of the blame for the word’s con
tinued use and acceptance.
“The Black Power Movement
declared ‘Black is Beautiful’ not the ‘o’
word and the movement’s followers
referred to each other as brother and
sister,” said Morial in a prepared state
ment. “What is clear is that our
younger generations are not fully
aware of the word’s painful role in
American history. The word has too
much history associated with it. It is
beyond rehabilitation.”
Philadelphia Inquirer education
reporter and Philadelphia Association
of Black Journalists Board Member
Melanie L. Burney said Burlington’s
comments were unacceptable by any
one of any ethnicity.
“I believe it’s unacceptable under any
circumstances and it’s appalling in this
day and age,” Burney said. “I under
stand that there should be discussions
about it in newsrooms as part of the
creative process. But Burlington’s com
ments went way beyond that and that’s
what I find offensive. What happened
is unacceptable by anyone of any race i
E L e
Mlanta: ‘Blind people can take it up a notch’
Continued from page 5
symbolic heart of the civil rights
movement for racial equality in
the 19605. Congressman John
Lewis, D-Atlanta, a veteran of that
movement, led the march.
“It is important,” Lewis said.
“I've done a lot of marching dur
ing my lifetime. This is probably
the first time to get up this early to
march.”
Organizers said 1,000 or more
people took "part. The Atlanta
police estimate was 700.
Al Elia, 33, a computer consult
ant from Boston, was on hand
with his guide dog, Zion. Born
with retinitis pigmentosa, a degen
erative eye disease, Elia said his
vision recently dropped to a point
Syphilis : ‘Pape, an internationally renowned infectious’
Continued from page 4
the May issue of the journal.
The second, considered the standard
in urban areas, is a blood test for
antibody response to the syphilis
bacterium - an approach that
requires a one-week waiting period
for follow-up and treatment. The
third strategy is rapid testing that
permits immediate diagnosis and
treatment initiation at a single clinic
visit.
According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), there are
more than 20 rapid syphilis tests
commercially available. Four of the
tests were evaluated in a field crial at
the GHESKIO Center in Port-au-
Prince, Haiti, and found to be simple
to administer, offering easy-to-inter
pret results within 30 minutes. Haiti
is one of several developing countries
wherein pregnant women infected
with untreated syphilis is as common
as infection with HIV.
“Relying on the appearance of
symptoms allows for many syphilis
cases to be missed. And for most
rural women, making even one
repeat visit to a clinic to learn the
Jesules of a test and be treated is too.
AUGUSTA FOCUS
where he could no longer do his
job without retraining.
He said his most important issue
is access to study materials for
advanced degrees. Although edu
cators now are required to provide
blind-accessible school books in
grades K-12, Elia said, “They still
haven’t done that for college and
advanced degree texts. I can tell
you from trying to get study mate
rials to go to law school, it’s some
thing that needs to happen.”
Tai Tomasi of Salt Lake City, and
Lisa Marie Martinez of Union
City, Calif.,, were among those
who made the march on inline
skates.
There were a few spills, and
Martinez said it was “scary.”
But she added, “I want to show
much of a personal burden.
Requiring only one clinic visit,
rapid testing followed by immediate
treatment proved to be definitely the
best strategy,” says co-author Dr.
Jean W. Pape, founder and director
of GHESKIO and professor of med
icine in the Division of International
Medicine and Infectious Diseases at
Weill Cornell Medical College.
Pape, an internationally renowned
infectious disease expert, who is from
Haiti, founded GHESKIO more
than 25 years ago. The organization
is dedicated to the battle against
HIV/AIDS, childhood diarrhea and
tuberculosis. Since its inception,
GHESKIO has worked closely with
Weill Cornell Medical College in
championing education, health care
and HIV research in Haiti. The work
of GHESKIO and its partners has
led to a 50 percent decrease in infant
mortality in Haiti and a similar
decrease in the national HIV preva
lence.
“If immediate syphilis testing were
provided as part of HIV-testing pro
grams for all pregnant women in
Haiti who currently have access to
prenatal care, over 1,000 cases would
be avoided each year, along with over
other blind people that we can take it
up a notch.”
The march was held early, in part to
avoid traffic problems but also to
accommodate the convention’s busy
agenda, said NFB spokesman John
Pare. As the long line of blind people
drew curious glances from the few
passers-by on the street, it was appar
ent that the marchers were making
another statement. Among the hun
dreds of marchers, only a handful wore
dark glasses to hide their eyes.
And they didn’t use euphemisms like
“visually impaired.”
“Tust because we can't see, it isn’t as
big a problem as people think,” Pare
said. “We want people to come to
grips with their blindness and say
they’re blind.”
1,000 stillbirths and neonatal deaths,
at a very reasonable additional cost of
slightly more than half a million dol
lars,” says senior author Dr. Daniel
W. Fitzgerald, assistant professor of
medicine at Wzill Cornell Medical
College and assistant attending
physician at NewYork-Presbyterian
Hospital/ Weill Cornell Medical
Center. “This study provides a con
vincing case for adding rapid syphilis
testing to current global campaigns
aimed ‘at reducing mother to-child
transmission of HIV.”
sm PRI REE S
, g & 8 Sale B gl L
R § R £
3 i X REER I;\\
* &Uy na s agaaeE }Q .
R \s’( Sl R N wi\:g:\&(\» L
Py e L P RRN \@3.\ SR \
S SRR Y 3 .
N R R C3N %§ el
P e et At
¥ R L \ . Wy l Nt MR ‘\n!\"\‘ _
A RAR L i
L. ST TN :
Sl 8 LR LR
VTR S an action
L e \ .
e , ,‘;\ N \\\‘ Y w'th
B e out faith.
LR Sl
o f 7
FLS . : "‘,
P% » .
ol
o ;
& k e