“Black Futures Book Club” facilitator Brooke Bosley (white shirt) leads discussion of “Love After the End” at the book club’s May meeting at Langston Hughes Performing Art Institute on May 18. Attendees had mixed reactions to the first story, Abacus, by Nathan Adler, which depicts a tumultuous love story between a bio-engineered AI rat and a young boy. (Photo by Alexa Meyer)
“Black Futures Book Club” facilitator Brooke Bosley (white shirt) leads discussion of “Love After the End” at the book club’s May meeting at Langston Hughes Performing Art Institute on May 18. Attendees had mixed reactions to the first story, Abacus, by Nathan Adler, which depicts a tumultuous love story between a bio-engineered AI rat and a young boy. (Photo by Alexa Meyer)
By Alexa Meyer,The Seattle Medium
Every fourth Monday of the month, attendees of the “Black Futures Book Club” gather to discuss Afrofuturist literature, and whether there are two members or 15 — and whether everyone has read the whole book or just the first page — facilitator Brooke Bosley says she ensures a discussion full of exploration and growth.
“This is a space where you can dream and you can see yourself, and you can exist,” Bosley said over Zoom. “I think that’s the beauty of Afrofuturism. Some people call it too optimistic, or too utopian, but I feel like it just gives you tools and a framing to really navigate and figure out how you want to exist in the world.”
Hosted at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institution, “Black Futures Book Club” gets its name from the concept of Afrofuturism, an imaginative framework that centers on Black culture, history and experience while incorporating elements of speculative fiction, science and technology. Mainstream examples of Afrofuturism include Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” or the music of Janelle Monáe.
Afrofuturism goes beyond an aesthetic or genre. It functions more as a worldview and imaginative space where Black people envision futures centered on Black identity, agency and liberation, often imagining possibilities outside of colonial systems.
Bosley is an Afrofuturist and Black feminist scholar whose work is centered around building inclusive communities through design. “Black Futures Book Club” began primarily as a way to continue discussing Afrofuturism, which she focused on in her dissertation at Georgia Institute of Technology.
“I like to tell people it’s not a genre,” Bosley said. “It’s a methodology, it’s a toolkit, it’s a framework. It’s whatever you want it to be in, that moment, right? Afrofuturism is very much an expansive way that Black people are really thinking about how their histories and pasts can, really inform futures and help adapt for the present moment.”
Book club member Arena Manning shared how reading and discussing Afrofuturist literature has shifted how they envision their own life and connection with Black culture and community.
“Afrofuturism has made me think to not just be a passive participant in the world, but to be more active in what I think is beautiful and what I set my intention on,” Manning said.
Bosley moved to Seattle in 2023 from Atlanta. She founded the book club in October 2023 at the Loving Room, an independent Black-owned bookstore and community space in the Central District, where the book club ran until the physical location of the Loving Room closed in October 2024. Bosley spent the next five months looking for a new location, basing her search on the organization’s alignment with the values of the bookclub.
Bosley was initially drawn to Langston because of the Seattle Black Nerd Festival, a weekend that celebrates Black creativity across literature, gaming, comics and more. Langston agreed to partner with Bosley and incorporate the book club into their scheduled programming. This year, 2026, marks the book club’s first full year of programming.
The 12 books scheduled for 2026 cover a wide range of form, genre and content. Alongside discussing more well-known Afrofuturists like Octavia E. Butler, one of Bosley’s goals is to introduce people to up and coming Afrofuturist authors.
The club is open to anyone who wants to discuss the literature, no matter their background or prior experience with Afrofuturism. While Bosley comes into each meeting with a set of general questions about the book, members organically lead the discussion based on what resonated with them. Oftentimes, what stands out the most to Manning are stories from members themselves.
“I think when we talk about the content of the book, it’s insightful, but I think what I enjoy most is when people start talking about their own lives and–real world implications of how the books alter our own perceptions of our lives,” Manning said.
This month , the club read “Love After the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction” by a variety of authors. At their meeting, attendees passionately discussed their reactions to the stories while they passed around bags of candy and snacks. The group resonated with the resiliency of marginalized groups who have already experienced the apocalypse of colonization.
Bosley’s gentle leadership of the discussion of “Love After the End” allowed multiple generations to grapple with their own ideas on accessibility of creativity and imagination for people of color in the United States.
“One of the things that I’ve loved recently is that we have a lot of intergenerational folks coming in,” Bosley said. “We’ll have people who are in their 60s, then people who are in their early 20s, and I think those conversations have just been the best, because everyone’s learning from each other and everyone is able to debate about a book in a good way.”
Bosley said the connections have moved beyond the monthly meeting.
“One thing that’s made me kind of just light up is the friendships that have flourished out of the community; that we have people hang out with each other outside of the book club,” Bosley said.
“People have been able to meet other people through the book club, go to events that they wouldn’t have gone to beforehand or read things that they wouldn’t have at first or interact with folks that they may not talk to on a daily basis,” she said.
“I think that right there just speaks to the community and space that we’ve created, that Langston has allowed us to create. And I think it also just speaks to what people are in need of right now, in the moment.”
While “Black Futures Book Club” has five formal meetings left in 2026, Bosley is working on extending the programming into 2027 and beyond.
2025 was a record year for measles in the US, and dozens of new cases each week put the country on track to nearly double that this year. (Annie Rice/Reuters/File via CNN Newsource)
2025 was a record year for measles in the US, and dozens of new cases each week put the country on track to nearly double that this year. (Annie Rice/Reuters/File via CNN Newsource)
By Deidre McPhillips, CNN
(CNN) — The FIFA World Cup is now just a few weeks away, but Dr. Rebecca Katz has been worrying about the public health threats it poses for years.
“With any mass gathering event, there are certain disease conditions that people worry about,” said Katz, who leads Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security. “There’s always something happening.”
There’s a well-established playbook for planning how to protect the public’s health during mass gatherings like the World Cup, experts say. But broader circumstances surrounding this year’s tournament, which is expected to bring millions of visitors to North America, are poised to test that playbook.
Right now, an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is posing an acute global health concern. The World Health Organization has declared it to be a “public health emergency of international concern” — only the ninth such declaration since the criteria were established in 2005. And it’s happening while US and international health resources are also being directed toward responding to a rare hantavirus outbreak.
Although those rare and serious diseases are concerning, experts say that most public health preparation for the World Cup has been focused on familiar issues – but ramped up to match the scale of the event.
“We’re expecting the unexpected, but there’s this idea of ‘let’s make sure we’re also really expecting the expected,’ ” said Dr. Marcus Plescia, health director for the Fulton County (Georgia) Board of Health, which is home to the World Cup host city of Atlanta. “The common things are going to become even more common.”
Respiratory diseases are a particular concern during mass gatherings, and measles has quickly risen to the top of that list as all three World Cup host countries – the US, Mexico and Canada – face a recent surge in cases.
Other infectious diseases such as sexually transmitted infections also pose challenges, especially during celebratory times. And arboviruses — a group of viruses that spread to people through bites from infected insects, such as dengue from mosquitoes – were an early obsession for Katz and her World Cup concerns.
“We have the vectors for dengue, for chikungunya, for all of these disease challenges in the US, but what we haven’t had was enough people with those diseases to sustain the transmission,” she said. The World Cup, though, would bring in millions of people who could potentially make that chain of transmission more substantial, Katz said.
Local public health leaders have also noted concerns about high temperatures, air quality, drug overdoses, food safety and more.
Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and former senior adviser to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said heat-related illness is “probably the most reliable risk” beyond infectious diseases.
“Crowds plus sun plus summer temperatures plus physical exertion plus alcohol is a combination that sends people to emergency rooms every year,” she wrote in her public health newsletter, Your Local Epidemiologist.
Public health is always working to provide an “invisible shield” around communities, said Dr. Monika Roy, deputy health officer and director of the infectious disease and response branch with the County of Santa Clara (California) Public Health.
“We do this every day. It is the bread and butter, so we feel prepared, but having the resources to do so is very important,” she said at a briefing this month.
This year’s edition features the largest World Cup competition ever — with 48 participating teams, up from 32 — and it’s the first time games will be spread across three countries.
This unique scale makes the core elements of a public health response – clear communication, rapid surveillance and efficient coordination – even more vital.
“There’s a science to how to do this,” Katz said. But “this particular World Cup is a really complicated mass gathering,” she said. “This is coming at a time where resources are being reallocated and reprioritized in the public health space, and it’s also coming at a time when the United States has left the World Health Organization.”
Ebola risk is low, measles risk is higher
Plescia says he now considers measles – one of the world’s most contagious diseases – to be part of what he thinks of as “common core public health problems.”
2025 was a record year for measles in the US, and dozens of new cases each week put the countryon track to nearly double that this year. Canada and Mexico have had large measles outbreaks, too.
“If there were a measles outbreak amongst a group of FIFA fans, it would be very challenging,” Plescia said, “because the fans are potentially going to move around with their team.”
The Georgia health department reported three cases of measles in a family from the Atlanta area just last week. But an exposure in Atlanta could also have consequences in another city, after fans have traveled on to see the next game.
This scenario highlights the importance of a multilayer public health response, experts say.
“If we just take measles, there’s approximately a five- to seven-day window between when you might see measles in the wastewater and when you might see the first case in an emergency department,” Katz said. “That amount of warning time has actually been used really effectively in the past – everything from alerting infection prevention control folks within hospitals, to even directly to individuals who then make decisions around vaccination.”
Public health tools that have been set up to manage infectious disease threats for the World Cup cast a wide net, experts say. Ebola is well within the scope of possible threats that officials are prepared to respond to, but the actual risk it poses is lower.
WHO officials have maintained since the start of the latest Ebola outbreak that the global risk level is low, even as the risk at the regional level rises.
The federal government has coordinated special airport protocols and screening for international travelers related to the Ebola outbreak: Passengers traveling to the US who have been in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days must land in Atlanta, Houston or the Dulles airport outside Washington for health screenings.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the Baylor College of Medicine National School of Tropical Medicine, said he would be willing to go to a World Cup game that the DRC team is playing in, with a lot of visiting fans in the stands — especially because Ebola doesn’t transmit until an infected person is noticeably symptomatic.
With an outbreak of this size, people shouldn’t be surprised to hear about new Ebola cases in some unexpected places, Hotez said, but there’s no particular risk of spread to Houston, which the DRC team plans to make its home base during the World Cup. The team will also be subject to the “same protocol for testing and isolation that American citizen returnees and legal permanent residents would be subject to,” a senior State Department official told CNN last week.
“The likelihood is not zero, but it’s not high,” Hotez said. “We need to be ready for it if that happens.”
Casting a wide surveillance net
But how will people know the risks where they are?
Earlier this month, Katz launched the Health Security Operations Center, a hub for monitoring potential infectious disease threats. As part of the National Center for Health Security and Resilience — a joint effort between Georgetown University and MedStar Health — and with the help of dozens of collaborators, the center will distribute daily situation reports to hundreds of organizations and individuals, including hospital emergency managers, state and local health officials, federal agencies and tournament organizers.
“We’re gathering a really broad array of data – wastewater data, traveler data, aggregated and de-identified (electronic health record) data — to build a generic surveillance net,” said Dr. Ethan Booker, an emergency physician and vice president of care innovation at the MedStar Institute for Innovation. “Part of the intention of gathering a broad net of data is to try to create some alertness for the possibility of an unknown.”
The CDC has developed its own World Cup data dashboard, which is in its final development state, an agency spokesperson told CNN In a statement. And the agency has tools that can assess the risk of outbreak potential and identify unusual patterns in surveillance data in near real-time, work that “helps jurisdictions evaluate risk and strengthen early warning capabilities in operational settings,” the statement said.
Local public health officials are also focused on broad, efficient surveillance.
Wastewater testing has been an increasingly popular public health tool since the Covid-19 pandemic because it can quickly help identify what may be circulating in a community in a passive way, without the need to test individual people for specific pathogens. Many public health leaders from World Cup host cities have cited wastewater surveillance as a key way they’re planning to monitor community health during the games.
“We’ve increased our sampling sites to cover all of Dallas County,” county health director Dr. Phil Huang said. “And we’re doing what’s called metagenomic testing, so we’re able to broadly detect anything that appears in the wastewater without pre-identifying specific pathogens we’re looking for.”
In Philadelphia, public health officials plan to have a special mobile lab that will allow for on-the-ground testing of various specimens, significantly cutting time and resources that are typically needed to send those samples to specialized labs in other parts of the state or country.
“We’ve been working to build out the unit for a few years,” city Health Commissioner Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson said. “Originally, it was not in anticipation of [this year’s] events; that’s how far back the funding goes. But now we’ve been geared up to make sure it’s up and ready.”
Cities are also working with local hospital systems to plan for a potential surge on health care utilization that could strain capacity and activating tbeir Emergency Operations Centers to keep the public safe and informed.
Federal coordination on health
The federal government awarded $625 million to host cities as part of the FIFA World Cup Grant Program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The CDC did not respond directly to CNN’s questions about whether host cities have received that funding yet or how the money could be spent specifically on protecting against health threats.
“CDC is actively engaged in World Cup preparedness as part of the federal coordination structure led by the White House FIFA World Cup 2026 Task Force,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement. “As part of HHS, CDC is regularly engaging with public health departments in host cities, other federal agencies, and partner organizations.”
The Pan American Health Organization, a regional office of the World Health Organization, is standing up its own operational center to coordinate around the World Cup. But US involvement is complicated since the country is no longer part of WHO.
Katz said that leaders from the Health Security Operations Center plan to participate in daily stand-up calls hosted by PAHO and share that information back out directly to state, local and federal partners.
In this and all of its activities, the center is operating “independently, but in support of” government work, Katz said.
Health threats keep evolving: In 2018, when FIFA named Canada, Mexico and the United States as hosts of the 2026 World Cup, coronaviruses were far from the general public’s awareness. The set of 16 host cities were announced in 2022, after the Biden administration reversed the first Trump administration’s attempt to withdraw from the World Health Organization. And when the match schedule was released in 2024, the record measles outbreak in Texas was still more than a year away.
Consistency is key to preparedness, experts said.
“We need a common-sense, consistent funding stream shared by federal, state and local policymakers to fully fund the public health system as a whole to prevent and respond to routine and emergencies that could occur,” Chrissie Juliano, executive director of the Big Cities Health Coalition, said at a briefing this month.
Nongovernment organizations can play a role, too.
“We would like to see a more persistently embedded capability to provide this surveillance more consistently,” said Booker from the MedStar Institute for Innovation. “Not just for the big event, but really improving the health security of America.”
The Polymarket website is seen on a smartphone arranged in Germantown, New York, in July 2025. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource)
The Polymarket website is seen on a smartphone arranged in Germantown, New York, in July 2025. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource)
By Kara Scannell, CNN
(CNN) — Federal prosecutors in New York charged a Google software engineer with making roughly $1.2 million in profits from bets on the prediction market platform Polymarket by using confidential insider information he learned about the most searched people of 2025.
Michele Spagnuolo, the Google software engineer, allegedly used an account called “AlphaRaccoon” to place multiple “yes” and “no” bets related to who would be the most searched person on Google, according to a criminal complaint.
“Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google’s confidential, commercially valuable internal data,” authorities allege in the complaint.
Spagnuolo is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. He appeared in court Wednesday and was released on a $2.2 million bond with travel restrictions.
Google said Spagunolo has been placed on leave. A lawyer for Spagunolo was not immediately identified on the court docket.
“We’re working with law enforcement on their investigation. The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies,” a Google spokesperson told CNN.
Spagnuolo is now the second person this year to face criminal charges alleging insider trading on prediction markets.
Last month the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York announced insider trading charges against a US special forces soldier for allegedly using his knowledge of the planned military capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to place bets on Polymarket ahead of it. The solider allegedly made over $400,000 in profits. He has pleaded not guilty.
Authorities allege Spagnuolo used confidential internal Google data to place numerous bets about the most searched person.
In one case, Spagnuolo placed a $381.12 bet “yes” that d4vd would rank in the most searched people of the year and $5 that d4vd would be the number one searched person on Google with an implied probability of “slightly higher than 0%,” according to the complaint.
Spagnuolo also bet $613,000 “no” that Pope Leo would be the most searched person and just over $500,000 that Donald Trump would not be the most searched person. When Google announced the most searched results, authorities allege, Spagnuolo made over $1.2 million in profits.
CNN has a partnership with another prediction market, Kalshi, and uses its data to cover major events. Editorial employees are prohibited from participating in prediction markets.
In the wake of a major voting rights setback, some Black activists, journalists and celebrities are urging elite recruits to reconsider playing for schools in states where Black voting strength is under attack. The movement reframes Black athletes not just as sports stars, but as political and economic power brokers. Credit: Getty Images
In the wake of a major voting rights setback, some Black activists, journalists and celebrities are urging elite recruits to reconsider playing for schools in states where Black voting strength is under attack. The movement reframes Black athletes not just as sports stars, but as political and economic power brokers. Credit: Getty Images
America — particularly Black America — is at a difficult crossroads that literally threatens the complexion of our nation.
Last month’s Supreme Court ruling that blew up Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, allowing states to redistrict and gerrymander to dilute the vote of Black Americans, threatens to set our voting rights back significantly, especially in the South, if we don’t do something.
Sure, we protest, we can scream, and just be pissed off.
But our real fighting power is in showing up at the voting polls like never before and withholding our buying power where our vote isn’t respected.
We also have another power that is sure to get the attention of white folks who don’t think we should have a say in this country’s political landscape. It’s through our gifted young Black athletes, whom they love to cheer for in the uniforms of their favorite college athletic teams.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in the Louisiana vs Callais case, Black people are calling for the top Black athletes to avoid playing for any primarily white college or university in the South. The calls have come from athletes, journalists, and even celebrities like actor and New Orleans native Wendell Pierce to boycott the Southeastern Conference in particular.
We’re talking kids boycotting programs in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky — places where the Black vote is being diluted. And yes, that includes Texas, where your beloved University of Texas and Texas A&M will be affected.
We Black Texans have had a front-row seat to how gerrymandering can cripple the Black vote, and specifically in Houston, where Donald Trump commanded Gov. Greg Abbott, his good soldier, to find him five congressional seats ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. And right now, we have lost a Black seat in Houston and forced two candidates – Christian Menefee and Al Green – with similar liberal leanings into a fierce, nasty battle that will weaken Black political influence in this state and the country.
I say, go for it and make these offending states suffer where it hurts. But don’t stop at the SEC. Extend it to schools in the Big 12 and ACC conferences, in states where people want to cheer for Black athletes on the football field but don’t want them to have true representation in Congress, the Senate, or even their more influential local elections.
Let’s not pretend this isn’t an enormous ask, especially in today’s major college landscape, where football and basketball athletes are able to legally make life-changing sums of money through name, image and likeness deals. But know that similar NIL and revenue-sharing riches will be awaiting you in states where your vote still matters and carries real weight.
It’s time Black athletes understand their influence and power. It’s time they free themselves from being viewed as glorified gladiators who perform for people who don’t respect them as equals or as real human beings, for that matter.
As one of the last football conferences to integrate, the SEC messed around and found out back in the 1960s that it couldn’t stay relevant without Black athletes, so the good ole boys had to start accepting Black athletes. If the SEC felt the pressure then, imagine what it would feel today if the best Black athletes in the South suddenly started heading North or going out West.
Saturday afternoons just wouldn’t feel the same, and the SEC’s TV partners wouldn’t feel the same, either.
It was funny to hear recently hired Lane Kiffin throwing a barb at his former employer, Ole Miss, saying that it was hard to get Black athletes to want to come there because of the lack of diversity.
We used to have a saying where I’m from up North: If that ain’t the pot calling the kettle black. Somebody tell Kiffin it ain’t any different for Black people in Louisiana.
Imagine if young Black student-athletes and their families did start to align their recruitment with the consciousness of what kind of power play that would be. The natural destinations would be in the North and West, but what about HBCUs?
Back in the day, schools like Grambling State and Florida A&M boasted powerhouse football programs because the all-white SEC wasn’t an option for the best Black student-athletes.
Imagine what Prairie View head football coach Tremaine Jackson or Texas Southern coach Cris Dishman could do if the recruits who would have ordinarily gone to UT or Texas A&M suddenly landed in their laps. No, the amount of money they could make at the bigger schools might not be there, but the NIL and revenue-sharing pots would be significantly larger than they are today.
It’s time that Black athletes and their families understand their power and influence and then use it.
Hidden fees rarely show up in big, obvious ways. Instead, they tend to appear as small charges that blend into everyday spending, which is exactly why so many people miss them.
A few dollars here and there might not seem like a big deal in the moment, but those charges can quietly build up over time.
According to Consumer Reports, Americans may lose around $3,200 per year to hidden fees and charges tied to things like banking services, subscriptions, and everyday financial transactions.
The good news is that once you know where these fees tend to hide, it becomes much easier to spot them and decide whether they are worth keeping in your budget.
Watch for Banking Fees Banking fees are one of the most common ways money quietly slips out of an account.
Overdraft fees are a good example. These charges happen when a purchase goes through, even though there isn’t enough money in the account to cover it. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the typical overdraft fee has historically been about $34 to $35 per transaction, meaning a small purchase can suddenly become much more expensive than expected.
The CFPB also reports that about 23 million households pay overdraft fees every year, showing just how common these charges still are.If you want to avoid these charges, take a few minutes to review your bank statements from the last couple of months.
Look for anything labeled overdraft, NSF, or maintenance fees. Many banks allow customers to set up balance alerts or link another account as a backup so purchases do not trigger these penalties.
Review Your Subscriptions Subscriptions are another place where hidden spending tends to appear.
Streaming platforms, music services, fitness apps, software tools, and delivery memberships often renew automatically each month or each year. When those renewals happen quietly in the background, it becomes easy to keep paying for services you rarely use.
A quick subscription audit can reveal a lot. Open your banking app or credit card statement and scroll through the last few months of transactions. If you see the same charge appearing over and over again, ask yourself whether the service is something you actually use enough to justify the cost.
Many people find at least one forgotten subscription this way.
Photo: peopleimages12 via 123RF
Look Closely at Financial Apps Modern financial apps are convenient to use, but it’s important to read the fee section before you use them so you understand exactly how the company makes money.
Some budgeting apps, payment platforms, or digital banking tools offer premium versions that come with monthly charges, while others offer services like instant transfers or early paycheck access that include optional fees.
Buy Now, Pay Later services also fall into this category. Though they usually advertise interest-free payments, they may still charge late fees if you miss a due date.
Run a Simple Fee Audit Once you start looking for hidden charges, you will probably notice them more often.
One of the easiest ways to spot them is by doing a quick financial audit. Look at your bank and credit card statements from the past three months for recurring charges, service fees, or penalties.
Make note of anything that repeats or looks unfamiliar. Then ask yourself whether you actually want to keep paying for it.
Paying Attention Makes a Difference Hidden fees work because a few dollars here and there rarely trigger concern, but over time, those small charges can quietly take a noticeable bite out of a budget.
Taking a few minutes to review your statements, question recurring charges, and understand how your financial apps work can go a long way toward keeping more of your money where it belongs.
Finances FYI is presented by JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan Chase is making a $30 billion commitment over the next five years to address some of the largest drivers of the racial wealth divide.
As Americans celebrate summer, health officials nationwide focus on preserving the CDC team that helps prevent drowning deaths. (Credit: Thomas Barwick / Getty Images/Stockphotos)
As Americans celebrate summer, health officials nationwide focus on preserving the CDC team that helps prevent drowning deaths. (Credit: Thomas Barwick / Getty Images/Stockphotos)
For most of the U.S., the Memorial Day holiday signals the opening of the swimming season. Oceanside beaches, lakes, rivers, and swimming pools are usually teeming with water enthusiasts of all ages and abilities.
Yet as millions of Americans plan to head to pools and beaches during the summer, public health experts warn that Black children remain far more likely to drown than white kids. And the Trump administration has targeted federal programs designed to track and prevent those deaths for major budget cuts.
The combination of funding cuts for water safety and the unofficial start of summer means increased risk for Black Americans. Drowning is the single leading overall cause of death for children ages one to four in the U.S. — ahead of car crashes and cancer.
And young Black people are at particular risk: those under age 30 are 1.5 times more likely than whites to drown.
Cuts to Prevention
That data point became tragically visible last month in the ocean off the coast of Morocco. Two Black U.S. service members, ages 19 and 27, drowned when, on a recreational hike with others, one person — unable to swim — fell into the water, prompting the other to jump in to try and rescue her.
Sharon Gilmartin, executive director of Safe States Alliance, a nonprofit injury prevention organization, said the budget cuts have eliminated a key source of information that could help keep people safe.
“When you cut the federal investments into drowning prevention at the CDC Injury Center, you don’t just lose programs,” she says. “You lose the ability to know what’s working, where the problem is getting worse and which communities need help most.”
Private funders “can [offer] piecemeal solutions, whether that’s for swim lessons or for specific communities,” she says. “But they can’t replicate a national surveillance system. They can’t replicate national expertise.”
Black Youth At Risk
Drowning disparities are highest among Black children, with those aged 5 to 9 drowning at rates 2.6 times higher than their white peers. The data are even worse for those aged 10 to 14, who are more than three times as likely to drown than white children.
While swimming pools don’t have the undertow of ocean water or the bitter cold of lakes, Black children ages 10 to 14 swimming in a pool still drown at rates that are 7.6 times higher than white children.
When you cut the federal investments into drowning prevention … you don’t just lose programs. You lose the ability to know what’s working, where the problem is getting worse and which communities need help most.”
Sharon Gilmartin, executive director, Safe States Alliance
For generations, Black Americans were locked out of public pools and beaches by segregation, violence and discriminatory policies. That included lack of access to swim education, lifeguard programs and safe recreational spaces. The issue was compounded by the closure of pools in Black neighborhoods and private lessons that many working-class families can’t afford.
Federal agencies, state governments, and nonprofits are increasingly moving toward free swim education access, community-level action plans, and equity-centered frameworks, focused on Black American communities.
But the government recently cut more than 200 positions from the CDC Injury Center — the leading agency working to prevent overdose, suicide, and other injuries nationwide. i And Trump’s budget proposal for next year eliminates the program entirely as well as ending the annual drowning report, a valuable resource for prevention.
But more than 50 national organizations, including philanthropies, universities, and health agencies, formed the Keep America Safe Coalition and managed to keep the center funded at the previous level.
‘Deadliest Year’ for Child Drowning
On a press call about water safety last week, Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Florida Democrat, said the need for swimming safety is urgent: “We just had the deadliest year on record for child drownings.”
The increase “is the first time that we’ve had a reversal” in drowning deaths, Wasserman-Shultz says. “One hundred nineteen children tragically lost their lives in 2025 and it’s an excruciating loss to think about. Every single person we lose to drowning is one too many.”
Tony Gomez, a public health and injury prevention official for Seattle and King County, Washington, who also was on the call, says on-the-ground coordination is important.
“At the local level, the importance of having a federal to state to local, with research entities and nonprofits all working together — like so many public health and public safety conditions — cannot be emphasized enough.”
National Issue, Local Solutions
Other call participants pointed to solutions at the local level.
In Atlanta, for example, the city decided to allow city residents to enter all of its swimming pools for free, said Ryan Greenstein director of advocacy and public policy for YMCA of Metro Atlanta.
As the federal government pulls back on drowning prevention, “there are other levels of government trying to do their part to either do swim scholarships, [offer] swim lessons,make pools more accessible and also create employment opportunities — lifeguards, aquatics directors and others at the local level.”
In January 1973, a 27-year-old Black woman named Cheryl Lanier vanished from San Francisco. No one filed a missing persons report for 37 years.
When her case was finally logged in 2010 and the city police department’s Missing Persons Unit investigated, but the case languished, unsolved for decades. This month, DNA analysis confirmed Lanier had died in Houston, Texas, in September 1976 — three years after she disappeared — after jumping from a moving tractor-trailer. She had spent half a century as a Jane Doe.
Lanier’s tragic story, however, isn’t rare. In fact, it fits a disturbing pattern of what happens when Black Americans go missing.
Harmful Stereotypes
In 2023, more than half a million people were reported missing in the United States. According to 2023 data from the National Crime Information Center, 40% of missing persons are people of color, although Black Americans make up just 13% of the population.
The disappearances are made worse by what doesn’t happen: urgent searches and media attention.
Black and Missing Foundation co-founders Derrica and Natalie Wilson have described being “shunned” by the media, met with silence when seeking coverage for missing Black victims. The dynamic is rooted in stereotypes associating Black communities with criminality. For instance, many missing Black children are first classified as runaways, so their disappearance isn’t circulated through an Amber Alert.
Waiting to be Seen
For Black families, the pain of loss is compounded by the invisibility. It took 53 years for Cheryl Lanier to be identified. Thousands of other Black people who have vanished are still waiting to be seen.
Word In Black spoke with Natalie Wilson about the Black and Missing Foundation’s 18-year fight to find America’s forgotten missing. The co-founders started the organization after watching a grieving family get ignored by the same media that made the disappearance of Natalee Holloway an international story.
The following has been edited for clarity and length.
Word In Black: Your organization has been around for nearly two decades. What prompted you to start it, and what is the Black and Missing Foundation’s core mission?
Natalie Wilson: We have been sounding the alarm since May of 2008 that people of color are disappearing at an alarming rate from around the country. Our mission is to bring awareness to missing men, women, and children from around the country, to educate our community on personal safety, and to search for those who are missing.
The inspiration behind the foundation is a young lady by the name of Tamika Houston, who went missing from Spartanburg, South Carolina — my sister-in-law’s hometown. We read about how her family, particularly her aunt Rebecca, who works in public relations, could not get media coverage for her missing niece.
All it takes is one piece of information, one person who comes forward with a tip, to bring someone home. And if they’re no longer alive, at least the family has answers and can move forward.Natalie Wilson, the Black and Missing Foundation
A year after Tamika disappeared, Natalee Holloway vanished — and just saying her name alone, everyone knew her story. Rebecca had reached out to the same reporters, the same networks, the same programs that covered Natalee Holloway, and she was met with silence.
My co-founder Derrica and I decided to do some research to see if there were systemic issues around missing people of color, because we simply were not seeing their stories in the media. At the time, we found that 30% of all missing persons were people of color. My background is media relations and public relations; awareness is key in trying to find the missing. Derrica’s background is in law enforcement. Those are the two critical professions needed to bring our missing home.
WIB: What keeps you going after 18 years?
Wilson: The families. They are desperately searching for their missing loved ones, and many times they tell us we are their last resort.
Law enforcement isn’t taking the police report — they’re turning families away. The media isn’t covering the stories. And the community isn’t involved, because either they don’t know someone is missing, or they’re turning a blind eye because they aren’t personally affected.
WIB: You mentioned law enforcement turning families away. Can you give a specific example?
Wilson: There was a young girl by the name of Kennedy who went missing from Baltimore. When her mother reported her missing, law enforcement told her Kennedy had run away. That is what we see repeatedly — law enforcement classifying [Black] young girls as runaways. The moment that happens, they receive no Amber Alert and no media coverage whatsoever, because the assumption is the child left home willingly.
But even if a child leaves home voluntarily, you have to ask: what are they leaving from, and what are they leaving into? We know that girls and boys are being sex trafficked at an alarming rate.
In Kennedy’s case, we were able to pressure law enforcement into taking a proper missing person’s report. We amplified her case. She had been trafficked and was being moved from Baltimore to another part of Prince George’s County by her traffickers. An Uber driver recognized her from a flyer on our website, contacted us, and we were able to reach our resources at the FBI. They rescued her. Kennedy was 14 or 16 years old — young — and she was a functioning autistic child.
That case illustrates exactly why we require a police missing person’s report to be on file before we can assist a family. If law enforcement refuses to take the report, we work with the family to get it done.
WIB: You mentioned the numbers have changed since you started the foundation. What do the statistics look like now?
Wilson: When we first started in 2008, based on FBI statistics, 30% of all missing persons were people of color. Today that number has increased to 40%. But we believe the real number is much higher.
The Hispanic community is underreporting for various reasons, and the FBI is categorizing Hispanic individuals as white in their data — which we find troubling. Research shows that 24% of Latinos and Latinas identify as Afro Latino. So, when you’re miscategorizing Hispanic missing persons as white and not accounting for Afro Latinos at all, the true scale of the crisis is being obscured.
WIB: What does your media strategy look like, and why does media coverage matter so much to these cases?
Wilson: Media coverage is important for two reasons. First, it alerts the community that someone is missing. Second, it puts pressure on law enforcement to dedicate resources to the case. No department wants to be embarrassed. When we work with media partners and a reporter calls a precinct asking for a case update, we see law enforcement spring into action.
Because we can’t wait for the traditional news cycle, we’ve also built our own platforms — including a podcast — so families can tell their stories directly. All it takes is one piece of information, one person who comes forward with a tip, to bring someone home. And if they’re no longer alive, at least the family has answers and can move forward.
WIB: Where does the foundation operate, and who are your partners?
Wilson: We’re headquartered in Hyattsville, Maryland, but we are a national organization. Over nearly 18 years, we’ve built partnerships with law enforcement agencies around the country — departments in Washington, D.C., Oakland, and elsewhere actively use our missing persons database.
We also have partnerships with local and national media, including programs like Dateline, and we could not do this work without the Black press, which has consistently created space for us to tell these stories.
In June, we’re launching our very first street team in Atlanta — boots on the ground in one of the country’s hot spots, ready to mobilize immediately when someone goes missing. Other high-need cities we focus on include Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, and Miami.
WIB: What do you want parents to know about how children are being targeted?
Wilson: We ask families: how can someone get into your home without coming through the front door or a window? The answer is through apps and technology. Any device with a chat feature is a potential point of contact for predators.
We had a case out of Georgia where a pedophile groomed a young girl, who was a gamer, over the course of two years. People assume this happens fast. It does not. These individuals are patient, and they know how to identify vulnerability. They know that children who lack food, housing, or basic stability are more susceptible. They know what to say. They earn trust slowly, and eventually they get children to share where they go to school, where they worship — details that put them in danger.
We also urge young adults: stop posting [on social media] your location in real time. Post when you get home. You never know who is watching.
WIB: What should someone do if they know something about a missing person but are afraid to come forward?
Wilson: We have an anonymous tip line. We know there is a deep and historically earned distrust between law enforcement and our community. If you are not comfortable going directly to police, please reach out to us. We will not compromise your identity. We understand the sensitivity. And if you have a missing loved one and do not know what to do, please reach out to us so we can provide the support you need.
WIB: What’s on the horizon for The Black and Missing Foundation?
Wilson: On May 30th, we are hosting our 10th Anniversary 5K at the harbor in Fort Washington, Maryland. It is a family event — a day for the community to rally around families who have missing loved ones. Along the route, you will see mile markers featuring the images and information of missing persons. We hope the community will come out, walk with us, and help us keep these faces visible.
Interested persons can register or support the Black and Missing Foundation’s Hope Without Boundaries 5k Walk/Run. The event will be held rain or shine.
A student gospel ensemble born at Florida State University is taking Black sacred music beyond campus walls, blending ministry, outreach and performance while introducing new audiences to the traditions rooted in the Black church. Credit: Facebook/Voices of Truth
A student gospel ensemble born at Florida State University is taking Black sacred music beyond campus walls, blending ministry, outreach and performance while introducing new audiences to the traditions rooted in the Black church. Credit: Facebook/Voices of Truth
What began as a student-led extension of a university gospel choir has become a traveling ministry of music, blending opera-trained voices, Black sacred tradition and grassroots community outreach under the name Voices of Truth.
Formed at Florida State University in Tallahassee, the ensemble grew from a desire to take gospel music off campus and into churches, care facilities and communities outside of Florida. For its members — many of whom are not music majors and some of whom are new to Black church traditions — the experience has become both performance and formation.
“We decided to form a new ensemble… a community-centered ensemble,” said DaSean Stokes, a second-year doctoral student in classical voice at Florida State. “It really came out of a vision for students traveling, finding different communities, experiencing different worship, meeting new people, going new places.”
Originally from Missouri, Stokes describes himself as an opera tenor with deep ties to church music. His academic path has taken him from Central Methodist University to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and now to Florida State, where he also works in arts administration while pursuing his doctoral degree.
Voices of Truth, he said, is not simply an extension of his academic training; it is a spiritual and cultural practice.
“We’re trying to instill integrity and responsibility,” Stokes said. “We’re using music as a tool… especially gospel music.”
The ensemble has performed in churches, including Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia and Mount Olive in Virginia, as well as at a veterans care facility. Their repertoire spans traditional gospel, spirituals and Black sacred compositions.
Dr. Jeremy Moore, the ensemble’s director, said the group’s purpose is as much narrative as it is musical. As for the actual tour, he says, the idea came from the students.
“In 2024, we were invited to be the symphony chorus for the Rogue Valley Symphony in Medford, Oregon,” says Moore, who holds an advanced degree in choral conducting from FSU. “And it was a really seminal moment for us. The gospel choir, I don’t think, had toured ever before at Florida State University. And so it was really kind of encouraging for us to be able to travel and be ambassadors for the university.”
Once the students had the experience, they made it clear they wanted a repeat opportunity.
“I like music that is able to not only be good, but to have meaning and to have a message,” Moore said.
For their spring concert, themed “Rain,” Moore created a spiritual arc, acknowledging struggle, endurance and praise. Selections included gospel staples such as “The Storm Is Passing Over” and “I’ll Take Jesus,” along with contemporary works that reflect Black musical expression across generations.
“The story for this tour was one of encouragement,” Moore said. “We’ve been here and we’ve been fighting, but God has got us.”
The ensemble’s approach reflects a broader tradition in Black sacred music, linking spirituals, gospel, jazz and classical influences into a continuous cultural line. Moore said that continuity is intentional.
“We want to spread really good gospel music around the country,” he said.
Beyond repertoire, Voices of Truth is also navigating questions of access and cultural familiarity. Many of the students, Moore noted, are learning the rhythmic and expressive traditions that shape gospel performance.
“Some students read music, some students don’t,” Moore said. “Some come from a gospel background, some don’t.”
That difference becomes especially visible in movement and rhythm — elements often assumed rather than taught in Black church spaces.
“It’s polyrhythms, it’s syncopation,” Stokes said. “If you don’t have that exposure, it’s a lot to put together.”
Still, both leaders emphasize inclusion.
At Alfred Street Baptist Church, Moore recalled a congregant saying she was “not expecting this,” referring to the racially mixed ensemble. For him, that moment reflected gospel music’s broader theological claim.
“At the end of the day, we have to realize that God is God of all,” he said. “That’s what heaven is going to look like.”
The ensemble’s mission also extends beyond performance into education and outreach. Stokes said future plans include expanding into high schools and community programs.
“That’s something we’re trying to work on this year,” he said.
Funding for the group is largely grassroots. The ensemble received partial support from Florida State’s Congress of Graduate Students but relied heavily on donations from churches, family members, friends and small-dollar community contributions.
“We started with $251.50,” Stokes said. “But it was more than zero.”
He described a patchwork of financial support that included $5 and $20 gifts, snack sales, and anonymous donations, all helping cover travel costs such as fuel for long-distance touring.
“One dollar adds up just as much,” he said. “It’s the power of community.”
Moore said that the model of support reflects the same values embedded in the music itself.
“People want to help each other,” he said. “Sometimes that gets lost, but we saw it on this tour.”
(Trice Edney Wire) – America once worried about an imperial presidency. Now we have an imperial presidency merged with a family business.
And somehow, too many Americans are shrugging.
Perhaps that shrug is less agreement than exhaustion. Americans are tired — tired of the scandals, the outrage cycles, the endless circus where every day produces another ethical breach, another fundraising scheme, another spectacle competing for attention. People are struggling with rent, groceries, healthcare, caregiving, and retirement. Corruption fatigue has become part of our political culture, and that exhaustion is dangerous because corruption flourishes when people become too weary to resist it.
Donald Trump did not invent corruption. He simply removed the curtains. Previous presidents at least understood that public office required the appearance of restraint. Trump has transformed the presidency into something between a branding opportunity, a grievance machine, and a family business.
Campaign fundraising, cryptocurrency ventures, donor cultivation, luxury branding, political memorabilia, legal defense funds, and influence-peddling now swirl together into one giant transactional enterprise where political power and private wealth are increasingly difficult to separate. The presidency is no longer merely an office; it is becoming a monetization platform.
Trump’s defenders often say, “Well, he was rich before politics.” That misses the point entirely. The issue is not whether Trump entered office wealthy. The issue is whether political power is now being openly leveraged for personal financial gain while ethical guardrails collapse around us.
Reports estimate Trump-linked crypto ventures alone have generated staggering sums for Trump-affiliated entities while the administration influences the regulatory environment surrounding those same markets. In another era, such conflicts would have triggered bipartisan outrage. Today, many Americans barely react before the next scandal arrives.
Corruption survives when exhaustion sets in and citizens begin believing that everybody is dirty anyway, although everybody is clearly not dirty in the same way.
Poor people are investigated for survival. Working people are lectured about personal responsibility. Black families are criminalized for minor infractions. Yet wealthy elites convert influence into wealth and are celebrated as savvy businessmen.
A poor woman receiving excess food stamps is treated like a criminal mastermind. Billionaires gaming the tax code are called “smart.”
America still punishes poverty more aggressively than it punishes corruption.
That is why the debate over IRS enforcement matters so much. Efforts to strengthen tax enforcement against wealthy tax evasion provoke immediate political backlash. Politicians rage about “government overreach” when auditors examine millionaires, but remain silent while ordinary taxpayers face penalties and garnishments over comparatively tiny sums.
There are effectively two tax systems in America — one for people with lawyers and one for people without them.
Trump did not create that system. He understands it instinctively because he has benefited from it for decades. But his presidency has accelerated something even more corrosive: the collapse of ethical expectations altogether.
Conflicts of interest barely register anymore. Foreign money moves through luxury properties and investment vehicles. Campaign funds circulate through politically connected businesses. Political branding and family enrichment now operate side by side with governance itself, and Americans are increasingly expected to accept all this as normal.
This is neither normal nor harmless; it is dangerous.
A democracy cannot function when citizens conclude that public office is simply another avenue for private enrichment. Once people stop believing government serves any public purpose, cynicism replaces citizenship. Voters disengage. Institutions weaken. Democracy itself becomes transactional, and transactions always favor the wealthy.
What worries me most is not merely Trump himself, but the national adjustment surrounding him. Americans are not embracing the circus so much as surrendering to it. The daily chaos creates a numbing effect. Every scandal competes with five others. Every outrage is replaced before citizens can fully absorb its implications.
Exhaustion itself becomes a political strategy, because if the public remains overwhelmed long enough, accountability begins to erode. People stop asking, “Is this acceptable?” and begin asking only, “What happened today?”
That shift in public consciousness is profoundly dangerous.
History teaches us that republics rarely collapse in one dramatic moment. More often, they are hollowed out gradually — one indulgence, one rationalization, one ethical compromise at a time.
The presidency is not supposed to be a family inheritance project, a licensing operation, or a speculative investment vehicle. Public office is supposed to involve public trust.
Yet public trust is eroding rapidly.
The grift matters. But the greater danger is the national numbness surrounding it.
History will not judge us solely by the corruption we tolerated. It will judge us by how quickly we became accustomed to it.
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and educator.
Former Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has been named the CEO of Filium.
By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Former Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell is returning to the private sector, taking over as CEO of Seattle-based textile technology company Filium just months after concluding his term as the city’s 57th mayor. Harrell will succeed co-founder Raj Shah, who will move into the role of chairman of the board as the company enters its next phase of growth.
Harrell’s appointment places one of Seattle’s best-known political figures at the center of one of the region’s emerging sustainability and advanced manufacturing sectors.
The move marks a new chapter for Harrell, whose career has spanned telecommunications, private law practice and nearly two decades in civic leadership.
While Harrell is best known for his political leadership, his professional roots extend into corporate telecommunications and civil law. Before entering politics, he worked at US West, now Lumen Technologies, rising from staff attorney to chief counsel, where he also met his wife, Joanne, before co-founding a Seattle law practice and later entering elected office. His political career began with election to the Seattle City Council in 2007, where he served 12 years before becoming mayor in 2021.
Reflecting on his years in office, Harrell described the experience as an opportunity to advance issues centered on equity, public safety and opportunity.
“I think that I raised issues in a very authentic way centered around race, public safety, prosperity for all, and education,” said Harrell in an exclusive interview with The Seattle Medium. “The fact is that to lead authentically, you will get criticized and misunderstood. And that’s the price, the cost of leading. Our country right now is so polarizing that it makes a leader like me seem like you’re trying to swim upstream. But the polarization has never stopped me from believing in my own values, which again center around making sure all boats rise.”
Founded in Seattle, Filium’s proprietary technology engineers natural fabrics, particularly fibers such as cotton and wool, to resist liquids, stains and odors without relying on PFAS, often called “forever chemicals,” or harmful synthetic coatings, while maintaining natural breathability. The company also uses artificial intelligence to analyze testing data and support research, development and manufacturing processes.
Harrell said the opportunity aligned with both environmental and public health priorities.
“I had many job opportunities and many opportunities presented to me,” noted Harrell. “And I thought very methodically about what industry I wanted to get into and what I thought would do both, where I can increase both personal health and environmental health. This whole industry in the next 5 to 10 years is going to merge toward an anti-PFAS free environment. If you look at the laws in Europe, for example, they are prohibiting PFAS in the industries. I wanted to get into an industry that needs to be disrupted.”
Filium’s origins are closely tied to apparel entrepreneur Raj Shah, founder of Mecca, one of the country’s prominent Black-owned urban apparel brands. Shah later shifted his focus toward environmental sustainability after studying the effects of microplastics and PFAS materials on human and environmental health.
Harrell’s leadership experience and regional relationships could play a key role as Filium expands its commercial footprint and scales its technology.
Joanne Harrell, a former Microsoft executive and former REI board member, said many of the leadership skills that Harrell developed in government translate directly into corporate leadership.
“Bruce will be not just successful, but phenomenal in the role,” said Joanne Harrell. “When you look at the skill sets that are required to be a mayor or a city council president, a lot of those skill sets revolve around the ability to work well with and through others to identify clear goals and objectives and align resources to achieve them. And that’s not very different than what is required in a corporate setting.”
Filium’s products have already been adopted by brands including The North Face, Bass Pro Shops, O’Neill and Cabela’s, while the company also operates its consumer apparel brand, Ably. The company has expanded into commercial applications as well, including partnerships with agencies such as Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue for PFAS-free workwear.
Filium’s board and advisory structure includes executives with backgrounds at Nike, Nordstrom Rack and Puma North America as the company continues expanding its footprint.
For Harrell, the transition is also about broadening access and representation within sustainability and outdoor industries.
“My vision is twofold,” explained Harrell. “To lead the textile industry in the PFAS-free world… and in terms of performance brands, athletic leisure, or performance clothing, to make sure that all communities are represented as well. Right now, when you think of hikers or skiers or some forms of outdoor activities, you may not think of an urban market. I want all communities to be able to excel in a PFAS-free environment and see their faces reflected in material science.”
“I want Seattle to be a leader in the PFAS-free world in textile science because we are known for innovation, environmental sustainability, and personal health,” concluded Harrell. “I have an opportunity, based on how I lead organizations, to be a big factor in this industry change. And at the same time, employing people and saving the planet.”
