PowerPoint; Super Tuesday; Heart Disease amongst African American Women

Production and broadcast of PowerPoint is made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Legacy Foundation, a non -profit organization committed to enhancing, preserving, and restoring the legacy and history of life in America. This is PowerPoint, an Information Age clearinghouse for news, issues, and ideas that impact the African -American community, the nation, and the world. Good evening and welcome to PowerPoint, Broadcasting Live from the studios of Peach State Public Radio in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Carmen Burns. Super Tuesday is the punish, and when the votes are counted, we may have a better idea of who will represent their party in the upcoming presidential election. Are the national political parties taking the black vote seriously, or are they taking it for granted? What assurances do African -Americans and other people of color have that promises made will be promises kept? There are a lot of questions and we'll try to provide some

answers on tonight's program, but first to the PowerPoint news desk for a wrap -up of this week's news. With news and information to empower the community, this is PowerPoint. Good evening. I'm Bruce Dorton. President Clinton helped mark America's bloody Sunday today in Selma, Alabama. He joined a group of people this afternoon in retracing civil rights marchers steps across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. The event commemorates the 35th anniversary of a civil rights milestone. On March 7, 1965, marchers on their way to Montgomery to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks in Selma were attacked by state troopers. The march helped launch the careers of black leaders and help make way for a new kind of white southern politician, moderate, attuned to civil rights issues and appealing to both black and white voters. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who accompanied Clinton

today, says the president owes his political beginnings to the march and its legacy. Clinton said he wants people to see him and others walking across the bridge and think 35 years ago the people doing it were risking their lives. More foreign aid is starting to pour into flood stricken Mozambique. The first US military plane arrived in an air base in South Africa this afternoon to set up aid operations for up to 600 US troops to help victims in Mozambique. Also, 69 British boat crews are scheduled to fly to the devastated region to help deliver aid to flood survivors in River Valley. For rescue boats from Florida, also are expected to be put into action in the Limpopo River Valley. With flood waters receding for now, rescue workers are rushing to distribute aid to the desperately hungry and thirsty flood survivors. Aid workers expect the death toll to soar into the thousands as water level drops, revealing the mud covered remains of the dead. Meanwhile, more heavy rain is predicted next

week. Hundreds of black former Coca -Cola employees are likening the company's massive job cuts to ethnic cleansing. The employees rallied yesterday outside Atlanta, they say they're happy with Coke's decision not to require laid -off workers to sign a waiver. The waiver would have forced them to choose between participating in a discrimination lawsuit pending against the company or enjoying better severance benefits, but they're not ruling out a boycott. They say it's time for Coke to treat all its workers and especially minorities with more respect. Coke is laying off 6 ,000 workers, 2 ,500 of them in Atlanta. Larry Jones who lost his job February 15th organized the meeting at a church outside Atlanta. He says blacks in the company are, quote, humiliated, intimidated, yelled at, called the N word and treated with disrespect. Coke spokesman Ben Deutsch says the allegations are, quote, outrageous. He says the company's job cuts are motivated by business only. Black legislators in Georgia reaffirmed their commitment to

removing the Confederate battle emblem from Georgia's state flag, but they say they believe it will take an educational effort before that can be accomplished. Although bills to change the flag are pending in the legislature, they stand little chance of passing. Former Georgia Governor Zell Millis 1993 bid to change the flag failed. Rep. Karl von Epps, a Democrat who chairs the legislative black caucus, says the battle emblem was added to the flag in 1956 as a symbol of segregationist defiance. George W. Bush says he's pleased that Bob Jones University is ending its ban on interracial dating. Rival GOP presidential hopeful John McCain says the decision is the right thing to do. The school's president announced the decision Friday night on CNN's Larry King live show. Bob Jones III said the school still believes interracial dating is wrong, but he said the public scrutiny brought on by the presidential election campaign was taking its toll

on graduates and the school's reputation. He said the controversy had gotten so out of hand. The controversy broke out after Bush spoke at the Christian School before the South Carolina primary. McCain made the visit an issue and his staff repeatedly pointed out the dating policy as well as its anti -Catholic views. Two other presidential candidates said they approved the decision. Republican Alan Keyes called it a good step forward while Democrat Bill Bradley said it's about time. Meanwhile George W. Bush and John McCain squared off on CBS today. Bush distanced himself from recent ads attacking McCain's environmental stance. McCain contends the ads were brought by Bush's cronies. Meantime McCain admitted his campaign tried to negotiate an appearance for him at Bob Jones University. Al Gore has kicked off a four -stay campaign swing that'll take him to Super Tuesday. Gore has appearances planned in Rhode Island, New York, Missouri, and Tennessee. And Bill Bradley meanwhile says he remains

optimistic predicting some surprises after Tuesday's primary. In entertainment news, two out of three for TLC at the Soul Train Music Awards, the hip hop trio took all but one of three categories they were nominated for at Saturday nights awards show in Los Angeles. No scrubs won for best R &B hip hop single by a group band or duo and fan mail won for best R &B sole album. The only act to beat out TLC on the night are Kelly. His are captured best R &B sole or rap album of the year. Other winners at the Shrine Auditorium included Juvenile, Buster Rhymes, Maxwell, Mary J. Blige, and Genuine. In sports, in Florida, John Rockas stood alone in the middle of the Atlanta Braves clubhouse this week. His eyes revealing a hint of tears. It's one thing to be heckled by 50 ,000 fans in New York. It's quite another to face the harsh scrutiny of your teammates and

coaches, especially when you've called one of them a fat monkey in a magazine interview and disparaged gays, foreigners, and minorities too. Third -based coach Ned Yose angrily asked Rocker to explain how he could offend so many people. Outfielder Reggie Sanders demanded remorse and accountability. Reserve first basement Randall Simon wanted to know Rocker's true feelings about his Latin teammates. When it was over, Rocker was hardly the cocky reliever who saved 38 games for the Atlanta Braves a year ago. Instead, he pleaded with his teammates, please, guys, let me play. Rocker put on a Braves uniform for the first time since the World Series on Thursday. After an independent arbitrator cut his suspension in half, reduced his fine, and allowed him to report the spring training. Cabation of Bud Selig originally suspended Rocker for all of spring training. In the first 28 days of the regular season, find him $20 ,000 and ordered him to get sensitivity training after the divisive comments appeared in December's sports illustrated. That fine was cut to $500.

And that is the news on PowerPoint this evening. I'm Bruce and welcome back to PowerPoint. We are coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Carmen Burns. Super Tuesday is days away and the end results may determine who will represent their parties in the upcoming presidential election. Why should African Americans and other minorities participate in the Super Tuesday primaries and how important is our vote? Joining us by telephone from Boston is Dr. James Jennings, a professor of political science and senior fellow at the William Trotter Institute in Massachusetts. Dr. Jennings has published and lectured widely on black and Latino politics, race and public policy. Also joining us by phone from Kansas City,

Missouri, Trudy Hall, producer and host of a weekly radio talk show that focuses on the issues, information, and resources impacting the African American community. And as always, you are welcome to join in on the discussion by calling the PowerPoint hotline at 1 -888 -667 -3224. That's 1 -888 -667 -3224. Ms. Hall, Dr. Jennings, good evening and welcome to PowerPoint. Hello, good evening. Hello, it's a pleasure to be here. Well, it's a pleasure to have both of you with us. As the 2000 elections are getting closer and closer, it's there said to be perhaps one of if not the most important elections for African Americans and other people of color. Do you agree or disagree starting with you, Dr. Jennings? Oh, I most definitely agree. This is a very critical election. First of all, in terms of just the numbers, on March 7, something like 60 percent or thereabouts of all the required delegates for nomination for both parties will be selected. This is an important date

because up until now, the black community, I should say the black voting community, has not really had an opportunity to have its voice heard. So this coming Tuesday is an important opportunity to make that happen. Ms. Hall, I think every election is an important election for black people because we do have limited voice with new methods of communication with the Internet. I think I would like to see blacks become more involved and more vocal about their disaster and interest. Something like Super Tuesday from Missouri has left a lot of our people really feeling a left out at this point. So the timing, I think, is going to always be an issue, but I think blacks have to take it on themselves to feel that they can make a voice where there aren't often allowed to. Let's talk a little bit about the candidates themselves. I know there's been some criticism. I guess they can't reach every state in the Super Tuesday

primary that they've just kind of touched briefly on a few of them. Your impression, Dr. Jennings, of the candidates and what they've done so far? Well, I really can't comment on that question without also commenting on the mainstream media that has been totally, if I could use this term, blacked out, the black community has latino out, the latino community, and Asian out, the Asian community. How? Well, in a number of ways. One, in terms of the issues that are highlighted in terms of the contradictions among the candidates themselves regarding racial issues. And I'll be glad to give you some examples. Please. Well, one example, for example, is the recent debate on between Bradley and Gore and the focus on their relationship with Al Sharpton, yet when a few days later, we had the Republican party debate. No one raised the issue of McCain's association with Richard Quinn, who is the editor of the Southern Partisan magazine,

which is, in my opinion, a very right -wing newspaper in this country, the praising slavery to a certain extent, and praising people like David Duke. So we have a continual racial double standard in the media. When Bush lost Michigan, for example, I did not recall any story in any of the major newspapers. I don't want to mention names right now, but in any of the major newspapers about the role of the Black vote and not defeat. So it's not just the candidates, but also the mainstream media has conducted its analysis and commented on this presidential primary campaign in ways that have completely ignored the role of the Black vote. Well, Dr. Jennings, here's your opportunity to kind of enlighten everyone. What was the role of the Black vote and his defeat? Well, I mean,

it was very significant. I mean, Michigan, when you look at the demography of Michigan, it's, you know, the Black, and a growing Latino vote is quite significant, yet very few commentators, if any at all, commented on how Black people felt about the candidates, and what Black people were doing, and what Black leaders were doing. In my home, home state of Massachusetts, for example, in the city of Boston, where I'm based, you know, Boston is a city where the majority of the population today are people of color, and yet when you look at all the mainstream media outlets, it's, you hardly even see a Black personal or a Latino person commenting on what is going on. It's almost like we don't count, and my sense is that this is being repeated throughout the nation. For what of a Black out, and that there don't seem to be any particular Black issues, I understand Dr. Jennings concerned about mainstream media, but that's nothing new. I think what's most

interesting is that Black organizations have not come out and taken a stance in the campaigning. Black organizations are not asking the hard questions. I know here in Missouri, we're barely seeing the major candidates at all, but there's no dialogue in the community about what the key issues are for Blacks, our Hispanics, where we have significant populations here in Kansas City. I have to agree with that observation. I agree totally with that. I mean, even among some of our leaders, there's an anxiousness to jump on who we think the winner might be without clarifying what issues are relevant to the well -being of the Black community and other communities of color. For example, I respect Jesse Jackson very highly. I think Jesse Jackson is a hero, as far as I'm concerned, but

yet his so quick endorsement of Gore without putting any issues out there other than saying that we're in the greatest economic boon in history, that I think that's a problem. We have many of our Black leaders who have basically given up the role of questioning both parties and challenging both parties to do what is right, not just in terms of the Black community, but other communities of color, and really poor and class people in this nation. What do you think that there's a sense of complacency then that no one is willing to speak out? Because as you said, Dr. Reverend Jackson has said that we're in an economic boon, so to speak, so why rock the boat? Exactly. I think, and I don't want to monopolize this particular issue, of course, but I think our Black leadership is certainly in a state of complacency. I think the Democratic Party has

made an alliance with certain sectors, our Black leadership, and certain divisive issues, electorally divisive issues will not be raised, but I have to point to you to the recent New York Times op -ed editorial by Reverend Johnny Ray Youngblood, who I think captures a lot of this critique of this complacency, and he points out this is Reverend Ray Youngblood, that none of the candidates have talked about a commitment to urban programs. None of the candidates have talked about living wage bills. None of the candidates have talked about the growing prison industrial complex in our nation, which is destroying the lives of Black Latino and even poor white youth, and unfortunately our Black leadership has gone along with this, you know, less of the two -evil program in terms of the Democratic Party. We'd like to invite you to get in on the discussion. Here's the number 1 -888 -667

-3224, that's 1 -888 -667 -3224, elections for the primary elections are coming up in quite a number of states this 2 -0. Are you planning to vote? Are you planning to vote when it hits your community? 1 -888 -667 -3224, 1 -888 -667 -3224. Now, let's just, again, get back to the candidates. We've beaten the mainstream media. Let's talk a little bit about the candidates themselves and get back to your impressions of them. Dr. Jennings? Well, I think - Does anybody stand out to you at all? Well, I, you know, it's interesting, but a reporter in the Boston Globe did ask me a few months ago about Bill Bradley's campaign because, of course, he started his campaign on one of calling for social justice, but unfortunately, he too has succumbed to - It might be the, you know, just the needs of running a presidential primary campaign, but, you know, I had some hope for Bill Bradley, but it seems that all the major candidates have basically

ignored the Black community. And I have to say this, you know, in ignoring the needs and the interests of the Black community, the needs and interests of poor and working class people are ignored because the Black community is primarily poor and working class. So whatever we do to help the Black community, I think it also benefits poor and working class people. And so, so my critique is not just that, you know, so -called Black issues have been left out of the debate by all the candidates, but that the needs and the interests of poor and working class people in this nation have been left out. That's all. I want to speak to the issue of complacency. I think Black voters, for quite a long time, have felt some complacency because it seems that we are always voting for the lesser of evils. We have not had any strong candidates to rally around. We've migrated to the Democratic Party. It seems to support more of

our deals and it seems to support the working class persons somewhat more. So the complacency issue has always been a part of our community. I find it difficult to believe that our Black leadership and our Black political representatives have not been more active about putting issues on the table, drawing the candidates out. Bush, very henally won in Texas because he did work diligently to bring on a minority community there, the Hispanic community. He has not seen it fit to do that in other communities. Gore, I think, has followed Bill Clinton's lead and kept close ties with Black Democrats. Bradley, and I think going back to complacency, that there was a lot of sitting around by Black's waiting to see what cards Bradley would actually show. If he had any interest in our community

and we've waited and he has not indicated that he has that. Now everybody's pretty much on even ground and none of the four major candidates are talking to minority issues or even to minority communities in particular. Well, what about Alan Keys? He's still in this, isn't he? Alan Keys is in there. Alan Keys is more conservative than most of the Republican Party. He doesn't have a strong following among Blacks because he doesn't address what Blacks feel are their needs and their key issues. So it's not the color of a man's skin, again, it's what that man believes in, what that man puts on the table for discussion. Okay, let's go to Pat and Atlanta, listening to WCLK. Good evening, Pat. Yes, good evening, everyone. I'm so happy that you're having this conversation this evening. I'm from, of course, the Metro Atlanta area and I was very disturbed this morning when I was reading the Atlanta Journal Constitution and right on the front

page when they were having, they have an article in there about, of course, the primary elections coming up and it had a particular pastor's name. I will not call his name and I will not call the name of the church. Is it a Black pastor? Well, no, but stating there that he's going to use his pulpit to deliver an additional message to thousands of parishioners to vote for Al Gore on Tuesday. And what I found disturbing, not only because he was using his pulpit for that, but the fact that and it's almost as if what you're against saying that the complacency, the, you know, rubber stamping and not the message of whoever you want for the thing is to get out and exercise your right to vote. I don't care if it's a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, whatever other kind of independent, you know, candidate, but get out and vote being thrown to know the issues. And I take, and I really took exception of that and, and it really, but again, it's that rubber stamping. And usually when I do see a news clip of Al Gore when he is addressing

the Black community and, you know, he was just then, as Miss Burns knows, he was, he was just in Atlanta the other day. Anytime when they're showing him or when it's, when he's talking about issues to our community, he jumps on a lot of the thumb of action and other words, he's going to tell us what he feels we want to hear, you know, but as far as really digging deep into this, I mean, I want to know about taxes. I want to know about the public education system. And again, I just take exception to that, that rubber stamping type thing. It's, you know, it's almost like an insult to my intelligence. Have you decided who you're going to vote for? I have decided who I'm going to vote for. I'm going to exercise my right on Tuesday and I'm going out to vote. I've been studying the issues. I know what's important to me. And, you know, I just like to be, again, informed and not just go by what this one says. That one says, I mean, many people died for all right to vote. And I to just kind of dribble it down to, well, hey, you know, and, and I think in so many respects, if we're not careful as a community, I think what's already happening is that the

Democratic Party is taking the black vote for granted. So are you going to cross over and vote or are you a Republican in the first place? No, I'm an independent independent. I do not vote. Yeah, I do not. I have voted for Democrats. I have voted for Republicans. You know, I have voted one time. I was so fed up with parties. I went independent. But again, I like to be an informed voter. I like to study the issues. And I just don't, I don't appreciate it even when any politician, I don't care who it is. When any politician comes around and they think that they can, you know, rouse up a crowd, especially if it's a black constituency, with just these emotional roads and not get to the main meat of issues. You know, in other words, almost like a talking down to you. But I was, again, I'm quite sure you saw the front page of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. But when I looked at it this morning, when I sat that and that this was in, I was like, what is this showing of the communities? What does, I don't know.

Well, Pat, who are you going to vote for? Oh, I'm going to keep that in my hat. Okay. I'm going to keep, I'm going to exercise that right. I'm going to keep that in my heart. All right, man. But you're going to be independent about it regardless. Yes, ma 'am. There you go. All right, Pat. Thanks for your call and appreciate that. Let me say that I appreciate Pat's passion about voting and the contest with the national contest that we have today is really a popularity contest when you get down to election day. It's those people who please the most of the constituency. So there isn't, there is a lot of pandering that goes on to those different constituencies as much to black, as to Christians, as to Catholics, as to the far right and pandery has become the state of campaigning today. Absolutely. Let's take a call now. Okay. We'll take a call from Mark in Texas, listening to KTSU. Hi,

Mark. Hello. How are you? Great. What's your question or comment? Well, I really had a comment. I kind of agree with the previous caller because it bothers me that we don't have issues that are looked at. And if we allow them to sweep things under the rug, I was listening to the news prior to the show about the John Rocker situation and things like that. The shooting, the police shooting, the man who was reaching for his cell phone or wallet. And you know, these things are not addressed totally, not addressed. I mean, they're addressed in every other venue except for the political venue. You think they're given superficial just a glossing over about some of the politicians and then move on to something else? I really do because I feel like what they're basically saying to us is, you know, we're becoming more politically correct in how we handle these cases and what we do as far as what we say. But it's still business as usual.

There's as much junk that's going on now and as much prejudice and racism and everything. They're just covering it up better, just doing it in a more palatable way. And we're not gaining anything from it. We're allowing them to do it and then saying, well, you know, I think they're not listening to us. They're not, you know, they're not asking us. Some lip service or maybe even not at all. Really? Because they're not asking us what we think. They're saying, this is what it is. This is what happened. This is what the way it was. And then we're all kind of sitting back and saying, no, that's not what I think. Yeah, that's not being asked. Well, Mark, I appreciate your phone call and we'd like to invite everyone else to call in. Our number is 1 -888 -667 -3224. That's 1 -888 -667 -3224. Sound off on Super Tuesday and PowerPoint will be back in a moment. Internet

services for PowerPoint provided by World African Network, offering news, sports, entertainment and lifestyle reports on the internet for the African -American community. The web address is W -A -N -Online .com. That's W -A -N -Online .com. The World African Network, our world, our news, our way. And welcome back to PowerPoint. I'm Carmen Burns.

Now, if you'd like to order an audio cassette of this or any other edition of PowerPoint, here's the number 1 -888 -682 -6500 -1888 -682 -6500. And we're continuing our talk about politics, voting the presidential primaries coming up in a number of states for Super Tuesday. And you can join the discussion by calling our PowerPoint hotline at 1 -888 -667 -3224. That's 1 -888 -667 -3224. And let's go to West and South Carol Liner. Listen to WEPR. Hi, West. Hey, how you doing? Great. How are you? Just fine. Enjoy your show tonight. Thank you, sir. What's your question or comment? Well, no, I don't know why I get it. I don't know if it was Senator Kennedy. I'm not sure who it was. It was something about blacks and poor. And if you address one, you address the other. A horrible stereotype. A lot of my friends and the deeps out here, we don't say it's a black issue or white issue. There's a lot of issues. And the lady from Atlanta, she was so on target. I mean, people are smart and educated and equal. And when politicians

begin to address the common man, like we look at ourselves, I think it'd be a whole lot more effective in reaching voters. Dr. Jennings? No, I agree with that. I think we're not going to be on a path of social justice and economic democracy until we see the needs of all people. All I'm saying is that because the black community has been so oppressed and so much on the bottom that when we address needs that are identified in the black community, they tend to help the needs of all people. I mean, if we look at the civil rights movement, for example, if we look at affirmative action, for example, all these are policies that, although they're portrayed as black issues, when we look at the beneficiaries of these public policies, they benefit a lot of sectors in society. That's correct, but I mean, a lot of that has to do with the population in general. I mean, I just think that we need to quit saying black issue, white issue, we are people. I'm not speaking in some unrealistic utopian society. That is Greenville, South Carolina today. One day, I hope that we can

get to that point, but the fact of the matter is that at least in my part of the country, you cannot talk about issues if you don't look at how they particularly affect the black community, the Latino community and Asian community because unfortunately, and I say unfortunately, at least in the Northeast, we're still characterized by vast residential segregation, power segregation, and wealth segregation, and that segregation is defined and operationalized on the basis of race. So I agree with you that we should reach for an ideal that at some point, we need not talk about black, white, Latino, Asian, and differences, but more similarities for all people, but in terms of the political arena, if we don't talk about how particular public policies are affecting black issues, what happens because black people don't have power and wealth comparable to whites and white power structures, those issues get off the

table. And consequently, if those issues get left off the table, it harms all people, not just black people. All right, we want to thank West Forest Phone Call. Now, let's go to St. George in Baltimore, listening to WEAA. Good evening. Hello, how are you? I'm enjoying your program tonight. Well, thanks for calling. What's your question, a comment? As your great guest, we know all know of Alan Keyes, who is a black man who is running on the Republican primaries, and many people do not agree with him, but why is that? Why is it that there is not one black Democrat who can stand up or has the gonads to stand up to represent black people to run or to speak out on black issues? What's happened to Charlie Rangel and Dave Dinkins and Mayor Brown and all these people who are so black, except when it comes to standing up, the white Democrats. It's a good question. Go ahead. Okay, I'll go first.

Sorry, but that's a fundamental question that gets to the heart of how black politics and black political activism has been defined or being defined in our nation today. I did start the program by blaming the mainstream media and some of the candidates, but we also need to take some of that blame, including our black leadership. Unfortunately, our black leadership, our black mainstream leadership, is defining our politics as simply either as the lesser of two evils, i .e., we better go for this person because this other person is so evil and boogie man, or we say we need to define politics on who will win the election rather than issues, and we're forgetting the very important quip of the late Congressman Dawson from Chicago who observed that black people have no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, we only have permanent interests, and unfortunately our black leadership for a lot of different reasons

are not focusing on what might be our permanent interest and instead focus on who might be our permanent friends and permanent enemies, which is not a good way to build one house on. The fact is that we know that Alan Kees is not going to win the Republican nomination, but at least he is there, there is a presence, and it surprises me to hear all of these guys who talk all of this black power and how they're looking out for black interests, and they don't even have a goner to get into the race. But with all due respect, black power and the permanent interests of the black community cannot be defined simply by the skin pigmentation of a candidate. Alan Kees is someone who has built his candidacy basically on an accommodation to wealth, on an accommodation of a racial and class hierarchy in this society, and black

people intuitively know that that is not in our interest. But at least he is there, there is not one squeak we have a bunch of dumb dogs who don't bark in the Democrat Party, and they just stand up and talk a good black game and just tell all they want. And then don't stand up for us where they have a chance. Go ahead, Miss Hall. I was just going to say he is there with nothing behind him, but his words. He gets more money from the white population than he does from the black because he speaks their message. But he can't win, so he's a buffoon out there to say that this country is our right and it's balanced because black men can run for the presidency. So you're saying that black democrat buffoons? No, no, no, I'm saying that there aren't the funds out there to support the candidacy of black people. We are

one of the best voting blocks in the Democrat Party. We are not one of the best voting blocks in the Democratic Party or we will some control in the Democratic Party. We don't will control there. And I agree with you that our leaders aren't speaking up. I think I opened our conversation tonight, putting the onus on us. I don't want Al Gore to define my issues for me. I don't want Bill Bradley or George push to define my issues for me. Our black leadership should be defining those issues for us. Who's got Jesse? Who's got Jesse's tongue? Why is he so quiet? Jesse, Jesse lost his tongue. And I respect all that Jesse's done in the past, but Jesse's been flying around on high school issues every issue that hits the table. Jesse has lost the tongue that he might have had. All right, George. Thanks so much for your phone call. Appreciate that. Now one thing, just looking over this campaign 2000 fund raising, Alan Key so far has raised

about four million, almost four and a half million dollars. And of course that is at the bottom of the barrel. When you look at John McCain, who has 15 million, Al Gore, who has 28 million, Bill Bradley, 27 million, and George Bush, 68 million. So I mean, doesn't money play a factor, a huge factor in who's going to run and maybe launch even a respectable campaign? Absolutely. And that's why one of our issues as black people should be campaign finance. Elections can be bought based on how much money is out there to expand. We don't have that economic cloud to buy the presidential election. And so campaign finance reform should be a key issue on the black plate. Now Colin Powell was considered possibly the most viable black candidate years ago, but of course, he refused to run. But of course, who was he considered the most viable candidate by the white population? Right. He was picked and chosen by them. And he was raised up by them while black people still sat around and had questions about who

is he? What does he represent? What are his issues? So he was a white candidate that was mounted at that point. Okay, let's go to Norman and New Jersey listening to WHY Wine. Good evening, Norman. Good evening. How are you? Thanks for holding on there. Thank you. I've been enjoying your show. It's quite interesting. And the interaction between you all is very, very good. Thank you. I just want to address one point and I kind of, I'm kind of disagree with what I've heard about Mr. Key. I think I do not believe that he is a black representative of the white hierarchy. I don't buy that. I believe Mr. Key is expressing a message that should be near and dear to all of us and that is family and God and the morals of this country. Why he doesn't win and why he's not being supported because he's not coming for a street running as a Republican and that's going to scare a lot up the black folks away anyway. As you know, we've been historically voting Democrat and

haven't done a lot of good, haven't. So I just wanted to express what I heard from him. I was very impressed with his message and I think we should listen just to hear what he has to say before we judge and say no, he's just a puppet. Were you a traditional Democrat or were you willing to cross or are you unindependent? Well, you know, I was and my father was a Democrat and you know and but by God, how many times do we have to be hit in the head with a stick before we're saying these people or not doing what needs to be done for us? Let's back up because I don't think anybody said that Alan Keyes was a puppet. I believe he's speaking what he sincerely believes. What I said was that predominantly working class black people do not believe in what he believes in. You may believe his message is good and it may be right down your alley but that doesn't mean it's down everybody's alley. Well, that's true but what politicians words if a man gets up or a woman gets up who is in politics and tries to speak the voice of everyone and tries to go down everyone's alley, then

where will we be? What comes out of that is that majority of people will either move toward that candidate or move away from him and so what we're seeing is that black people tend to move away from Alan Keyes. Not because they believe he's a man. Look at what we've just come from. Go ahead Norman, what did you say? Look at what we just come from. Look at what has the Democratic president and the Democratic vice president. I mean, what have we gained in the last six, eight years? I may say I may agree with your with your assessment based on the last question but that still does not. We still have an interest to whether Alan Keyes reflects the views of the black community and that's clearly not the case. There are at least three issue areas where Alan

Keyes has proposed positions that are at odds with the vast majority of black people at least based on opinion polls. One is abortion. Two is the role of government and the free market because as you know, Alan Keyes is very much a fanatic about the free market and black people have expressed a concern about that without some balance with government involvement and the third issue is family values. A lot of people agree with Alan Keyes on family values in the black community but the problem is whether family value should be something that the government dictate should happen in certain kinds of ways and those are three issue areas where the black community has been clear that it does not agree with Alan Keyes positions. All right, Norman. Thank you so much for your phone call. We appreciate that. If you have a question or comment, our lines are open right now 1 -888 -667 -322 -4. That's 1 -888 -667 -322

-4. Dr. Jennings, what about turnout? I mean, when you're talking about the fact that the candidates really have not addressed issues affecting the African -American community, is that going to affect the turnout, do you think, on Super Tuesday? Well, that has to be responded in two ways. One is that there's a myth that blacks have not turned out for these elections and that's not true when you actually look at the turnout rates of blacks compared to comparable whites in the same socioeconomic status. In fact, blacks turn out at a higher rate on the same token on the same hand rather, you know, because the black community is not being invited in a sense to participate in these elections through the blacking out and Latinoing out and aging out that I mentioned earlier that will tend to depress the black turnout. Now, you talk, I mean, I kind of have a tendency to disagree with that because we're all Americans and it would seem to me that

everyone is invited to participate in this election. On a theoretical level, I mean, if we look at the United States Constitution, if we look at the Declaration of Independence on a theoretical level, yes, we're all free and we all should be acting equally free. But when we look at the history of this nation, when we look at how public policies have been instituted throughout the history and contemporary period, when we look at the distribution of wealth and power in this nation, there's no such thing as equality and that inequality that we see in our history and our public policies and our practices in the way different neighborhoods are treated and the way black images are treated versus white images, that really is more the social reality than the theory of equality. Then that should be a wake -up call to blacks and Latinos and Asians that, hey, it's time to hit the polls because that's the only place I can say anything. And then when you, I not only agree with you so strongly, but when you look at the demography

of this nation, when you look at California, for example, which has something like 162 delegates at stake, 3657 Democratic delegates at stake, and this is the state that will be the first, if not already, the majority, let's say, minority state in the nation, your point becomes even more important. Now, Ms. Hall, we've heard suggestions that maybe African -Americans and other people of color, in particular, Hispanics should forge coalitions to kind of help solve the issues and or address the issues and elect candidates that are in keeping with the problems and solutions, and things that we're in need of. Do you think that idea would work? No, I don't think it should work, would work, but I think it's a good idea. I don't know that, and here in Kansas City, we have a very strong African -American community, very politically active. We have a growing Hispanic community, becoming extremely politically active.

These two communities, do not talk, do not interact. The division lines are not only socially -based, they're geographically based. There's no coming together on points there. In the past and the civil rights days, there was some minor coalition building. Today, these communities operate in isolation from each other. I don't see there an impetus out there for that to change. Each is looking at their own particular interests. I don't see an impetus to change. However, if people would start thinking of themselves less in terms of black or Hispanic or Native Americans and more as the people in power and the rest of us, the rest of us could come together on some really key issues and going back to our earlier color West. We would really like

to have a colorblind society. We don't have it yet West. Key issues for the black community, urban education, across the country, urban schools are in trouble. Kansas City is fighting a decent order right now that's more than 20 years old. Urban education is a key issue. It's not about vouchers, it's not about charter schools. Black people need to be looking at urban education and doing it now. What are the solutions for that? Okay. We'll continue our discussion on Super Tuesday in just a moment. More PowerPoint, stay with us. And welcome back to PowerPoint. I'm Carmen Burns. We're talking about the Super Tuesday

elections coming up this week. Also joining us now in our studio is Dr. Robert Holmes, a political scientist or a state representative and head of the policy center at Clark Atlanta University. Good evening. Good to see you. Sorry, I'm like that's quite all right. We were just discussing the the fact that a lot of the candidates have not addressed issues affecting the African American community, the Latino community, Asian Americans at all. What do you see? Well, yes, I think that we've had something of a disconnect here in terms of the fact that they have focused on a particular segment of the population that they feel they need to appeal to in order to to substantiate, you know, their status as viable candidates. And it's one of the things that just happened in primaries that you saw with Bush in terms of South Carolina, the religious right, and you've seen this in other other states. And I think it's still the case that many instances that candidates take the black electorate for granted. And that perhaps explains it more than anything else. Okay,

let's take a phone call. We've got Rodric and Atlanta listening to WC. Okay, hi, Rodric. Hi, how are you? Great. What's your question or comment? I just had a comment about the continuous wrenching of black issues. I do know that one thing that I have noticed is a transformation on the landscape, particularly in Atlanta where I do work. One of the things that I've noticed is that black issues continuously we find ourselves going back to urban education. We find ourselves going back to affirmative action. And it seems that a lot of times that we're so willing to sacrifice these additional values of family to traditional values of work and making a honest income. And we we're willing to sacrifice those particularly issues to ensure that we keep that we try to find some solution that really none of the candidates on the democratic side have presented. One of the old

landmarks that helped this economy in this country become great. And some of the things that I believe that did help this country become great was the free market system, abilities of trade and the development of technologies. And these particular areas allow for people to make honest income, make wages where they were able to provide for their families. One thing that we've gotten away from is the ability for a family to have one parent stay at home with the kids. And we want to look at the education system. We want to look at politicians to give a solution to issues. But we're not willing as families to go back to the landmarks that helped us to to form the education and the economic abilities that we that we that we have now. Okay, Dr. Holmes, you want to talk about that? You certainly have to recognize the fact that the economy has changed drastically and it's literally impossible you have in the black community as well as the white community, a large portion of females who are working because of the fact that the salaries do not keep up with the cost of living. And I think that we have to keep in mind that what may have worked 50 or

60 years ago really isn't applicable today. I think when we look at how we develop our economy we have to look at more non -traditional types of things. I don't think capitalism put black people in the place where they were where they are. And certainly you have to look at other things like community development corporations co -ops really pooling our resources be it through churches as viable entities or collective organizations like co -ops because I think that that whole idea of the individual or racial outer being able to make it we don't have the resources for that. So we have to look in terms of pooling our resources. Let's go ahead. And I also have to take Bob. Hello, this is James. I also have to take issue with this notion that somehow we can find historical periods where the U .S. economy has worked for black people. And I'm sorry unless I'm missing something I cannot pinpoint a historical period in our nation where the free market or the economy has worked for black people. You have some people like the at this journal that I mentioned earlier, the Southern partisan

that McCain is associated with albeit indirectly saying that slavery was beneficial because it represented full employment for black people. But other than that I'm sorry, but I challenged the notion that somehow we have to move back to a period where the free market worked for black people unless someone tells me what that period was and how in fact black people benefited from it. I agree, Jim. Okay, let's go to is it Aala or Aala in Maryland? Is it Aala? Hello. Okay, I don't think that caller is there right now. Let's see. Let's go to Maesha in Atlanta listening to WCOK. Hi. Hi. My position is grossly deviated from practically all of you all tonight because I've heard a frustration that other community and I hear a frustration in many of your voices. But the problem is that this country was founded on bloodshed, bloodshed of asking people, bloodshed of American Indian people.

Me and the measles of them have died and the thing is that I heard the speaker of the guest keeps saying that there's a blackout, there's a Latino out, there's an Asian out and he never mentioned there's American Indian out. He had a digitist people of America and look how they've been violated. They ignored grossly. They told me no one's even concerned about them doing this super Tuesday or even it's not Tuesday since the Christmas has been in office for approximately eight years. Has our flight changed any? No. Does the police brutality decrease? Absolutely not. Do we have more access to greater healthcare? No, has education system been better for us? Absolutely not. It doesn't matter to me whether the Democratic or Republican gets in. Have we gotten our 40 acres of mule? It doesn't matter whether think about it. Are the measles of our assets who slaves to build the system? Have they ever has a political agenda? Has the government ever given us a 40 acres of mule? Have they even considered that? Is that

a debate? No, it's not an issue. It's reparation. Okay, take a breath, my Asian. I think maybe you should think about running for office. I appreciate you. Okay, quickly because we are running out of time. Okay, all I think I'm saying is that until we take matters into our own hands within our own community and do something for self -equipped looking to apologize for the assets because each time every four years they go and disappoint us, we need to look at just do gradual work, do it with them. I said we have the ability to do that. We are the original people. We do not need, we do not need Democrats and Republicans to determine what our lives should be, what our standard lives should be, what our quality. As long as we look to them, we're going to be disappointed. I think we're going to take advantage of it. Okay, thank you so much for your phone call. We appreciate that. We're probably doomed to disappointment then I guess. Well, I agree with her in the sense and that's why I said I think we have to look at co -ops and collective activities as a primary means for enhancing our economic development and we need to look at institutions that may have a capitalist relationship like banks in order to pool our resources. I think the formation of capital city bank here in Atlanta six years ago, which is designed to assist

consumers as as small businessmen is the kind of thing that we need to look at. And then another point that she makes is that we don't look to the government. I don't think blacks look to Democrats to make their lives so much better. I think blacks look to the government to provide protection against the economic system. Okay, Judy, I got to cut you off right there because we've got to go. Thank you so much for being with us, Dr. Jennings, Dr. Holmes. You're listening to PowerPoint. PowerPoint news is produced by Bruce Dorton. The production manager is Glenn Simmons with production assistance from Markey Lofton. PowerPoint studio engineer is Art Sweat. The call screener is Cherianne Holder. Katina Carbohalis is the marketing intern. The associate producer for PowerPoint is Rosemary Holmes. The executive producer is Reggie Hex. PowerPoint's theme is from the CDF stops by Craig Harris. Production assistance for PowerPoint is

provided by WCLK FM, a broadcast service of Clark Atlanta University. PowerPoint comes to you live from the studios of Peach State Public Radio, a 12 station network serving all of Georgia. PowerPoint is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Legacy Foundation. This is PowerPoint, a production of Hicks and Associates. Production and broadcast of PowerPoint is made possible by

a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and by the National Legacy Foundation, a non -profit organization committed to enhancing, preserving and restoring the legacy and history of life in America. This is PowerPoint, an information age clearinghouse for news, issues, and ideas that impact the African -American community, the nation, and the world. Good evening and welcome to PowerPoint, broadcasting live from the studios of Peach State Public Radio in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Carmen Burns. Over the last 10 years, heart disease statistics have gotten worse for one group of Americans. African -American women. African -American women are the most likely to get heart disease and also die from the consequences. They exceed African -American men and other races. Heart disease is the number one cause of death after the age of 25 for African American women. What are the symptoms of heart disease and what preventative measures should

every woman know and, in particular, African -American women? And how effective is an alternative or natural approach in preventing heart disease? Tonight on PowerPoint, heart disease in the African American woman. But first, Bruce Dorton is in the PowerPoint newsroom with a wrap -up of this week's news. With news and information to empower the community, this is PowerPoint. Good evening, I'm Bruce Dorton. President Clinton says without bloody Sunday and the voting rights crusade, he wouldn't have become president. Clinton spoke before a crowd gathered near a bridge where civil rights marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers in 1965. Clinton says progress has been made in the 35 years since the violent clash on the bridge, but the journey isn't over. He says there are still disturbing disparities between blacks and whites. Clinton ended his speech by thanking the marchers who were there in 1965 saying he was the son of the old segregated south, and those who marched set him free. The president and

thousands of others marched across the bridge. He was joined by several high -profile black leaders, including Coretta Scott King, wife of Slane civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Jesse Jackson, and Georgia Congressman John Lewis, who was beaten on bloody Sunday. The world's top soft drink maker is being accused of ethnic cleansing. About 500 black former employees of Coca -Cola rallied at a church outside Atlanta. They corporate headquarters of the company on Saturday. A former Coke manager who organized a rally charge that blacks in the company are humiliated, intimidated, yelled at, called the N word, and treated with this respect. Marking a company slogan, Larry Jones declared, this is the real thing. This is the real Coca -Cola. A Coke spokesman calls allegations of racial discrimination in the job cuts outrageous. Coke is reducing its worldwide workforce by 6 ,000, including about 2 ,500 edits at the Atlanta headquarters. So much needed help from the US and elsewhere is arriving in Mozambique today as many as 600 American troops, six helicopters, and

six cargo planes are expected in Mozambique's capital and in neighboring South Africa. They'll be helping to distribute food to the survivors of the devastating flooding that is believed to have killed thousands. Rescue helicopters mean while resuming the search for hundreds who may still be stranded in the receding water. The country's president says the international community has been slow to respond, but that other countries are beginning to catch up. He says at least $250 million will be needed to rebuild, and that the people affected by the floods will have to be fed for at least 10 months until they can grow new crops. Meanwhile in refugee camps in Mozambique fights are breaking out. People who have been stuck in trees and on rooftops by floodwaters some for more than a week are battling each other over food. There's been television footage of children eating rats. There are estimated 250 ,000 people crowded into 64 refugee camps, which are ill equipped to handle them. Aid workers say the camps are running out of clean water. The number of malaria cases has tripled, and relief officials are afraid there will be outbreaks of cholera. Army reservists and

members of the National Guard may not have to leave their families for extended periods of time, that's according to Sunday's New York Times. The newspaper reports that the Army has decided to limit overseas deployments of National Guard and reserve units in peacekeeping and other military operations to a maximum of six months. The decision comes as Pentagon officials are increasingly concerned about a backlash to its growing reliance on such units. According to the report, the new limit is the first significant step by the Army to recognize the increased burden on its citizen soldiers. That burden threatens to undermine the willingness to join or stay in the Guard or reserve. The Los Angeles Police Department says all of its so -called crash anti -gang units will be disbanded in the aftermath of a corruption scandal. Crash, an acronym for Community Resources Against Street Hotels, dates back to the late 70s. Its development paralleled the development of gangs in the city, but it has become the focus of a corruption scandal in which its officers allegedly

framed, beat, and shot suspects. Chief Bernard Parks has suspended 20 offices, recommended prosecution of several others, and sought reversals of dozens of tainted convictions as a result of the corruptive probe. Parks ordered that the units be deactivated by March 12th and that their officers be returned to patrol duties. Rioters arrested after Michigan State University's NCAA basketball tournament loss last year reportedly had the book thrown at them in a big way. The Detroit news reports arrested rioters were jailed at a rate higher than that of convicted rapists and robbers. Sheldon Steinbach of the American Council on Education says the city of East Lansing and the University's Senthemessage that such behavior won't be tolerated. Of the 113 people convicted, 83 percent went to jail. That's higher than the 70 percent of first -time rapists and 55 percent of first -time robbers put behind bars. Offences ranges from looting and burning

a police car to roasting a hot dog over any legal bonfire. And that is the book of the news this evening, One Item of Interest. On this day, birthdays are being celebrated by actor Fred Williamson, actor Michael Warren, and actress comedian Marshall Warfield. And that is the news. On PowerPoint this evening, I am Bruce Dorton. Good evening. And good evening, and welcome

back to PowerPoint, live from Atlanta, Georgia. I'm Carmen Burns. The figures are staggering and very alarming. Last year, a study done by the University of Michigan Health System concluded that a black woman's chance of dying early of heart disease was still four times greater than that of a white woman. Between the ages of 35 and 74, the death rate from heart disease for black women is more than 71 percent higher than that of white women, this according to the American Heart Association. Well, tonight on PowerPoint, we'll discuss why the risk factor and death rate is higher among African -American women and how much awareness is made available and what are preventative measures every woman should know regardless of race. Joining PowerPoint tonight via phone from Seattle, Washington licensed and board certified naturopathic physician Dr. Beverly Yates and here in our Atlanta studios from the Morehouse School of Medicine, Professor of Surgery, Dr. Arthur Brown Lee, Jr. and Mrs. O'Melia Ponder, a 35

-year LPN and most recently a surviving heart patient. If you have a question about heart disease, now's the time to get on the line. Call the PowerPoint hotline at 1 -888 -667 -3224. That's 1 -888 -667 -3224. I want to thank all of our guests for being with us this evening. Dr. Yates, Dr. Lee and Mrs. Ponder, thank you so much. Let's start with you, Dr. Lee, our local resident expert. Tell us about heart disease. It is more than just heart attacks, isn't it? Sure it is. It's a disease that probably starts when we're very young. There are studies from young people killed in war during the Korean war showed that teenagers had fatty streaks in their arteries and so it's something that takes years before it shows up. Now generally why is it that black people and black women in particular are more at risk or it seems that we are? Well it's terrific that we've got the news out that black people are at risk because if we go back

a little bit historically in Georgia in the 20s there was a reviewer who said that the nervous system of blacks was too primitive to actually respond to heart disease and have angina and until Jimmy President Jimmy Carter appointed Patricia Harris, Surgeon General in the 70s a lot of the data that we have today was essentially classified and it wasn't possible to find out the true extent of the degree that black people had heart disease. And starting in the late 70s and the 80s this information became available to workers in the field of statisticians. Dr. Richard Gillam, a black physician working in the National Bureau of Statistics was one of the pioneers in making this data widely known. Dr. Richard Cooper University of Chicago is another pioneer so all of a sudden the myth that black people didn't have heart disease which existed right up until the early 80s and the standard textbooks of cardiology

has been turned upside down and it's actually been found that in several age groups black people have a much higher degree of coronary artery disease and in particular the most striking disparity racially is among women. Black women in the ages between 40 and 60 have a considerably higher almost 1 .8 to 1 degree of deaths from coronary artery disease compared to white women. Why? Well there are all sorts of theories and I'm not a statistician epidemiologist but the things that come to mind are the risk factors. There's a noted prevalence of high pretension diabetes and renal disease which is higher among blacks higher than whites and there's also and here I'm stepping away from well established data but the social role of black women and bearing a much greater presence in the workplace

is probably a factor. There's data that shows that the risk of diseases of stress that were breadwinner diseases seen only among men with the women's revolution when the entrance of women into double stress roles of raising families and the role of breadwinner has increased these diseases of stress and heart disease is one of them. That data is is epidemiologic data that has to be put together carefully. Okay if you have a question or comment about heart disease among women African -American women in particular our number is 1 -888 -667 -3224 that's 1 -888 -667 -3224. Dr. Yates I was looking at your book Heart Health for Black Women a natural approach to healing and preventing heart disease. Give our listeners a summary if you will

of what a natural approach to heart disease. Well in the natural world typically we try to focus on treating the causes of illness rather than so much focusing on the symptomatic relief of the problems that bother us. So for instance if someone has high blood pressure or high cholesterol you can do lab tests to establish you know why is that. For some people it's pretty simple they simply need to exercise and change how they eat. Other people though it can be more complex than that and if you identify for instance that cholesterol problem is actually because their liver does not break down cholesterol properly then you can give them all the cholesterol medications you want whether they're natural synthetic they might be what we call unresponsive therapy people like that tend to be really frustrated and once you then I establish that the liver itself as an organ is not doing so well you can focus on getting the liver back on board if you will in terms of its normal function and often then the cholesterol levels will come down seemingly by magic but it's really not magic it's just addressing this function of a particular

organ system. Okay if my cholesterol is high my liver isn't functioning right what would you do to address something like that I'm not know you can't specifically you know post me over the head over the airway so you know I'm sure but what some suggestions that for some people that you might that might be offered. Usually what's used is a combination of herbal therapies maybe specific nutrients perhaps the liver is lacking in or it has an over a button so I'd say one enzyme system and not another and for some people nutritional plan might be helpful however let me say this not everyone who has high cholesterol responds to nutritional therapies because that sometimes is not the problem we all know people who eat steg and eggs all the time try this that and have a wonderful cholesterol level and it's not fair because some people say look at an egg it seems like that cholesterol just jumps you know that's true one of those things where the herbals and specific nutrients have been shown to be helpful to liver function or often can make a difference. Now here's a quick disclaimer I want to tell our listening audience that while the information that we provide tonight could be helpful

always consult your primary care physician on any medical concerns or questions that you might have. Absolutely and any staff members they have a lot of people do not talk to their doctors and nurses about these things. Let's we have a lady here with us Amelia Ponder who you were in the you're in the health field right yes and as it turns out you wound you wound up being a patient yourself correct what happened I had thought that I was having gas pains because I was having pains in my right upper quadrant of my chest and three days later I found out that I had had a series of heart attacks and four days later I was in having heart surgery for triple bypass. Now how did you go from thinking you had gas pains to finding out that you had a heart attack you had had heart attacks? When I went to my doctor he did an EKG on me and there were irregularities in the electrocardiogram and then I was sent to the

hospital and I was monitored there for three days and then the fourth day I went in to have the triple bypass first had the angioplasty to see where the clothes were and then I went to have the surgery four days later I was home. Had you had any problems with the heart? No. Did you have high blood pressure? When I went into the hospital my blood pressure was 120 or 70. What about your cholesterol? My cholesterol was 246. You had a high cholesterol. What about any other risk factors like smoking or non -smoker diabetic? I take medication to control my diabetes but I thought that I was physically pretty well off until I had the problem with the pain and I always believed that when you had the pressure and your left side you were having a heart attack.

The pressure I never had no pressure no shortness of breath but I did have nausea and vomiting and I profuse sweating and talking to my cardiologist Dr. Ophelia she explained to me if you have pressure from your neck down to the groin area start sweating profusely throwing up nine times out of ten you're having a heart attack. Now Dr. Lee I have heard that women present I'm using a medical term they present differently than men do a lot of times as far as heart problems are concerned that they may they may feel a vague pain somewhere they may not have the same symptoms that men do when they're having a heart attack is that true? I don't believe it is the pain of a heart attack is really not a typical pain we have the nervous system has several divisions we have a division that receives the pain of a sharp pin prick that's called a somatic afferent system then there's the visceral system which gives us the pain from the insides and that hook

up is kind of a curved distorted hook up which gives a strange kind of dull sensation associated with sweating or vague feelings of pressure I think it's probably misleading to say that these presentations are different in men and women there are problems in the way we work up patients by race and by by gender and I think that's one of the hot stories of 1999 and 2000 also well there's the story that I showed you that's in USA today in September of last year which is a follow -up report on a couple of articles that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine one in February by Dr. Schulman in Georgetown and another one which was a sort of a rebuttal to that in the July in the journal in the Schulman study he used videotapes of actors some black some white who

presented on their videotape a story of symptoms typical of heart attacks and the different doctors according to their race prescribed different approaches for the patient's symptoms which are essentially the same but the patients differed by gender and by race and on that basis he sought to explain this by let's call it subconscious attitudes in the physicians and it's known by studies of the probability that a black patient male or female will have to have a diagnostic procedure such as a coronary arteriogram or surgery that black patients have a lower probability of having these diagnostic procedures or treatment procedures than whites and black women have the lowest probability of having a modern investigative workup of their heart conditions. Did

they I mean were there any suggestions as to why? I mean you're talking about subconscious so to speak but is it let's give somebody the benefit of the doubt to a degree of physician that maybe people aren't necessarily giving the whole scenario of what's going on with them and some women especially are low to to open up about things that are going on in their lives with their even with their doctors. Well that's the problem with the pain from the inside of the body and particularly the problem of pain and symptoms of heart disease you've really got to objectify your suspicions and you do this by we start with an EKG you do the history you might get a blood test to see if there are any breakdown products of heart muscle in the bloodstream but you then move on to what we call the goal standard of disease of the coronary arteries and you do an invasive study inject dye into the coronaries and you actually get a picture of what's

actually going on there and when it comes to getting these definitive studies which give you an objective unequivocal answer as to what's going on inside your chest the probability of a black person getting such tests is about half that of a white person and the probability of a black female getting such diagnostic tests is lower than that of a black man. Is that physician bias? Well that's what Shulman attempted to study in his tricky study I must admit where he had to use actors of different races and different genders in order to simulate and hold standard the presentation to a panel of physicians looking at a video but how else could you study? Well I guess there isn't any other way of studying. Tell us in your situation Ms. Ponder when you went to the doctor there was no problem I take it at all when you went immediately and we're studied instantly.

I went to the doctor about four days after I had my first attack when I first got ill and I was taking like you know me locks for the heartburn which I thought it was having when I went to the doctor after he did the workout he suggested that I would do the EKG so he evidently had something that he was thinking and talking with me and doing my work when he did the EKG that's very fine. Well if you have had a situation rather in your life related to heart disease we sure would like to hear from your phone numbers 1 -888 -667 -3224 that's 1 -888 -667 -3224. Dr. Lee why hasn't there been more progress made in reducing this gap? Well there actually has been quite a bit of progress. Dr. Richard Cooper in Chicago and Dr. Gillum have expressed the gap as a ratio and in these ratios these put

the probability of a black person having a coronary bypass grafting in the numerator so in 1980 the ratio of black to white probabilities was 0 .23 that meant for every six white people two blacks would have a cabbage the probability went up to 0 .38 by 1986 and by 0 .43 by 1993 so there's progress as the word gets out in changing this. There are also regional differences. Regional? Right. Well the southeast in general has lagged behind it's one of the overall one of the worst areas for black patients to get this kind of care compared to other cities. Seattle seems from one report to be a

fairly egalitarian area. It's probable that centers I think in Atlanta we're probably much closer to a more egalitarian state we're acutely aware of the probability of black patients having heart disease in the last decade in Atlanta. Well that's something encouraging hopefully this program will shed some light on some things. Dr. Yates a little bit about the things that we can do to kind of cut all of this in half or at least to diminish the death rate. Absolutely. Some of it when we talk about causes I'm this thing to one of the other speakers tonight and the fact that she has diabetes it's absolutely an accelerant. It's sort of like adding fuel to the fire if anyone has a tendency towards heart disease and despite the fact that she had high cholesterol it wasn't wildly high. I've seen numbers up in the 400s and yet she had a heart attack.

So for people who have diabetes they're in a somewhat different category which is why in the book I made a real effort to make that distinction because they're going to have to be ever more diligent. For prevention though the key things will be I think personally in terms of a realistic order is going to be stress management. I think it's the silent killer. They really aren't good lab tests per se for just playing all stress and aggravation and annoyance in one's life. We've got all kinds of other wonderful markers you know things for the enzymes of the heart tissue and if it's breaking down all kinds of other ways to look at it but stress is the one that kind of eludes most of us I think is medical professionals. The next piece would be exercise because it really gives the blood vessels the cardiovascular tree and all of its branches of workouts makes it much more efficient much less prone to building up the fats that can then cause a heart attack or cause a stroke in the form of clots that break away and also it just feels good. Yeah it does and it also helps reduce stress too. It makes a big difference it's sort of if you want to think of it as a valve it helps take the

pressure off in a very direct way literally can just blow off female way and I would put nutrition um third actually on the hierarchy. Great okay well we'll continue our discussion on heart disease and women you're listening to PowerPoint and our phone number is 1 -888 -667 -3224 that's 1 -888 -667 -3224. Ethel and Jill will talk to you right after the break. PowerPoint and conjunction with this male travel presents the first annual empowerment cruise. The cruise features empowerment for life seminars with nationally known motivational speakers December 2nd through the 7th 2000 all proceeds benefit PowerPoint affiliate stations. For more information the number is 1 -800 -908 -2883 that's 1

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of women in this country. Heart disease. Our number is 1 -888 -667 -3224 that's 1 -888 -667 -3224. Let's go to Jill and Charleston listening to WSCI. Hi Jill. Hi. Hi your question or comment? I was recently reading the protein power plan how the role of insulin can sometimes cause high blood pressure and high cholesterol and I wanted the experts opinions on that. Okay. The role of insulin and cholesterol? Yes. High blood pressure and heart disease. Okay. Dr. H, you want to talk about that? Sure. Insulin is the body's premier fat building hormones. That's one way to look at insulin. insulin also has other important roles but the thing I think a lot of things don't people don't remember or probably don't even know from the beginning about insulin is that it is indeed a hormone created by the pancreas. Insulin also is what helps the blood sugar glucose get from the bloodstream and into our individual cells to

give us fuel for energy so we can do stuff. And one of the reasons why I think some of these popular diets so seem to focus on minimizing the amount of insulin in the bloodstream at any time is because so much of America is either overweight or struggling with cholesterol and other problems that can affect their heart health. And to some degree if you take it as just a simple fact and look at it in its role in the body that is an accurate view but I would say that insulin in conjunction with the other parts of the body's digestive system as well as the hormonal system has other functions and I think it's kind of unfair to just single it out that way doing more than what they're talking about. For somebody who's diabetic obviously the name of the game is to manage their insulin regulation if they can even out the lows and highs to which they're otherwise vulnerable then that's going to make all the difference. Most of America's diabetic is what's known as a type 2 diabetic or adult onset. They may or may not be dependent on insulin taken from outside of the

body and for people like that nutritional management along with exercise can make a really big difference in the quality of life that they have and how much dependence they have on external insulin. Okay Dr. Lee you want to talk about that also? I agree with what's been said. I kind of think it's a little unfair to blame insulin when it's merely acting in response to a high glucose or high refined carbohydrate intake sometimes. Okay let's go to Ethel and Philadelphia listening to WHYY Ethel. Yes hi my question is for Dr. Gates I was wondering if I have a heart condition and you're not responding well to the traditional medicines what might be appropriate treatment naturopathically? I was wondering if Dr. Gates could extend on that. Dr. Gates go ahead. If someone's already been to their primary care physician or been to cardiologists you know they've had the appropriate lab workups and they've gone down that path and they've just simply not getting

the results and I think the best thing they could do is if they seek someone who is a licensed provider of alternative medicine is to bring all their labs number one so that just saves a whole lot of time and money and aggravation so we have a clear map of where you've been and what the result has been to look at the medications to see if you were having any adverse reactions and if that was not the case then let's go down to another path some of which might include things like as I spoke to before the stress management piece for us yoga or prayer or meditation you know exercise and forms that you enjoy I can't say that enough too many people try exercise programs that they hate and then they don't stick with it of course not right who wants to be miserable all right you know some of us there's little kids who like to jump rope or dance or roller skate and I really encourage adults to go back to their childhood forms of games get that heart rate up into a safe level you know where a heart rate monitor so you're not working too hard many of us when we start a new exercise program because sometimes you feel a little guilty maybe a little pudgy we do too much too soon and most of us work out way too hard and inefficiently we can't possibly

get that benefit and then see if it makes sense to try to alter your nutritional plan or the kinds of nutrients or supplements you take maybe you're just efficient in things like coenzyme Q10 for instance that could be measured by a lab and many people with different kinds of heart problems or fancily fancily said cardiomyopathies their tissues can be measured to be deficient in things like coenzyme Q10 or magnesium and sometimes adding those simple nutrients can just solve it right there it's often amazing sometimes that I personally I think those should be parts of the standard panel and they can be so effective even for something as serious as congestive heart failure Dr. Lee what do you think about using things like coQ10 or any of the other enzymes for treating diseases like heart disease? Well I can't respond to that because I'm not knowledgeable about it but I'm a fan of the pioneering work of Dean Ornish who took a lot of the concepts in alternative medicine meditation yoga very very low fat diets he's pretty much strictly vegetarian

right but what he did in addition to that is he subjected his patients to modern control studies and used ultrasound and echocardiograms and PET scans and so forth so we use the same tools that we use in the traditional mainstream medicine to evaluate alternate therapies and I think that's very helpful when that's done it is but he's a lot of people have a hard time following Dr. Ornish's diets because they are extremely stringent and you know we as Americans are so used to excess you know some of his recipes don't taste that they don't taste that true okay let's go to Blair New Jersey also listening to WHYY hi Blair hello um what I like to comment on and ask questions is that um sometimes an anxiety attack in a heart attack can be very close to the same for example I went to the hospital some years back having

an anxiety attack and I thought it was that it turns out it was that thank you having a within a heart attack but oftentimes you can be in therapy for a lot of years group therapy of stuff and then still have anxiety attacks when the group therapy is over and I mean it doesn't seem like people really have really studied anxiety attacks what causes them and everything it's very thoroughly over the years I know years together used to be called panic attacks and now they call them anxiety what kind of symptoms did you have when you had your anxiety attack I had basically the same symptoms of a heart attack but to more than severe I didn't have all the symptoms and I was running in a car with someone that says oh my gosh she better take me to the hospital and I went in there and uh boy uh well you're having an anxiety attack in this this and this and uh they studied and they said well you're not having it doesn't seem like a heart attack to us

and you need to get them some treatment in this this and this and um so are you doing all right now yeah well I'm still waiting to to hear back from the uh from the place I uh I spoke to about group therapy and uh they still have to give a really good therapy yet and this has been years because we don't want you to have any more anxiety attacks so dr Lee what about that I mean is there can heart attacks be uh well anxiety attacks or anything else mimic a heart attack well and an anxiety attack is a real physiologic event the heart rate goes up the cardiac output goes up the resistance to flow through the vessels goes up the oxygen consumption increases body temperature probably goes up a bit nor an epine or nor epinephrine levels go up so the platelets become more sticky most heart attacks occur at 4 or 5 a .m. in the morning when it's known that the diurnal secretion of nor epinephrine is at highest at that time so these uh an

anxiety attacks are real physiologic events and if you have underlying narrowing of coronary arteries or some susceptibility uh an anxiety attack in the wrong person can easily be fatal or they've been tons of of movies using that as a cause of death if you have a question or comment about heart disease here's our number one eight eight eight six six seven three two two four there's one eight eight six six seven three two two four curious about the natural approach to uh treating heart disease have you tried anything and has it worked or have you tried anything and it hasn't worked give us a call one eight eight six six seven three two two four one eight eight six six seven three two two four let's go to Elizabeth in Pennsylvania listening to w -h -y -y hi Elizabeth hi hi sorry um you sort of answer this in the last uh two or three questions I've been listening to but but what I wanted to ask was how much of a part overweight plays in having a heart attack you mentioned

stress and lack of exercise and nutrition but um for instance I'm 50 pounds overweight does this give me more am I more apt to have a heart attack because then this much overweight talk to your eights the research that I've seen and what I tried to clearly delineate in a book was yes um when someone is obese they are at greater risk for different kinds of heart disease and cardiovascular events there are some people who are overweight who have wonderful heart markers that's unusual typically if someone's overweight um they are definitely a higher risk for elevated cholesterol high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes and the best thing that you can do if it's at all possible is to take off the weight in a safe and gradual manner fat diets are absolutely not your friend I've seen more people go on those things and then gain back more weight than they originally had and then get really depressed and just get on this emotional and physiological rollercoaster

that's just not sustainable so yes you are indeed at a higher risk have you been evaluated Elizabeth yes I have high blood pressure a bit of thunder control in my cholesterol is all right but I'm very aware that I'm overweight and I'm 80 years old okay what I've seen is that if people can take off the weight safely and gradually often the high blood pressure goes with it it drops usually okay thank you all right good lucky Elizabeth thanks so much for calling what about weight I mean there are people who are overweight as you had mentioned dr. Yates and just have remarkable cholesterol great blood pressure and are just happy as clams and just don't want to lose the weight yeah you know I feel here's my point of view just you know as a human being okay some of us are kind of tends to be skinny long lean and lanky some of us definitely tend to be more chubby or portly perhaps truly overweight or even obese you know and there's medical boundaries for who's where and I think if someone is well adjusted they feel happy with themselves

all of their heart markers are great you know they don't have high blood pressure they don't smoke they don't drink to excess they do exercise they have loving relationships that their heart health in every possible way mental emotional physical spiritual is being addressed and you know they happen to be overweight a big deal oh who cares it's when it impacts health that I think you absolutely have got to focus on dealing with it right because it's what it can be for some people the reason they have the other problems and it's amazing you know if like I said before if you can treat the cause and if that's the cause the rest can go away and they have a better quality of life okay dr. Lee I went over to kinkos this afternoon did a search on the internet came up with a paper that American Journal of Epidemiology in November 99 and these fellows from what's the university pointed out that a high body mass index was associated with coronary heart disease in the absence in the absence of control for hypertension diabetes mellitus and

elevated cholesterol but when they're at controlled the heavier patients were about the same so if you're overweight and your high blood pressure is not controlled and your diabetes is out of control and so forth you're at risk so they suggested that overweight per se isn't their risk it's the other things oh okay well let's go to Charles and Montgomery listening to WVAS good evening Charles good evening how are you fine how about you we're doing great here what's your question a comment well I was just wondering sometimes I suffer from a little bit of angina I was just wondering if there was a simple and easy way to deal with it the simple and easy way to deal with angina first of all or angina I know there's like that potato potato thing dr. Lee what what do you suggest and explain what angina is well you're just a little bit of chest pain on the outside feels feels more like muscle

pain than than anything else okay dr. Lee well you can't really correlate the pain or lack of pain with the degree of coronary artery disease that's the problem so any any cardiologist cardiac surgeon anyone in the business when some of these things they have angina you have to recommend a definitive study have you had any tests Charles no not on that I sure haven't well don't you think you should see your doctor well I'll take your suggestion I really will yeah I'm how old are you 51 51 okay how's your weight I'm about you over the phone I'm just kidding I think I'm about 20 pounds overweight okay how's your blood pressure it's good no problem there no all right don't doctors yates and Lee don't you think he needs to at least be checked out yeah absolutely all right Charles primary care physician tomorrow okay all right take care of yourself okay what we've been talking about here is is this individual going to get the coronary arteriogram because

just to get a history and maybe an EKG and little other things he is he's got to really have something that doesn't have false negatives and have a definitive but if somebody comes in complaining of chest pain and saying you know my chest hurts you know wouldn't the first thing that a doctor should do primary care otherwise is to go and order some tests to make sure and to rule out you know any problems with their heart what test you're talking about well maybe an arteriogram or maybe an angel right because that's the literature we've got piled up around is here on the desk the studies have shown that if you're a white male you're going to get a coronary arteriogram if you're a black woman you're going to get maybe a blood test maybe an EKG but not much more than that and it's well understood now that the definitive studies are the the arteriograms and then once you've got that and you've got a diagnosis of significant coronary artery disease the probability of going on to a through an invasive therapeutic step such as a balloon

dilutation for instance or if that isn't working the next step is much lower based on race and gender that's the scandalous thing that's turned up in the literature the last time you know what it sounds like that as as women and as black women and black males we should stand up and say hey I mean speak up because you know or even move on because our option is to find another doctor if we're not getting what we think is fair treatment yeah the message is you want to have a definitive understanding of what's going on with your heart you don't want to have maybe you want to really know yeah and the tools have been out there for over 20 years to make to do this safely and easily now okay let's talk to Vicki on a cell phone in Charleston listening to WSC I hi Vicki Vicki are you there think Vicki may have gone away probably running up her cell phone bill here we're going to take a break here we're talking about heart disease again it is the number one killer of women in this country the number one killer period and this is your opportunity

to get your questions answered 1 -888 -667 -3224 -1888 -667 -3224 more PowerPoint in just a moment to order an audio cassette of tonight's program or any past edition of PowerPoint or for listener comments please call PowerPoint at 1 -888 -682 -6500 that's 1 -888 -682 -6500 and welcome back to

PowerPoint where we're talking about heart disease among African -American women let's go to Bernadette in Pennsylvania listening to WHY -Y hi Bernadette yeah hello my questions for talk to gates I understand you wrote a book and I was wondering since Black women and I'm one get passed over for the more definitive test exactly do you have any suggestions into what we could say when we go to the doctor for physical sure in towards the end of the book in the appendix there's a list of questions there's questions that you should be able to answer for yourself there's things you absolutely should be able to ask of your physician and then there's things that the two of you will probably need to put your heads together on to figure out you know what's the what's the result some of it's pretty basic you know like my blood pressure your heart rated wrist how often you exercise etc and then you know if you are having any odd symptoms or if you have a family history of heart disease cardiovascular problems what would be preventive in your case and what kinds

of lab markers would be the appropriate index to do you know if you're showing up with symptoms of angina or if you have pain that is referred so it's not classically in the left side of the chest you know you watch the movie sometimes they they can really ham it up and you know as Dr. Lee know the people's pointed out it doesn't always show up that cleanly but I think the number one thing for all of us who may have any concerns at all with our heart health not be shy and make sure you're being heard you know if you feel that you have presented everything that's going on and it is not being really listened to I'd say just double check because everyone in the health world is there to help to be a service and we're all human we have our good days in our bad days and making sure that you know you are getting what you think is appropriate if you don't feel good about that get a second opinion this is not a time to be shy okay would there be any particular test that you could demand or not demand a request you can ask and it's up to the doctor to to order them so whether it's the enzyme studies to

see if any heart tissue has been destroyed whether it is echocardiogram or an ultrasound the coronary arteriogram and all the other possible studies you know you can ask for those by name and recognize though that the physician is the one who orders them okay or as I know in most if not all states in the US patients don't get the order those kinds of labs all right Bernard dad thank you so much for your call let's go again Jeanette in Houston listening to KTSU hi Jeanette hi hello how are you all great go ahead what's your question yeah the chair is very good thank you I would like to ask both both doctors a question also I'm a 54 year old female black female and for the last 20 years I've been on the precardia for high blood pressure I weigh a hundred between 170 and 120 all of my life I'm almost a vegetarian I do exercise and yet my cholesterol runs between 240 six and 308 I just recently I had a test for the

cholesterol and is down to 240 six I'm on the lipitaar I do take the the herbal the co -inzyne Q10 I take you know other vitamins and herbal medicine I really just don't know what the problem in my doctor even though you go to physicians black or white and they don't you know they really don't you tell me the history about about your family background they don't take the test you ask them and when you on these ppls or HMOs you know you've got to be recommended to specialist but what else can you do Dr. Lee looks like you're on a strong therapy with the lipitor how long have you been on the lipitor I've been on the lipitor is two years and it's 10 milligram and that's how the cholesterol is going down but like I said I'm almost a vegetarian I I don't eat beef I don't yeah very seldom I'll have a pork maybe once a month and what about the rest of your lipid

profile has that been checked HDL do you know if that's come up and so forth in your low density lipoproteins because it may be that your overall lipid profile is improved enormously from what you told us over the radio it has the cholesterol coming down from three something to to forty and the blood pressure continues to rise I'll put them on the estuary you know the estuary the HMO deal that the blood pressure continues to rise and it's well it's essential that you get those things controlled you have to go back to your doctor and work on a in a regimen that gets your blood pressure controlled your glucose normalized in a good lipid profile and that's achievable I actually I found even though you are delivered the lipitor and also with the herbal medicine that the herbal that I've been taking has lowered the cholesterol better than anything else and you know

that I have to I've tried all the doctors have tried because at one time he had me on the I think it's called it's protocol protocol for the cholesterol and that didn't absolutely nothing for me well my question though dr. Yates especially is if she were to go out and try some other herbal remedies or anything along that line shouldn't she definitely report those to her physician especially in conjunction with all of the other medicines that she's taking yes given that you're taking multiple pharmaceutical medications I was strongly suggest you tell your physician along with your pharmacist one or both of them should have access some of the really wonderful databases of research information so that they can see if there's any interaction between the nutrients and the pharmaceutical the other thing I would suggest in your case just given this history and how you've responded to things would be to encourage your doctor to order what's called a hepatic which is the formal name for

liver a hepatic profile because it sounds like I can barely hear liver is working a little is that the hepatic HEPAT I see correct okay and the reason I say that is because of the fact you are taking estrogen from outside of the body coupled with the fact that your blood pressure seems to be not as responsive to medication as your cholesterol has been and sometimes people have more of a situation what's called portal hypertension that then becomes or liver and let me explain that portal hypertension is the liver the liver's own kind of high blood pressure and sometimes if there is high blood pressure in that organ because it filters all of our blood all the time it can show up systemically throughout the whole body is high blood pressure okay so she should get a hepatic test would be okay all right let's take one more call very quickly Brenda and Houston listening to KTSU hi Brenda hello hi go ahead very quickly hi I was just wanting to ask the doctor how can you tell the distance between whether you're having a heart attack or it's just gas locked up in your chest okay I guess our our

patient here could probably tell you but how did you how did she had but only when she was able to determine was by going to the doctor and finding out doctor yates anything else you want to add to that same I'd say if you can't tell the difference is if you if you think you have gas then for some point you would pass gas and if you don't pass gas go to the doctor and be sure it's not a heart attack okay all righty doctorly any final words oh that's a great question then I think that's the great answer okay it's just ponder notice have you changed your lifestyle any yes yes don't want to go through that anymore do you walk in two and a half miles a day well good for you all right we're so happy you're doing well and thanks so much for being with us tonight doctor yates we appreciate your information again the name of her book is heart health for black women and dr. Lee it's a pleasure thank you so much for being with us pleasure and you've been listening to power point production assistance for power point is provided by WClKFM a broadcast service of Clark Atlanta University powerpoint comes to you live from the

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