Sybil Wilkes ‘What You Need To Know’ – Family of Tyre Nichols Files Lawsuit — Biden’s Latest Executive Order — Widower Becomes Advocate

1. The Family of Tyre Nichols Goes Deep with $550 Million Lawsuit

What You Need to Know:

The family of Tyre Nichols announced Wednesday that they are suing the city of Memphis, Tennessee and the Memphis Police Department for $550 million over the January beating death of the 29-year-old Black man. The BBC reported, “The 139-page complaint, alleged the city’s negligent hiring practices and poor training led to Tyre’s death. Also named in the suit, Memphis Police Department Chief Cerelyn Davis, the five police officers charged with murder and other police and fire department officials.”

Five Black former Memphis police officers were fired after the beating death that followed a traffic stop that took place the evening of January 7, 2023. Tyre Nichols died three days later. The men were members of the department’s now-disbanded street crime group, known as the “Scorpion Unit.” The former cops face charges from Second Degree Murder to Aggravated Assault. All have pleaded not guilty. They are scheduled to return to court in May.

2. President Biden’s Executive Order Provides Care for Family Caregivers

WRITTEN & CONTRIBUTED BY KHAMERON RILEY 

What You Need to Know:

President Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday to boost compensation for care workers, support family caregivers, and expand affordable care options through 50 directives to federal agencies.

“The child care and long-term care systems in this country just don’t work well. High-quality care is costly to deliver, it’s labor intensive, and it requires skilled workers. Yet care workers—who are disproportionately women and women of color and immigrants—are among the lowest paid in the country, despite working in some of the most important and complex and demanding jobs,” said domestic policy adviser Susan Rice.

3. Lupus in the Black Community: Overcoming Barriers to Care and Support

What You Need to Know: 

Lupus affects African American people differently, especially Black women, but both the disease and the barriers they face make this a chronic illness that is challenging to treat. But what is Lupus, what are these barriers, and how are we already working to overcome them? Keep reading to learn more.

How Lupus Affects Ethnic Groups

The Lupus Foundation of America provides unsettling statistics about how lupus affects people of color in the United States. Many of these statistics include those with varied ethnic backgrounds, including Hispanic, Native American, Asian American, and Pacific Islander people. However, the vast majority of those affected by lupus, the most common form of autoimmune disease, are African American.

4. Black Man Protects Moms in Late Wife’s Memory

WRITTEN & CONTRIBUTED BY COY MALONE

What You Need to Know:

Charles Johnson IV made it his mission to protect mothers during childbirth after his wife, Kira Johnson, died hours after giving birth to their second child, Langston, in 2016 at a Los Angeles, California area hospital.

“As I’m sitting there watching Kira rest, and Langston, I see blood coming from the catheter at Kira’s bedside,” Charles said. “Kira was allowed to bleed internally for more than 10 hours while myself and my family begged and pleaded for the staff at Cedar-Sinai to take action…When they finally took Kira back to surgery, she had three liters of blood in her abdomen… When we walked into that hospital the thought that my wife would not walk out to raise her sons, never crossed my mind.” 

5. The Hidden World of Depression in the Black Community

What You Need to Know:

From major depressive disorder to perinatal depression to bipolar disorder, the black community is affected by depression just as much as any other ethnic group. However, they are less likely to seek treatment, often suffering in silence. Why is this? What is being done to support the African American youth who are most vulnerable? Why are black men inadvertently targeted? This is a complex issue that can be corrected with awareness and education about the realities of mental health and depression.

About Depression

Before learning more about how this medical condition affects the African American population, it’s important to understand depression, its symptoms, and how it is typically treated. Depressive episodes can be life-altering and, in some cases, life-threatening. If you feel you are experiencing a major depressive episode, please reach out to someone immediately. You can reach the emergency mental health hotline by dialing “988” or there is a list of resources at the bottom of this article, should you need them.