Commentary

COMMENTARY: Start Earlier-Child Care

THE AFRO — Imagine the fear and anger you would experience upon hearing from your child care provider that your child has been exposed to toxic chemicals. Over ten years ago, this was the reality for hundreds of parents in the New Jersey metropolitan area as they received news that their children were exposed to toxic mercury vapors 30-50 times beyond acceptable limits.

Published

5 years ago

April 7, 2019

Oakland Post

By Chelsea Neil

Imagine the fear and anger you would experience upon hearing from your child care provider that your child has been exposed to toxic chemicals. Over ten years ago, this was the reality for hundreds of parents in the New Jersey metropolitan area as they received news that their children were exposed to toxic mercury vapors 30-50 times beyond acceptable limits.

The New Jersey mercury exposure accident was a nightmare that exposed how America’s children are vulnerable to harmful environmental exposures in early learning facilities.. Although, the buzz around the accident has disintegrated, the environmental health of children remains an alarming issue. Poor drinking water and air quality are among the most prevalent environmental hazards found in child care facilities throughout the United States.

Even though, safe and healthy K-12 environments are critical to student’s health and academic performance, early childhood education facilities deserve equal if not more attention. Child care facilities serve approximately 11 million of the youngest and most vulnerable children for more than 40 hours a week. The developing minds and bodies of young children make them uniquely susceptible to harmful chemical exposure. No amount of exposure is optimal for healthy brain and physical development.

New Jersey parents affected by the accident still live in fear that their children will develop learning disabilities, cancer, autism, and obesity; all consequences of toxic chemical exposure. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the effects of toxic chemical exposure are not necessarily immediate nevertheless they are life long and egregious.

Maryland and New Jersey schools and daycare facilities are among five other states that received an “average” grade in the Get the Lead Out public policy initiative. Only the District of Columbia and Illinois ranked “above average” leaving approximately 43 states in the failing category. This is more than disheartening.

The lack of state and federal oversight compromises the environmental health of children in child care settings. Many local and federal enforcement agencies do not require child care facilities to conduct in-depth environmental hazards testing, like sampling the drinking water for lead or indoor air for radon . Child care licensing regulations primarily focus on hand washing or concealment of cleaning supplies. Generally, child care facilities are inspected based on zoning laws rather than its location in proximity to potential environmental hazards. There are no comprehensive, mandated environmental health best practices for child care facilities at the state or federal level, which creates disparities in early childhood education.

Fortunately, there is hope– families can have quality, cost-effective and eco-friendly child care by seeking out child care providers who are endorsed by the Eco-Healthy Child Care(r) (EHCC) program. EHCC is an organization that works with child care facilities to reduce environmental hazards found in early learning environments–hazards like lead in drinking water, pesticides and unsafe plastics. EHCC endorses child care providers who meet 24 out of 30 best practices found on the EHCC checklist (https://cehn.org/our-work/eco-healthy-child-care/ehcc-checklists/). The EHCC program supports, educates and equips child care providers and parents with the necessary tools, to build and maintain an eco-friendly environment that is conducive to positive child health outcomes.

On National Healthy Schools Day, we would like to thank the Eco-Healthy Child Care(r) endorsed child care facilities and providers for their outstanding commitment to eco-friendly child care environments. We urge child care professionals and policymakers across America to prioritize the environmental health of all children and to make early learning environments as safe and healthy as possible.

Chelsea Neil is a graduate student at Wilmington University College of Social and Behavioral Sciences pursuing a master’s in Applied Family Science. She is an Intern at The Children’s Environmental Health Network.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

6 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

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Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

1 week ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!

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Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

Published

1 week ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.