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SPECIAL REPORT Kids at risk:


Sports related head injuries up significantly, says study


by Healthy Living News Autumn is here and along with it


the school athletic season. By play- ing football, hockey, basketball, soc- cer, or just in the playground, chil- dren and young adults are testing their athletic skills. Yet, they are also risking head injury, an injury which research shows can have serious health consequences. And now a new study reveals that


sports related head injuries among children and teens have been increas- ing significantly over the last decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study looked at the rate of traumatic brain injuries (TBI’s), including concussions, seen by hospital emergency departments over a ten year period. The results show that among people under age 20, the rate of TBI’s from sports and other recreational activities increased 60 percent. The greatest numbers of hospital


lished in Clinical Pediatrics showing that youth football injuries have also increased. The number of injuries among players aged 6-17 increased over 27 percent, with older players more likely to get concussions. Research shows that traumatic


crease in traumatic brain injuries is not all bad news. We believe that one reason for the


child’s developing brain can be re- silient, it is also known to be more vulnerable to the chemical changes that occur following a TBI,” said Richard Hunt, M.D., director of the CDC’s Division for Injury Response. However, the CDC believes the in-


brain injuries can take a toll at an ear- ly age. In January of 2009, a Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) showed the brain of a recently de- ceased 18-year-old high school foot- ball player had early signs of motor neuron disease from head trauma he received playing football. And it is young athletes who require more time to recover from traumatic brain injuries. “While some research shows a


visits were caused by bicycling, foot- ball, basketball, soccer and play- ground activities. According to the CDC, seven out of ten TBI’s were among males, most of whom where playing football or bicycling. Young women suffered head injury from playing soccer or bicycling. Most of all those injured were between the ages 10-19. Younger children, under age 9, tended to suffer from bike or playground injuries. The study follows another pub-


ing the long-term health of their ath- letes for short-termprofits, some pro- fessional sports are responding to the problem. The NFL has tightened on- field rules to better protect players. However, any decrease in traumatic brain injuries in more traditional sports could be offset by the growing popularity of other risky sports such as ultimate fighting.


FLASHBACK: 2005


problem is not exclusive to the grid- iron, hockey players are suffering from the same TBI fate. Just last month, CSTE published a post- mortem study showing a third NHL player, all-star Ricky Martin, suf- fered from a TBI caused brain disor- der.Martin was the first hockey play- er who seldom engaged in on-ice fighting to show these effects. Not wanting to be seen as exploit-


headlines after the shocking suicide last February of former football star Dave Duerson. Duerson, who played NFL football for 11 seasons, shot himself in the heart so that his brain could be studied to confirm that he has suffered lifelong problems due to football related TBI’s. Research continues to show the


of the disease being linked to specif- ic activities or experiences, such as the increased risk associated with military service, or this one regarding professional athletes, we are remind- ed of just how complex of a disorder ALS is,” said Steve Perrin, PhD and chief scientific officer of the ALS Therapy Development Institute. Those TBI complications made


ter studies and media reports publi- cized the long-term effects of trau- matic brain injury among those play- ing professional sports. BU’s Center for the Study of Traumatic En- cephalopathy has been studying just those effects. Their research show it to be associated with motor neuron disease, a condition that effects vol- untary muscle movements. The most common motor neuron disease is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Those find- ings were published in the September 2010 issue of “The Journal of Neu- ropathology and Experimental Neu- rology.” “When we read reports about cases


increase in emergency department visits among children and adoles- cents may be a result of the growing awareness among parents and coach- es, and the public as a whole, about the need for individuals with a sus- pected TBI to be seen by a health care professional,” said Linda Degutis, of the CDC’s Center for In- jury Prevention and Control. That awareness likely increased af-


Why owners will win the lockout battle


charming 30-something African- American female “thousandaire” to a greedy 50-something white billion- aire, change cycling to the NBA and you’ll begin to understand why the NBA lockout will end this year and the players will lose out. Owners are pouting about a hobby, and players are fighting for their jobs. Negotiations between NBA Com-


missioner David Stern, team owners and Executive Director of the Players Union Billy Hunter have accom- plished nothing this fall and games have been cancelled into November. Owners say they lost $300 million last year and want a 50/50 split with the players on league revenues. Play- ers don’t trust ownership’s numbers and want the revenue split to stay around 55/45. Many sports reporters are sound-


cling as a hobby. It’s a very expen- sive hobby, quality bikes cost thou- sands of dollars, jerseys and proper footwear are in the hundreds. But she’s always been athletic, she likes the competition and she loves being part of a close-knit community of professional cycling women in her city. Now transform my friend from a


Dr. Jason Johnson


My friend Liz has just started cy-


races where Liz could maybe win a free bike, or $500, but she’s more in- terested in winning than she is mak- ing back her “investment.” Along the same lines, NBAowners


have met other- wise. There are amateur cycling


mention he gets to hobnob with celebrities like Jay-Z whom he would


never world, not


ly 32 NBA fran- chise owners on planet Earth, he’s in one of the most exclusive clubs


in the to


Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr.


November 17 - 23, 2011 OPINION Race realities: that


Alive in America The reality is


matters inAmeri- ca in 2011. It im- portant to contin- ue to keep stating the truth that in- stitutionalized racism is alive and well in the United States. Yes, there has


race still


Tri-State Defender


very long, difficult and protracted struggle for freedom, justice, equali- ty and empowerment. We should all be proud that we now have President Barack H. Obama as the President of the United States. African Ameri- cans, in particular, however should avoid falling into the anti-reality pit- fall that we are now living in a “post- racial” society and world. My purpose is not to dissuade or


discourage anyone. I just do not think it is healthy forAfrican-Amer- ican people to not face the hard facts that we still have a long struggle ahead of us to ensure that the next generation of blacks inAmerica, and African people throughout


world, will have a better quality of life in the future. The world is changing but race remains a determi- native factor in too many areas where social and political decisions are made on a daily basis. I have posited before that the


the


been remarkable progress attained as the result of a


ing the alarmthat the season could be in jeopardy, but I’m not so sure. This is not a staring contest the players can win. They wasted the summer months when union decertification might’ve been a good strategy and now they’re facing ultimatums from the owners. While owners recoup some of their game losses by sched- uling concerts, conventions and trade shows to fill arenas, players aremiss- ing out on paychecks. Several own- ers have said publicly they could care less if the whole season is lost if that’s what it takes to get a more fa- vorable deal. Why are the owners driving such a


job, not a future career and she does- n’t really care about “losing” money on her hobby. In fact, she couldn’t have even started cycling as a hobby if she didn’t have a certain amount of disposable income to begin with. NBAowners are the same way. Buy- ing a franchise was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, the chance to play with life-sized toys. Not one NBA owner needs to make money from their NBA franchise because they had to be billionaires to even buy one. Liz spends the money because she


hard bargain? Let’s go back to my friend Liz. For Liz, cycling is a hobby, not a


don’t really care about how much money they lose on their NBAteams as long as the games are exciting and they’re winning. That’s why owners of teams such as the Knicks and Mi- ami Heat were ready to end this lock- out weeks ago, but owners of teams such as the Pacers, Trailblazers and Clippers are ready to trash the whole season if that’s what it takes to get a new collective bargaining agreement that they like. Consider Paul Allen, owner of the


“hop-hop generation” has done much to transcend and dismantle racial prejudice in the mindset of millions of people. Of course, hip- hop culture arose out of the crucible of African American and Latino American struggle against abject economic, racial and social oppres- sion in the South Bronx more than 40 years ago. Today, hip-hop is a global cultural phenomenon that has unitedmore than a billion youth who share common aspirations for free- dom and empowerment beyond the boundaries of race, ethnicity, nation- ality, language and geography. But the fact of the matter is that


bored with cycling, or get frustrated that she’s not improving her times fast enough or winning enough races. Her expensive bike will sit in the garage, she’ll neglect her monthly membership to a bike club and her special toe grip cycling shoes will be lost in a closet somewhere. Of course her fickleness won’t cost thousands of people their jobs, and she won’t pretend that cycling was anything more than a pastime to begin with. It’s obvious she doesn’t have what it takes to be an NBA owner.


likes communing with other profes- sional cycling women, whom she wouldn’t know otherwise. This is the same reason why Russian billionaire Mikhail Pokorov bought the lousy New Jersey Nets team. There are on-


professor of political science and communications at Hiram College in Ohio, where he teaches courses in campaigns and elections, pop cul- ture, and the politics of sports. He can be reached at Johnson- ja@hiram.edu.)


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BY THE NUMBERS According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, about


1 percent of the nationʼs adult population, 2,292,133 adults were incarcerated in U.S. federal and state prisons, and county jails at year-end 2009. African Americans make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, yet make up 49 percent of the prison populace. Year after year, the numbers are stark and disproportionate; in 2008 one in 18 men, one in 89 women, one in 13 African Americans and one in 45 whites were under correctional control.


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Tri-State Defender Platform


1. Racial prejudice worldwide must be de- stroyed. 2. Racially unrestricted membership in all jobs, public and private.


3. Equal employment opportunities on all jobs, public and private.


4. True representation in all U.S. police forces. 5. Complete cessation of all school segrega- tion. 6. Federal intervention to protect civil rights in all instances where civil rights compliance at the state level breaks down


DISTRIBUTION: Tri-State Defender is avail- able at newsstands, street sales, store vendors, mail subscription and honor boxes throughout the Greater Memphis area. No person may, without priorwritten permission of the Tri-State Defender, reprint any part of or duplicate by electronic device any portion without written permission. Copyright 2011 by Tri-State De- fender Publishing, Inc. Permission to Publisher, Tri-State Defender, 203 Beale Street, Suite 200, Memphis, TN. 38103. Back copies can be ob- tained by calling the Tri-State Defender at (901) 523-1818, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.


The Tri-State Defender (USPS 780-220) is published weekly by Tri-State Defender Pub- SUBSCRIPTIONS:Mail subscriptions to the Tri-State Defender are available upon request. (Dr. Jason Johnson is an associate


these owners, and the players will need to get back to work long before owners notice a dent in their check- books. One of these days Liz will get


$30,000 losing $620 bucks. Do you really think he cares about losing a whole NBA season? The NBA is a plaything hobby for


Portland Trailblazers who haven’t made the NBAfinals in 20 years or a conference championship in 10 years. He’s worth over 13 billion dol- lars. According to owners, the EN- TIRE NBA lost 300 million dollars last year. If PaulAllen personally lost 300million dollars, that would be the equivalent of


someone worth


racial discrimination and injustice in the United States glaringly persists in employment, housing, education, environment, finance and criminal justice. In other words, the systems of injustice are still in place even though there has been some progress and social change for the better. The entire pseudo theory of a


“post-racial” society inAmerica is it- self ahistorical and at clear variance with reality. The progress that has been attained should be an indication that we need to keep on fighting for freedom and to not stop prematurely. Yet reform sometimes creates an illu- sion that the goals and objectives of the movement for change have been realized without verification from facts and relevant statistics. Numbers are important, but this is


really about the quality of life in our communities. Today, there are too many of us who live in poverty, who are in prison unjustly, and who are unemployed with a sense of hope- lessness. Thus, this is not the time to consider lowering our voices. Even within the growing “Occupy


Wall Street” movement throughout the United States, there are notice- able tendencies where the various and sometimes different public utter- ances of opinion are given a range of value by the establishedmedia based on the race or class-orientation of those who are routinely called on to issue public statements about the in- tentions and goals of that “diverse” movement for social and economic change. The point is African Ameri- cans and Latinos should willingly continue to join other diverse mul- tiracial and multicultural coalitions for social change. But we should not permit the interests ofAfricanAmer- icans and Latinos to be triaged in those broader coalitions. You can be assured that the forces


of opposition against the re-election of President Barack Obama will be using racial stereotypes and racism in all of its disguises in an unsuc- cessful attempt to derail President Obama. The current actions in many states to suppress the black and oth- er minority vote in 2012 through re- quiring new voter ID cards is just the latest examples of how far we have not come toward full and complete racial justice for all people. I am optimistic because I am wit-


nessing a generation of young, courageous and conscious African- America leaders emerge on the streets and college campuses across the nation who know what time it is and who will be active in helping once again to get the largest young voter (18-30 year-olds) turnout in American history for the November 2012 national elections. Yes, race still matters in a positive


proactive sense, if we do our home- work, roll up our sleeves and contin- ue to fight for freedom, racial justice and equality for all.


nior advisor to the Black Alliance for Educational Options and presi- dent of Education Online Services Corporation and the Hip-Hop Sum- mit Action Network.)


(Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. is se-


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