LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK
PROSPERA EVENT, Belinda Ortiz Kirkegard, Kissimmee economic development director: The business technical support services organization, called Prospera, is about to host its annual Success Stories event. This activity showcases the remarkable achievements of some of our Central Florida Hispanic-owned small businesses. If you’re looking to be inspired — this is the event to attend!
INCARCERATION BIAS, Jeremy Levitt, distinguished professor of international law, Florida A&M University College of Law: About 17 percent of Floridians are Black but account for 47 percent of persons incarcerated in the state. A recent study entitled “Sounding the Alarm: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Florida” examined 67 Florida counties and determined that “Black girls enter the justice system at a young age at much higher rates than other demographics.” African-American girls are three times more likely than their white peers to be incarcerated. Black children in Florida are twice as likely to be suspended or expelled from school than other demographics. Do Blacks have an innate predisposition for crime or is something else at work?
HOUSING PRICES, Khalid Muneer, broker/owner Jupiter Properties Central Florida: We are consistently being fed data about how the housing market is cooling with consistent fall in prices and increase in inventory. The data on these parameters for August will clearly set the trend for the market as mortgage and inflation rates have stabilized. However, if the figures continue to show a downward spiral, it will confirm long-term weakness and there might need to be action taken by the federal government.
VACCINE BOOSTER, Pamela Nabors, president/CEO, CareerSource Central Florida: For me, the week brought welcome news that a modified COVID-19 vaccine booster will be approved in a few weeks - just in time for the anticipated surges this fall. I get a flu shot every September. Getting a shot in the arm is no fun, but it’s much better than experiencing the flu, something I went through years ago, and never want again! The new COVID-19 booster is effective against severe illness from the Omicron and other known variants, so my family will make our appointments when it’s FDA-approved and do what we can to stay healthy.
WOMEN’S INEQUALITY DAY, Gloria Pickar, president emerita, League of Women Voters of Orange County: Aug. 26 is Women’s Equality Day to commemorate the 19th Amendment giving women the vote in 1920. Now 102 years later, the League of Women Voters and women across the voting rights community observed Women’s INequality Day. Women don’t have equal rights (yet). We demand that our representatives pass voting rights legislation, add the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, and restore reproductive freedoms to women and those who become pregnant. It is time to raise our voices together to demand change and stop the regressive actions of our legislative and judicial bodies. Women’s rights are human rights.
FROST’S PROMISE, Joanie Schirm, GEC founding president; World Cup Orlando 1994 Committee chairman: Democratic nominee for an Orlando-area congressional seat, Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25, is earning the right to become the first Generation Z member of the U.S. Congress. Following an ACLU national organizer stint, Maxwell became the March for Our Lives national organizing director, a youth-led organization formed to end gun violence after the Parkland shooting. If elected, Frost intends to channel his energy to make us all safe from gun violence and, in a fiscally sound manner, find a way to make Medicare available to all, support a woman’s right to choose, and address climate change. He makes me believe a better world is indeed possible.
ARTEMIS LAUNCH, Kannan Srinivasan, former president of Asian American Chamber of Commerce; CEO of Global KTech: Some 100,000 tourists are expected to flood into the area when the new unmanned mission goes up next week. The announcement of the launch windows for Artemis 1 caused such a rush for tickets that the website at Kennedy Space Center crashed. When Artemis missions begin to include humans with the goal of returning people to the moon in 2025 or 2026, more tourists will flood the area.
DIVISIVE WOKENESS, Michael Zais, political blogger for thedrunkenrepublican. com: I found the recent Sentinel editorial decrying Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-woke rhetoric beyond absurd in its complete whitewash of what the term actually represents. Just as unfettered illegal immigration adversely affects the entire country, so does this insidious and divisive wokeness. People being fired or canceled for daring to say out loud that there are two genders, or men can’t have babies? Or refusing to play the pronoun game? Institutions named after our founding fathers being renamed because they were slave owners centuries ago? Sheer insanity. I applaud DeSantis for being proactive on this issue. We all know what woke means — let’s stop pretending otherwise.