Email of the Week (v22)

Somehow, I managed to get unsubscribed from all of the Biden-Harris team emails - no more Team Joe, Joe Biden, Joseph R. Biden, Biden 2020, Kamala Harris, Biden-Harris 2020, and so on. 

I suspect it was due to neglect - I admit I haven't been all that responsive to the emails - but with nothing new for the past several days, it's been pretty quiet in my politics inbox.

I did get an email from Papa Joe's camp touting my popularity. In case you didn't know, I was a hot commodity for a minute there, and here's who let me know that: Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Khizr Khan, Carole King, Symone Sanders, Jill Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Tammy Duckworth, and Biden himself.

They wanted my money, of course - although, according to an email I got today from Ballotpedia, the Biden-Harris campaign and the Democratic National Committee together raised a whopping $365,000,000 in August - far exceeding the previous record of $193,000,000 raised in September 2008 by the Obama/DNC combo.

I did get an email that I thought was interesting, and while it came from a former presidential candidate, it had nothing to do with the campaign.  Take a look.

Friend,

 

Racial disparities within our communities are a matter of life and death, and COVID-19, which has had a disproportionate and devastating impact on Black people across the country, is a stark example -- and a call to action.

The effects of inequity were present well before the pandemic, and they show up across a range of health outcomes for Black Americans, from higher infant mortality to higher death rates from cancer and heart disease. And these health inequalities contribute to wealth inequalities -- and vice-versa. It is a debilitating cycle that we must confront head-on.

Today, I joined the Presidents and Deans of four Historically Black Medical Schools to announce an initiative to take on these connected challenges. Bloomberg Philanthropies is committing $100 million over the next four years to America's four Historically Black Medical Schools -- Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. This funding will allow the schools to provide scholarships up to $100,000 to nearly every medical student currently enrolled and receiving financial aid.

These four schools tend to have higher graduation rates of Black students than medical schools overall -- in part because increasing diversity in medicine and offering medical services for communities most in need are ingrained in their mission, so they provide more support to help students overcome obstacles and graduate.

Research has shown that Black patients have better health outcomes with Black doctors. More Black doctors will mean more Black lives saved, and a reduction in the health issues that can limit economic opportunity in Black communities. That won't cure the disease of disparities within our health care and economic systems, but it is an essential part of the treatment.

During my presidential campaign, I announced The Greenwood Initiative, which was aimed at closing the racial wealth gap and securing economic justice for Black Americans. That work continues through the partnership we're announcing today -- with more to come in the future.

Read about our effort to support more Black doctors, and the lives it can save -- and please share the op-ed with your family and friends to raise awareness about these urgent challenges.

Have you figured out which former presidential candidate is behind this initiative? If you guessed Michael Bloomberg, you guessed correctly. 

And, for investing his own money in something worthwhile, instead of asking for my money to run an ad in a swing state or something, he gets the coveted Email of the Week award.