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  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 A man was also shot during the Aurora march, as rival militias demonstrated in Kentucky A car drove through a crowd and a protester was shot in the Denver suburb of Aurora during demonstrations against racial injustice. The Aurora Police Department said on Twitter that protesters were walking on Interstate 225 Saturday when a vehicle drove through. Police said a protester fired a weapon, striking at least one person who was taken to a hospital in stable condition. Authorities said the vehicle was towed and they are investigating. Protesters also broke windows at the courthouse and a fire was started in an office, police said. An unlawful assembly was declared and police ordered protesters to leave the area, authorities said. America 'staring down the barrel of martial law', Oregon senator warns Read more Tensions have been heightened at recent protests against racial injustice since federal officials were sent to quell demonstrations in Portland, Oregon. Police declared a riot in Seattle on Saturday. Protests sparked by the 25 May death of George Floyd, a black man in Minnesota who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for eight minutes, have also highlighted other cases of fatal police violence. In Colorado, protesters have been drawing attention to the death of Elijah McClain, who was stopped by police while walking down an Aurora street in August 2019 after a 911 caller reported him as suspicious. Police placed him in a chokehold, and paramedics administered 500 milligrams of ketamine, a sedative, to calm him down. He went into cardiac arrest, was later declared brain dead and taken off life support. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Black Lives Matter protesters gather in a park in Louisville, Kentucky, where they were demonstrating over the death of Breonna Taylor. Photograph: Leslie Spurlock/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock In Kentucky meanwhile, hundreds of armed, predominantly black, activists demanded justice for Breonna Taylor during peaceful demonstrations in Louisville that drew counter-protesters from a white militia group. Police closed streets and set up barricades to keep the two groups apart as tensions remained high in a town where protests have flared for months over the death of Taylor, a black woman killed when police burst into her apartment in March. By the time black activists dressed in black fatigues arrived in the heart of downtown Saturday afternoon, most of the white militia members had already left. Police in full riot geared looked on. Earlier in the day, three people were accidentally shot at a park where black activists had gathered, police said. The victims, all of whom were members of the militia group, were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. “This is a tragic situation that could have been much worse,” Louisville metro police chief Robert Schroeder said in a news release. “I encourage anyone choosing to exercise their second amendment rights to do so responsibly.” The only confrontation among the competing groups appeared to occur earlier Saturday when white militia members and Black Lives Matter activists yelled at each other over the police barricades. Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron’s office is heading an investigation into Taylor’s death. Taylor, a 26-year-old EMT, was fatally shot when police officers burst into her Louisville apartment using a no-knock warrant during a narcotics investigation. The warrant to search her home was in connection with a suspect who did not live there and no drugs were found. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 Scrapping Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system would be a precondition for the Liberal Democrats considering a future coalition with Labour, a contender to lead the party has warned. Layla Moran, who is vying for the job alongside acting party leader Ed Davey, said that she was interested in building significant levels of cooperation with Labour before the next election. She even suggested the parties could build a joint campaigning force where it benefited them. In an interview with the Observer, the Oxford West and Abingdon MP said she was best placed to overhaul her party’s relationship with Labour. Successive Lib Dem leaders have ruled out coalitions with Labour or the Tories since the party’s electoral collapse following its coalition with the Conservatives under Nick Clegg, but Moran said she would not rule out such a deal with Keir Starmer. However, she suggested ending first past the post would be a prerequisite. “I’ve absolutely ruled out a coalition with the Tories,” she said. “I would never say never [to a coalition with Labour], especially with a more centrist progressive Labour leader, as we’ve seen under Keir. We’ve still got a long way to go and I think Labour still has to revamp their own policy platform. I think top of the list of something I’d be looking for is electoral reform. Without it, actually, it would end up hurting the party potentially to do anything. So without seeing the small print, it’s hard to say one way or the other, but it’s not ruled out.” She called on activists within the two parties to consider forming a “huge campaigning force” to help each other at the next election. She said she wanted a “Paddy plus” arrangement with Labour, in reference to the close relationship between former Lib Dem leader Paddy Ashdown and Tony Blair before the 1997 election. I would love to get to the point where that heat was taken out of the relationship between Labour and the Lib Dems Layla Moran MP “We need to be really smart about it,” she said. “I would like to get to the point where at the very least, in those seats where we stand a chance of defeating the Tories, [activists] aren’t fighting each other, because that just defeats the purpose. But even better, if we can inspire a progressive movement of activists to take those seats off Boris Johnson’s Tories, that’s where I’d like to get to. ‘Paddy plus’ is kind of what we’re aiming for, but it’s not a pact and it’s not anything formal.” Voting to decide who will replace Jo Swinson, who lost her seat in the 2019 election, begins this week. Moran’s manifesto, launched this week, includes support for a universal basic income. However, she rejected the idea that the Lib Dems would be to the left of Labour under her leadership. She said that unlike her rival Davey, who was a minister in the coalition government, she was best placed to build a constructive relationship with Starmer and Labour. “That coalition hangover means that the vitriol between the parties is really palpable. I would love to get to the point where that heat was taken out of the relationship between Labour and the Lib Dems, because that would also help actually achieve something that’s greater than all of this stuff, which is frankly tactical – which is a kinder, gentler politics in our country that is less divisive and generally more respectful.” She said the past decade for the party had “clearly been disastrous”, attacking the party’s support for revoking Brexit. She ruled out backing rejoining the EU for at least five years. “We have to accept that public opinion just isn’t there yet. There’s a battle to be won in the hearts of people first. “Let’s show people why, had we stayed, it would have been in our interests … by making the positive case for why we should have an ever closer trading relationship, why we want to maintain our British-EU standards that we helped to create.” 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 Hispanic organizers working to elect Joe Biden wrote a “scathing” seven-page letter to the Florida Democrat Party, claiming a “toxic” work culture. Just 100 days before Election Day, 90 field organizers laid into the party and said the campaign is “suppressing the Hispanic vote” in Central Florida, the Miami Herald reported. The letter contained eight allegations against the campaign, including, “mistreatment of field organizers, relocating trained staff members without explanation, lack of organizing resources, and taking on volunteers who are then left in limbo.” The staffers also complained that “the Coordinated Campaign lacks key infrastructure and perpetuates a ‘toxic’ work culture that is hurting morale among on-the-ground staffers,” according to the paper. The organizers lamented some had been transferred to heavily-Puerto Rican part of the state to one more sparsely populated with Hispanics. “Four of five Spanish-speaking organizers along the I-4 corridor who were moved to North Florida were Puerto Rican,” the letter read. “The [Coordinated Campaign of Florida] is suppressing the Hispanic vote by removing Spanish-speaking organizers from Central Florida without explanation, which fails to confront a system of white-dominated politics we are supposed to be working against as organizers of a progressive party,” the letter said. Despite only 100 days left in the race, a source told the paper the letter was released as the campaign is in negotiations with the workers’ union, the IBEW Local 824. The organizers are demanding an apology after some said they have had to endue “lectures” from others over problems with the campaign in Florida. A Quinnipiac poll showed Biden is enjoying a comfortable 13-point lead over President Trump, 51 percent to 39 percent, the Sun Sentinel reported. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 The Seattle Police Department declared a riot and arrested 25 people after “explosives” were thrown at officers when a protest turned violent in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on Saturday. FOX 10 reports: Up to 1,000 protesters gathered about 2 p.m. Saturday for a peaceful march in solidarity with unrest and violent demonstrations in Portland. By 4 p.m., crowds had broken away from the protest, setting fires to construction trailers at the Juvenile Detention Center and attacking camera crews. […] Police reported multiple explosions in the area and multiple fires, including one inside the East Precinct, where rioters breached a security fence to vandalize the building. Police are investigating “possible explosive damage” to the walls of the East Precinct and more explosives being thrown at police. Seattle police said the protesters were arrested for assaults on officers, obstruction, and failure to disperse. Prior to announcing the arrests, police shared a photo of flammable objects being hurled at officers. Update: 16 arrests for assault on officers, obstruction and failure to disperse. — Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) July 26, 2020 Q13FOX correspondent Simone Del Rosario and others shared photos and video of protesters clashing with officers, along with images of heavily damaged buildings in the area. Seattle police say at least 25 people arrested so far #Q13FOX #SeattleRiots pic.twitter.com/IAwJCT9Rph — Hana Kim (@hanamkim) July 26, 2020 A trail of #damage on 12th Ave— portables at youth detention facility torched/ glass windows of office broken; #Starbucks store obliterated along with apartment/office building next door; Canon restaurant/bar has several shattered windows. #seattle #seattleprotests #komonews pic.twitter.com/x1RMe81huC — Suzanne Phan (@SuzannePhan) July 26, 2020 Here’s a look from behind the police. Lots of colors in the air as police push people back onto Broadway. #Q13FOX pic.twitter.com/Btl4yTvxYE — Simone Del Rosario (@SimoneReports) July 26, 2020 Shortly after, Q13FOX reporter Brandi Kruse also shared footage of a nearby Starbucks, which was destroyed after it was set ablaze. Video of Starbucks that was destroyed on 12th Avenue in Seattle. I've been here many times and have friends who live near by. The nicest baristas. I'm glad it was closed. #q13fox #seattleprotest pic.twitter.com/HG5Dy7xkk6 — Brandi Kruse (@BrandiKruse) July 26, 2020 Unrest in Seattle comes after President Donald Trump sent tactical border officers to the city on Thursday in an effort quell soaring crime in Democrat-controlled cities across the United States. KIRO 7 reports: The Special Response Team is similar to tactical teams operating in Portland, where violence and protests have raged for nearly eight weeks in the Oregon city. Federal agents have been in Portland for most of July. […] Agents for the Special Response Team operate under the umbrella of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Times reported. They are typically deployed for intense law enforcement operations. […] Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, told KIRO-TV that it was appropriate to seek help from the federal government. Speaking to the New York Times, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) said she spoke with acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who told her that the federal government would not be sending additional officers before communicating with municipal leaders. DHS spokesperson Alexei Woltornist said it would be sending fewer agents to Seattle than Portland, which has been plagued by ongoing riots. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 Appearing Saturday on MSNBC, network national security analyst Malcolm Nance claimed, without evidence, that President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and its “vigilantes” will “most likely” hack the Democrat Party’s systems if the Russian government opts against it. A transcript is as follows: TIFFANY CROSS: There are multiple intelligence reports that are highlighting very concerning things. One thing for me, just yesterday, intelligence officials issued a public warning that Russia was still trying to infiltrate our election process by selling disinformation and stoking racial discord in this country — just as they did in 2016. We had a similar warning in 2016 that nobody seemed to take seriously. We are in a situation again. It feels like deja vu. How concerned should we be going into election season? I’m very concerned about November. What is the threat level with our election systems and with the president, who has yet to ever hold them accountable on anything? MALCOLM NANCE: It is very high, the Russian possibility of attacking our elections. We know that they have been going around and probing the Democratic Party, you say that memo that was sent out where the Democrat Party suspects they have been trying to hack into individual accounts in order to release emails in a flood before the election. That is going to happen. We already know if Russia doesn’t do it, the Trump campaign, it’s vigilantes, and its data team will most likely do it. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) joined Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel, where he discussed his bill that would hold the Chinese officials who covered up the coronavirus pandemic accountable. “We need to be bipartisan as we deal with China,” Curtis told host and Breitbart News Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle. “The Democrats have chosen not to join us … we’ve got this China taskforce, and they won’t join us on that, and it’s one of the most important issues facing the country right now.” “Li Wenliang was a scientist, who early on pointed out to his colleagues that there was a virus out there,” Curtis said. “He was grabbed by the local police, forced to sign a statement that it was an error. Three weeks later, he actually died of the COVID virus. Had we started on this thing three weeks earlier, which his warning would have allowed us to do, we would have dramatically reduced the number of infections around the world.” Curtis further expounded on his displeasure with China’s handling of the virus by referring to a study published in March. “There was a study published in March which indicated that if Chinese authorities had acted just three weeks earlier, which they would have had the information to do, the number of cases could have been reduced by 95 percent around the globe,” Curtis continued. “We lost that three-week jump, and that’s the intent of this bill.” Curtis also said that any other “authoritarian government, around the world in the future, that suppresses information on a pandemic” would also be sanctioned by his bill. “This China task force is going to lay out in a couple of weeks all of our findings,” Curtis said. “I think the American people will be both impressed and a little bit worried about what’s ahead of us. … Let’s remember that it’s not the Chinese people we have a problem with. It’s the Chinese leadership. We have a great relationship with the Chinese people, and I personally enjoy the Chinese culture.” Curtis also discussed the Chinese government and problems that he sees arising in the country. “The Chinese Communist government has clearly taken a bad turn on human rights,” Curtis said. “Look what’s happening in Hong Kong and freedom and suppressing everything that we value here in the United States. America, this is our window, our time to correct that relationship. … The longer we let it go astray, the harder it’s going to be to correct that.” Follow Kyle on Twitter @RealKyleMorris and Facebook. 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan slammed Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler by saying that the mayor is telling federal agents and officers to stop acting under their statutory authority and to “watch the criminals burn the seat of American justice to the ground.” Morgan also stated that the mayor, “instead of telling the criminals to go home,” is telling “the federal agents doing their job, protecting Americans to go home.” Morgan said that the claim that it is the federal agents and officers who are inflaming the situation and creating violence is “preposterous” and it is “unbelievable.” He continued, “So, the mayor in Portland is saying, federal agents and officers, you go home. Stop doing your statutory authority, and watch the criminals burn the seat of American justice to the ground. That’s what [we will] see. So, instead of telling the criminals to go home, he tells the federal agents doing their job, protecting Americans to go home. It’s outrageous. It’s ridiculous. And it’s dangerous.” Morgan also stated that Wheeler and Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) of “putting politics over public safety.” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 New Mexico State Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearce told Breitbart News’s Washington political editor Matt Boyle on Sirius XM Patriot Channel’s Breitbart News Saturday that Donald Trump will win the state in the 2020 presidential election against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden. “We are 100 days from the election today. New Mexico is a battleground state. How is the president doing in New Mexico?” Boyle asked. “One hundred days out I still say that President Trump is going to win New Mexico and New Mexico is going to carry him over the top. I think it’s going to be very close nationally, but we’ll carry him over the top,” Pearce told Boyle. New Mexico’s five electoral college votes went to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, who defeated President Trump in the state by a margin of eight points, 48 percent to 40 percent. “In the U.S. Senate race, the last poll that we ran about four weeks ago was about four points, so our candidate is within four points at this stage of the game. That’s just tremendous news. I think that Congressman Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM-2) has been more of a national figure than one here in the state. The Second [Congressional] District is dead even in the last poll that came out last week. If you noticed, I think it was the Washington Post rated that the seat most likely to flip this year, the number one seat most likely to flip,” Pearce added. “I’m feeling like New Mexico is going to turn red in this election,” he added. Boyle then asked Pearce about Operation Legend in New Mexico. “New Mexico is also in the news this week because Albuquerque is one of the cities that President Trump is sending federal agents to as part of Operation Legend. The Democrats in the state, whether it be Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) or Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, they’ve been out there attacking President Trump and the federal law enforcement officers, calling them ‘storm troopers’ or ‘secret police,’ all sorts of nasty terminology for those who seek to restore law and order to the crime ridden city there. Tell us what’s going on in Albuquerque, with the president sending in federal law enforcement officers to help restore order,” Boyle asked. “The comments by the senator, Senator Heinrich, and the mayor, Mayor Keller, are just totally irresponsible,” Pearce responded, adding, “Albuquerque is number one in crime, violent crime and car thefts. So you’ve got a huge problem. But then you also have a strong presence of Antifa. They’ve come in here, they busted out windows in about a mile long march through the center of town. You put that against the backdrop that we probably have more federal installations in New Mexico than anywhere else. The federal government has a strong vested interest in making sure that New Mexico crime is low and that their facilities are safe. Some of their facilities are just top secret. You can imagine having the hordes at the gate, like they’re doing in Portland every night, trying to burn down that federal building.” “The sheriff was well advised to go to President Trump to meet with him. Sheriff Manny Gonzales is a Democrat,” Pearce added, “And yet when this Democrat goes and sits down with the president to try to figure out how to secure these national facilities, these federal installations, they call for him to step down, for him to resign. He knows the situation. . . The mayor himself had gone to the governor last year and asked for more help because he couldn’t keep peace in the streets. The district attorney in Albuquerque has filed for more federal prosecutors to come in. He’s had his own prosecutors there. He’s asking for them to be certified to go in to federal court. “Everything says that Albuquerque is straining the limits of law enforcement and the Justice Department, so to ask for help just seemed practical,” Pearce emphasized. “And yet the public officials here are referring to them as ‘storm troopers.’ That’s just going to incite violence when they do come in, because most people don’t think about the fuller picture. They just listen to what the elected officials say. It’s just a sad day for New Mexico, really, to see our U.S. Senator using terms like ‘storm trooper,'” he added. “Speaking of the crime wave we’re seeing in cities across the country, you’ve mentioned the rise in car thefts and other crimes in Albuquerque. We’re seeing this in a lot of other Democrat-run cities across the country,” Boyle noted. “In Chicago a funeral was shot up. Fourteen people were shot and severely hurt at a funeral in Chicago. We’re seeing rising numbers of shootings and killings and murders in places like New York, in places like Chicago, in places like Los Angeles. We see the craziness out in Portland,” Boyle continued. “Tell us about the contrast here and why voting is so important,” Boyle said. “You’re seeing the Democrats say defund police. Republicans are saying defend the police. If you’ve got a rogue policeman, hold him accountable, get him out,” Pearce responded. “Voting Republican says one holds criminals accountable. You vote for Democrats, they say we’re going to defund the police, we’re going to send in social workers. I will guarantee the first time they send a social worker into some of these domestic violence cases, that’s one of the most dangerous times of all for the police. They’re trained in it. They have the knowledge of the use of force, when to use it, when not to use it. You send in a social worker to that, you’re just asking for chaos,” Pearce added. “You’re seeing right now the breakdown of law and order in many of the Democrat controlled cities because they don’t believe in punishing criminals,” Pearce concluded. You can listen to the full interview here: 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 Long distance runner Emily Rudow, 31, was afraid that if she changed her exercise and diet routine, she’d lose the fitness gains she made over the years. The only thing holding her back from getting in better condition, she said, was fear. “I was just scared,” Rudow, a freelance digital marketer who lives in Toronto, told TODAY. “It was like this fear that was holding me back from making a big change.” But after a long-term relationship ended last January, she realized she needed to also break up with her routine. “I just wanted to become an individual again and make a change,” said Rudow, who also co-owns a sports apparel company. Rudow began researching how to switch up her workouts through online videos, journals and articles, she said. Educating herself about fitness, she said, helped ease her anxiety about change. “That opened the doors for being more open-minded to new information and testing out new workout routines and a new diet,” she said. Rudow said switching up her exercise and diet regularly, which she originally wrote about on Medium.com, has made a “big difference in my physique,” because doing so forces her muscles to grow. Not only has she gained a trimmer waistline, she also estimates she’s put on about five pounds of muscle. Here’s how she did it. Rudow thought if she changed her exercise and diet routine, she’d lose the fitness gains she made over the years. Emily Rudow She constantly switches up her routine Rudow’s old workout routine primarily focused on running with upper body strength training three days a week. She consistently stuck with the same exercises and never increased the weight, even as the weights became easier (what’s often referred to in weight training circles as “progressive overload”). The first big change she made was dividing “pull” and “push” upper body workouts into separate workout sessions, which she said helped her isolate muscle groups. A “pull” workout is any workout where your muscles contract when weight is pulled towards your body, she explained, whereas a “push” workout is any workout where your muscles contract when the weight is pushed away. Here is what her new routine looks like: Trending stories,celebrity news and all the best of TODAY. This site is protected by recaptcha Monday: Pull upper body workout Tuesday: Pull leg workout and core Wednesday: Push upper workout Thursday: Push leg workout and core “I think that's really what moved the needle,” she said. Every session, she picks five different exercises for each muscle group and completes 3-4 sets of each workout with 8–15 reps. She varies her workouts even further by mixing in some lower (4-6) and higher reps (+15), as well. She also pushes her muscle to fatigue, she said. Once a weight becomes easy, she moves on to the next heaviest weight. To prevent her body from plateauing, she tries to adjust her routine about every three weeks — adding a new workout for each muscle group. She also changes the order of the exercises, she says. She also runs every day, varying her routine between longer and shorter distances, at different intensities, depending on the day. She varies her diet Rudow also made a big change to her diet. Before, she stuck to high-nutrition foods about 80 percent of the time, she estimates, and did not track her calories. After downloading the app MyFitnessPal, she began tracking everything she ate, and realized she was eating way more than she thought. Using the data, she tracks her calories and “macro” nutrition (fat, carbs and protein), and created a new dieting technique that works for her. Through experimentation, she figured out how much she needed to eat to lose fat while also gaining strength. Since she runs often, she realized that she operates best on a high carb, low fat diet. She also varies her diet, eating at a calorie deficit during the week, and a calorie surplus on weekends (about 500 calories above her deficit). She also allows herself to enjoy some high-calorie foods on weekends like pizza. Cycling her diet this way, she explained, allows her to lose fat while also gaining muscle. “That has worked really well for me,” she said. This approach allows her to build muscle without also packing on fat, she says, noting that limiting her alcohol intake to once a week has also made a big difference. However, she says there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to diet, and that it’s important to experiment. You can keep a journal and track what you eat in an app to help you figure out what works best for you, she said. After changing up her routine, Rudow is now stronger than ever. Rosie Photography She keeps an open mind Over the past few months, Rudow’s local gym temporarily shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced her to make another big change to her routine: she now does almost all of her training at home using a treadmill, stationary bike, dumbbells and ankle weights, though she can still run outside. This change, too, has helped her, she said. “I was 140 before the pandemic, and now I'm at 132, and I've actually gained a lot more muscle and gotten stronger, which is really weird,” said Rudow, who tracks her progress on Instagram. She said her biggest pieces of advice to those who want to break out of their current routine is to keep an open mind, track calories, and make sure you’re getting enough nutrition. “It is a mindset change, as corny as that sounds, it really is,” she said. “You have to be open to trying new things and letting go of your own routine and just being able to challenge yourself, because you're not going to see any gains unless you can challenge yourself and work through complacency.” 

  Published Date: 2020-07-26 

 After a serious car accident in 2014, Elizabeth Gavin suffered from severe back pain. “On and off for four years, I'd mention the pain to doctors when it bothered me, and they'd bring up getting started on the track for weight loss surgery,” Gavin, 31, told TODAY. Doctors told her she shouldn’t be experiencing pain from the accident and the back pain was due to her weight. “I asked for physical therapy and was directed toward nutrition,” she said. Two years later, another doctor discovered Gavin had a severe misalignment of her spine as a result of the accident. She finally had physical therapy to condition the muscles in her back to support her spine and shoulder. During the 4-year ordeal of suffering through the pain, Gavin was cautious about insisting on pain medicine. “I asked for pain meds but was careful because I didn’t want seeking behavior noted in my chart,” she said. Being Black and female in the health care system is complex. A 2017 study in the journal Critical Public Health noted that health care inequities exist for Black women across socioeconomic statuses. The researcher argues that Black women, fully aware of the stereotypes and racism working against them in the health care system, often rely on communication strategies and other skills to navigate doctor-patient interactions and mitigate the effects. Racist beliefs about biological differences between Black and white people can also play a key role in the way medical workers treat or fail to treat Black people’s pain. It’s not, however, just when it comes to pain management that Black women have to advocate for their health care needs. Dr. Joi Bradshaw-Terrell, an OB-GYN in Chicago, Illinois, said the problem isn’t limited to racist beliefs — it’s a part of the health care culture that has served to disempower Black women. “Traditionally, we don't advocate for ourselves,” she said. “Historically, Black women have been taught to see a physician, they tell you something, and you just do it. You don’t ask questions.” Asking questions, however, is the first place she suggests Black women start in their communication strategy with doctors. Dr. Laurie Zephyrin, an OB-GYN and vice president of Delivery System Reform at the Commonwealth Fund, agrees. Trending stories,celebrity news and all the best of TODAY. This site is protected by recaptcha “As an OB-GYN, I always tell my patients there are no bad questions,” said Zephyrin. “It’s your body and your right to ask questions.” However, she said, the doctor-patient experience can be intimidating in the moment. Zephyrin suggests preparing a list of questions in advance, putting them down on paper, and referring to them during the conversation or even handing the list to your provider. Remember — it’s OK and actually your right to ask questions about your treatment as well as what’s being explained to you. Historically, Black women have been taught to see a physician, they tell you something, and you just do it. You don’t ask questions. Dr. Joi Bradshaw-Terrell The number one question Bradshaw-Terrell recommends Black women put on this list is, “What are the top three complaints you hear about this treatment?” “Always make sure you go over the most common side effects or complaints of a treatment plan or medication prescribed to you so you can make an informed decision,” she said. After all, your medical care is your decision. During the short amount of time Bradshaw-Terrell has with her patients during appointments, she makes it a point to ask women if they have any questions. “I read body language to see if my patients understood me. Maybe they have a question or something needs explaining. I try to pause, allow a little timing and make sure each step of my explanation is really understood,” she said. Doctors and nurses often barrel through conversations without considering the unique cultural needs of Black women. Bradshaw-Terrell said don’t be afraid to politely interrupt. “People often feel like they can’t interrupt us. We’re human. We’re just people,” she said. “Don’t think that just because somebody is a physician that makes you inferior.” It’s also never too late to pick up the phone or log into your patient portal and send your doctor a question that you think of later. We’re human. We’re just people. Don’t think that just because somebody is a physician that makes you inferior. Dr. Joi Bradshaw-Terrell Black women often work hard to avoid reinforcing stereotypes and racist beliefs about being less intelligent, non-compliant, argumentative and drug-seeking by not asking too many questions or raising too many concerns. “For Black women, there's often a hesitation to speak up because of how historically health care has treated Black female patients,” said Bradshaw-Terrell. It’s unfortunate that Black women, who already experience high levels of chronic stress from racism, have to put so much effort into navigating the health care system. Black women are less likely to be diagnosed with breast, endometrial and cervical cancer than white women; more likely to die of those typically symptomatic cancers; and more likely to be misdiagnosed, given the wrong treatment, or no treatment at all. The real problem, Bradshaw-Terrell said, is that Black women are often opening up about their symptoms but are quickly shut down. Whether it’s concern about a medication that’s been prescribed, asking for testing or talking about a treatment plan, Zephyrin said if you’re feeling dismissed or not listened to, say so. “Don’t be shy about saying directly, ‘I don’t think you are hearing my concerns,’” she said. In any health care environment, don’t doubt your experience, but do take action. “If you are unsatisfied, hospitals and health systems have patient advocates,” said Zephyrin. “Ask your provider to be connected to the patient advocate or the hospital.” If an interaction with anyone on your medical care team leaves you feeling uneasy, instead of questioning if what you’re experiencing is medical racism or implicit bias, trust your instincts. Get the care you deserve elsewhere. “You don't have to accept that. You don't have to be treated that way,” said Bradshaw-Terrell. There are certainly barriers for many Black women to changing doctors — insurance network limitations, distance and transportation, access to culturally competent providers — and the onus should not be on Black women to receive the care they deserve. However, Bradshaw-Terrell wants Black women to know that the doctor-patient relationship should be just that — a relationship. “When it comes down to it, doctors need to listen to Black women,” she said. “If yours doesn’t, that’s a relationship you need to get out of.”