Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLeonard Pitts Jr.: In pandemic fight, distrust is killing Black Americans
In pandemic fight, distrust is killing Black Americans | Opinion
Leonard Pitts Jr.
They told them they had bad blood.
What they actually had was syphilis, but the U.S. Public Health Service never shared that diagnosis with the almost 400 African American men, most of them poor and under-educated sharecroppers, they recruited for a secret study at Tuskegee Institute in 1932. Indeed, health officials did little for those men for 40 years, except watch the progression of the disease.
That was the goal of the study: to see what happens when syphilis is left unchecked. And they did see. Syphilis is a venereal disease that can lead to paralysis, blindness, deafness, dementia, heart trouble, brain damage and death.
People often point to the so-called Tuskegee Experiment to explain why African Americans tend to mistrust the medical establishment, but while what happened in Alabama was obscene, it was hardly unique. To the contrary, from experimental procedures on the vaginas of enslaved women to grave robbers stealing Black bodies for use in medical schools, from forced sterilization in the name of eugenics to new mother Serena Williams having to battle doctors and nurses who ignored her as she suffered a life-threatening medical emergency, Black people have been routinely betrayed by this profession whose prime directive is, First, do no harm. So the mistrust is grounded in hard experience.
....(snip)....
My boys and I, we do this dance. They give me their reasons for not getting the shot, I give them rebuttals.
It was developed too fast, they say. Its called an emergency, I say; you get out of the house faster when its burning.
I dont know whats in it, they say. You dont know whats in Cheez Whiz, I say, but that doesnt stop you from eating it.
There may be side effects to taking it, they say. Well, the side effect to not taking it could be death. .............(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2021/08/14/vaccine-skepticism-killing-black-americans/8127308002/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
7 replies, 768 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (4)
ReplyReply to this post
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Leonard Pitts Jr.: In pandemic fight, distrust is killing Black Americans (Original Post)
marmar
Aug 2021
OP
I know. I always wonder if blacks who say that think there are special vials for blacks only?
Dream Girl
Aug 2021
#2
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)1. Well we whites are taking it too.
Its not like its only being offered to blacks as some sort of trick.
Dream Girl
(5,111 posts)2. I know. I always wonder if blacks who say that think there are special vials for blacks only?
Or maybe special vials goes to black areas. Its beyond stupid. I do wonder if there are anti-vaccine disinformation campaigns targeting blacks with this shit. Im black and my sister refuses to take the vaccine.
MichMan
(11,939 posts)3. What are the reasons she is refusing it?
Dream Girl
(5,111 posts)4. Conspiracy theories online. She was saying back in spring 2020, that she wouldn't take a vaccine
If it were available. I think it started years ago when the swine flu vaccine vaccine cased adverse reactions. Shes kind of an all or nothing thinking. Ive tried to convince but it just raises my blood pressure. She wont budge.
Treefrog
(4,170 posts)6. Two of my black neighbors are not taking it.
The wife is a nurse. Perfectly nice and intelligent people
I dont get it.
My partner is black, and she was vaxxed before me. One of her sisters, however, is not.
jalan48
(13,871 posts)5. Anti-vaxers cut a wide swath across our society.
UnderThisLaw
(318 posts)7. Wow, they're all over this thread