Category Archives: bigotry

The Tuskegee Experiment

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Thinking about what Jeremiah Wright said regarding AIDS and I dug up the following passage regarding the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis where 399 men where used as human guinea pigs to see what happens to the body after syphilis kills you. The study ran from 1932 to 1972 even though a standard cure for the disease, penicillin, was found in 1947.

The following is from the Tuskegee University Website:

The Legacy of Tuskegee
In 1990, a survey found that 10 percent of African Americans believed that the U.S. government created AIDS as a plot to exterminate blacks, and another 20 percent could not rule out the possibility that this might be true. As preposterous and paranoid as this may sound, at one time the Tuskegee experiment must have seemed equally farfetched.

Who could imagine the government, all the way up to the Surgeon General of the United States, deliberately allowing a group of its citizens to die from a terrible disease for the sake of an ill-conceived experiment? In light of this and many other shameful episodes in our history, African Americans’ widespread mistrust of the government and white society in general should not be a surprise to anyone.

I have to admit not knowing my history here. This is disgusting, and it was done to black citizens by the government.   This is what I’m referring to when I say that   being black in this country comes with a legacy that clouds everything. This is what Mike Huckabee was referring to also – that you really have to walk a mile in the shoes of the oppressed before you start making moral judgments.

More About the Tuskegee Experiment:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

NPR: Remembering the Tuskegee Experiment

Wikipedia: Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male  

Goddamn you Mike Huckabee

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You know it really bothers me that Mike Huckabee did a better job of saying what I wanted to say in my last post; much more to the point.

This is from the conservative, baptist minister and former Presidential candidate:

And one other thing I think we’ve gotta remember. As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say “That’s a terrible statement!”…I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who’s gonna say something like this, but I’m just tellin’ you — we’ve gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told “you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus…” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

WTF is Fuckabee doing? It’s making me re-think my position since I agree with him; not really. He’s right, and that’s really what my point was in my last post.

Why it’s different to be a black American

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The whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy has been a tough one to watch, and it’s taken me a long time to respond because what he has said, at least what I’ve heard of it, didn’t offend me greatly. I disagree with a lot of it – but I’m not about to go protest. It’s a sign of the differences that define us, how we view things. I understand that the America that Wright talks about is the America that hung a noose in Jena; it’s the America that forgot about it’s citizens at the Superdome. It’s easy to label him a crackpot, but I think to do so doesn’t take into account the experience that Black Americans have in this country and our often uncomfortable existence here. I know most White Americans want to put that behind them, but it’s hard to do that for Black Americans.

How can I not immediately repudiate the comments of Wright? Easy, I know where they come from and their root; I don’t agree with Wright’s conclusions, but I do agree with the issues. I’ll give specific examples:

Wright made he comment that AIDS was sent by the government to destroy us. I don’t agree with this. I do believe though that the government’s response to AIDS was tempered by the fact that it seemingly affected only gays, druggies, and blacks. If AIDS affected a different demographic, the response would have been much more quick and forceful. Think about the Reagan administration’s shameful stance on AIDS, the fact that it took Reagan six-years to directly address AIDS. Need recent proof of this? Look at the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina. If that had struck Manhattan, I believe the response would have been different.

In Wright’s infamous “Goddamn America” quote, if you listen to the content of what he’s saying, it’s about the fact that United States has never made it easy to be black in this country, and yet expects blacks to be the stereotypical Toby Keith American. We defended this country in the first two World Wars with distinction but without recognition. Today the Iraq war is being fought primarily by the poor and what do they come back to? Walter Reed.

The comment that Wright made about blacks have to be twice as good as their white counterparts is something black Americans have accepted as part of our reality. Racism is a personal experience for most blacks, it’s not something that you’re on the sideline for; not getting a cab or being followed in a store. Even the benign – saying Colin Powell “is so well spoken”, that a well spoken black – doesn’t “sound black”, as if 50 Cent and the NFL defines what a black person should sound like; if you really think about those comments, you realize how offensive they are.

Every black person has to make the choice as to how they view their experience in his country. I believe that we can work together to improve a country that needs improving. I don’t believe America is perfect – but it is the best country in history. The choice blacks make is a familiar one – it’s Martin Luther King or Malcolm X; it’s Jesse Jackson or Louis Farrakhan; it’s Black Panthers or the NAACP, and you make the choice knowing you can’t fully repudiate the other. If you can’t understand, you can’t, but in the end try and judge the man for who he is.

OK – that’s what I think. I decided to not open this post up for comments because it’s insanely personal, and I know it’s potential fodder for the whackjobs like Michelle.

If You don’t agree with me, you don’t agree – that’s what’s great about this country.

Barack Obama displays grace under pressure

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What an amazing speech today by Barack Obama. Even though his competitors are blanketing the web with divisive vitriol, Obama chose to spoke of unity. He took the comments of Reverend Wright on headfirst, and spoke of a reality that most politicians are afraid to discuss.

Tonight I got a comment from someone who obviously had an ax to grind. She chooses to believe in hate. I won’t. Here’s my response to this woman:

Barack Obama doesn’t represent the entire black experience. He will know people that he doesn’t agree with. He will be close to people who are racist and not agree with them. Here’s the thing – what people need to realize is that many black people inherently distrust the government and by extension white people. Every black person, no matter how caring and open-minded, will know people like Rev. Wright. Just like every white person probably knows some one that is racist – doesn’t mean that they are racist. Hillary Clinton grew up in Chicago with a father from Scranton – let me tell you, she knew (knows) some people with racist tendencies. Bill Clinton grew up in Arkansas – need I say more?

What Obama effectively did today was distance himself from the words of another, while recognizing that the disenfranchisement from which it is born is real and justifiable. While Wright chooses to deal in a world where there is no improvement possible, Obama spoke of unity.

One more thing – just because Obama is black, doesn’t mean he speaks for all black people. Why do people think that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and now Barack Obama need to speak for the entire community?

Obama speaks for the United States. People like you speak (and not very well – it’s called a 7th grade education, look into one) for isolationism.

As for your ridiculous comments about the anthem and the pin – they are just that, ridiculous. You said it yourself, they are code – and you do it because you’re suppose to. That diminishes the meaning of the symbol. The same for placing you hand over your heart.

You should read the text of the Obama speech today. It was a game changing speech. I’m sure HRC supporters didn’t want this kind of response. If you want to know if the man can handle pressure, today he showed he could. Today’s speech didn’t help HRC at all.

Dixie in Pennsylvania: Racism in Litiz, Pennsylvania

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The Jena 6 story is sobering. It reminds everyone that for as advanced as we think our society to be, old bigotries are not non-existent, just put away in the basement, away from the prying eyes of visitors. But just like my cluttered old house, you can’t hide everything. The dust bunnies in the corner pile up and one day threaten to trip me on the way into the house. For many people in the northeast, we think of the south as the basement – things that happen there, could never happen here, right?

Wrong.

There’s always been the grudging acceptance in Pennsylvania of its dixie of the north status. Derisively known as Pennsyltucky or Pennsylbama ( Philadelphia and Pittsburgh on the east and west – and Kentucky or Alabama in between). Technically a blue state, purple is more accurate. Still the story of what’s happening in Lititz, Pennsylvania needs to be broadcast across the country. Racism isn’t something relegated to the south – it’s live and kicking here in the north too. Litiz is about 75 miles away from Philadelphia in Lancaster County. A predominantly white community, and as with the rest of the country, it is dealing with a diversification of it’s demographics. This diversification has led to incidents in the high school where white students have accosted and taunted black students and their parents. There’s talk of a “redneck row” where only white students are allowed to park their pickup trucks. Liberal use of the word nigger.

Unlike the situation in Jena, the authorities have reacted appropriately by suspending the students responsible. There hasn’t any retaliation by the black students (although this situation is new and bears keeping an eye on). Still it is sad to see cases like this crop up across the country. Even at Columbia University, an Ivy League college, there have been racial incidents in the recent months. While the Jena 6 story deserves all the attention it has received, we need to keep a close eye closer to home. Traveling to the south to protest racism is not required – there’s enough to protest in our backyards, whether it be the Jena, LA or Lititz, PA. I’m hoping more light is shed on stories such as these.

Pay attention to what’s going on in your house – not everything can be hidden away in the basement.

Racial Harmony Upsets a Small Town – Philadelphia Inquirer

Noose Targets Columbia University Professor – ABC News

Swelling the population of Jena, LA

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Today is my birthday and the best gift I could have received is seeing people stand up for the Jena 6 in massive numbers.

Currently watching the CNN Special Investigation on the Jena 6 and I’m amazed that people don’t understand that you may think there is no racism, and you may think that things are peachy, but if you’re white, that opinion doesn’t mean much. Don’t read too much into that statement. What I’m saying is that hearing the whites in town say there’s no racism in town is like hearing a convict say that they’re innocent. The people that have been oppressed in Jena, have lived under that oppression for decades. The whites in Jena of course think there is no problem and of course the blacks think they’re awash in problems.

My questions: Where is the Governor or Attorney General in all this? How about the President? One woman says the town needs to learn the lessons of the past – in the year 2007, that they haven’t learned these lessons, is a testament to what’s wrong in this town.

My thanks to everyone that went there. I wish I could be with you.

A Jena 6 Update

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So tomorrow there’s a march in Jena, Louisiana. I’m very glad that those that are attending, aren’t “staying the hell home”. I wish I could be with them because what’s going on in Jena is true racism. So many people play the race card when it isn’t warranted. Not to say, that there aren’t varying degrees of racism, but what these young men are putting up with, is far more than I’ve seen in my 39 years. It’s been over a century since slavery ended, but the vestiges of it are live and kicking in the south.

Tomorrow night on CNN they’ll be running a special report Special Investigations Unit: Judgment in Jena. I’m glad CNN has been so big in getting the word out. I’m thankful it has kicked Hollywood starlets out of the limelight.