The history of systematic racism and the US government’s role in numerous attempts to destroy, and in some cases exterminate the African American population in America is yet to be fully told. While the Tuskegee Syphilis Study is famous and well documented, there hundred of cases that are yet to be told. In the Tuskegee US sanctioned study conducted on hundreds of Black men from rural Alabama who were forced to suffer from untreated syphilis, many other similar studies were conducted on Black women and even children.
In Turkegee’s study, thousand of African American men were left to suffer. During the 40-year period, penicillin became widely accepted as an effective treatment for the sexually transmitted disease. But the government deliberately withheld treatment in order to see what would happen.
As the world confronts Covid 19, and scientists have developed a successful Covid-19 vaccine, the world’s next challenge is to ensure that as many people as possible get it. In the United States, racism and governmental role in genocidal studies have risen like Ghosts from the past to hunt America.
At this critical juncture, America is forced to confront its ugly past of racism in healthcare. African Americans this time are not eager to embrace America’s health experts who for years have develop zero trusting relationships with the African American communities.
Medical racism is still prevalent today. Black and Latino’s people have been killed by coronavirus at disproportionately high rates across the US. And racial disparities are evident across the medical field as a whole: Death rates from breast cancer are 40% higher among Black women compared to white women, for example, while Black mothers die in childbirth at three to four times the rate of white women.
Dr. Alexander thinks the lack of vaccination rates correlates to a lack of faith in government.
“The mistrust of our system,” said Dr. Alexander. “The mistrust that African Americans may have about medicine and the government. I’m not on any pharmaceutical payroll, and I don’t get any kickback. I’m not getting paid for anything. There’s no financial gain. It’s more so that we’re concerned about the well-being of the community. African Americans die two-times more than white Americans when you look nationwide.”
In this ensuing debate, many experts are asking the wrong questions why the African American communities are reluctant to accept vaccines.. This issue is not an academic debate, the right and proper question experts should be asking is how did America make almost half of its citizens fear and distrust their very own government. In this context, by asking the right question, the answer lays bare. The issue is NOT African Americans’ lack of scientific knowledge or failure to recognize the deadly nature of Covid 19, the issue is that America is yet to learn from its ugly past.
Afro World News
