Sometimes Race does matter...

by mrsjones5 41 Replies latest jw friends

  • twinkle toes
    twinkle toes

    I'll have to look that up Syl. I have never heard of that.

    I meant no disrespect. I just meant that blackfolks are just as willing to help each other as any other race is. And that if the medical communtity cared as much about saving the lives of minorities as of whites they would maybe spend more time building a database and recruting people, and possibly building trust.

    tt

  • Dark Side
    Dark Side

    Mrs Jones, I unfortunately have a slight case of ADD. Added to that is the fact that I don't like to read posts more than a few sentences long. It sucks for me, I know

    Can you please summerize your post?

  • snowbird
    snowbird

    I know you didn't, Twinkle.

    We Black people have for so long been disregarded and relegated to the trash heap by the powers that be in the USA that it's so very difficult to trust anyone.

    Syl

  • twinkle toes
    twinkle toes

    o.k. So I just read about the Tuskegee Syphilis Project. I feel like a total pill now.

    What a horrific way to treat people. No wonder the trust of the medical communtity is not there. These poor people were lured in thinking they were getting some help and then were abused horribly.

    Thanks for educating me about this Sylvia.

    Were you directly/personally affected by this project Snowbird?

    The Tuskegee syphilis experiment[10] was a clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama, by the U.S. Public Health Service. In the experiment, 400 impoverished black males who had syphilis, were offered "treatment" by the researchers, who told the test subjects that they were treating them for the disease, but in reality did nothing-even though they possessed penicillin, which was known to cure the deadly disease at the time-so that they could observe the effects of syphilis on the human body. By the end of the study in 1972, only 74 of the test subjects were alive. Twenty-eight of the original 399 men had died of syphilis, 100 were dead of related complications, 40 of their wives had been infected, and 19 of their children were born with congenital syphilis. The study was not shut down until 1972, when its existence was leaked to the press, forcing the researchers to stop in the face of public outcry.[11]

    tt

  • snowbird
    snowbird

    Josie said this:

    Well I got to step out, maybe there'll be more replies when I get back.

    DarkSide said this:

    Can you please summerize your post?

    I will attempt to fill in for her.

    Since Black people are a combination of so many other groups, and since an inherent distrust of the medical community prevents many Black people from becoming marrow donors, it's very difficult to find matches should a Black person need a transplant.

    Therefore, we're being asked to reconsider our stance and become donors.

    How'd I do, Josie?

    Syl

  • snowbird
    snowbird
    Were you directly/personally affected by this project Snowbird?

    I don't think so.

    My county - Wilcox - is quite a ways from Macon County, of which Tuskegee is the county seat.

    Syl

  • JWoods
    JWoods
    However, I do believe that there is very little time, effort or cash being spent in recruting these to become donors.
    The reflection of statistics is obvious to me that more resources have been put toward collecting donors for the white community. Not an unwillingness to help by people of color.

    That is almost certainly a big factor. Most donor collection activity is concentrated in the workplace, particularly in higher-end companies. Probably many low income workers are isolated from these efforts - probably we have as many black donors as other races where I work.

    On a related subject, what research and progress has recently been done on sickle-cell anemia? I thought I read once that this is unusually common in both black and european jewish bloodlines and that it was enhanced by close blood relationships and inheritence.

  • snowbird
    snowbird

    My understanding is that stem cell research shows promise for a cure, JWoods.

    I'm a sickle cell trait carrier, so I'm very interested.

    Syl

  • Dark Side
    Dark Side

    "Since Black people are a combination of so many other groups, and since an inherent distrust of the medical community prevents many Black people from becoming marrow donors, it's very difficult to find matches should a Black person need a transplant."

    Thanks. I've never heard that. "Iinherent distrust of the medical community".

    I'll re-read the post in depth. Sounds a little paranoiac.

  • JWoods
    JWoods
    My understanding is that stem cell research shows promise for a cure, JWoods.

    There was a young preteen boy back in the congregations when I was a JW who was very sick with this disease. It affected him in every way - physically, mentally, everything. Black family, but no one else showed any symptoms. He ended up practically institutionalized.

    I hope stem cell helps with it - although, to tell the truth - I sometimes suspect that a lot of hype surrounds the future benefits of stem cell research. (I have nothing against it religiously, of course - just have been a little dissappointed at the lack of progress so far)

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