Through
my recent health crises I have been approached by too many people with too many
theories and too much time on their hands to decry and avoid what is loosely termed
as “western medicine.” I am starting to
believe that this is the term applied to any kind of pill, treatment or
practitioner found in a hospital. That’s
the only thing I can believe as of yet.
Those who are quick to place our healthcare purveyors in the same
landfill really do not do their cause any justice.
I’ve
been told that there are people who have “cured cancer and HIV with sea moss”
and I’ve been told that I no longer need chemotherapy as I have the power,
within, to “shrink your (my) tumours with your (my) mind.” I’ve also heard from people who were so
adamant in their need to decide against western healthcare that they were
legally forced, with threats of loss of children and incarceration, to have
their child’s cancer treated. The child,
I’m happy to report, is still alive. The
mother, on the other hand, states, “I will never thank western medicine for
saving my son.” I actually saved that
email because the woman’s words were so very unbelievable that I had to keep
the evidence of an almost-crime.
I’ve
been introduced to healers who have never set foot into any medical academy as
well as those who claim to only be able to operate if the gods have been
obliged to listen in on the conversation (translation: pay before you play). Since my diagnosis of complex cancer I have
not been able to make sense of this thing I’m going to call non-western
medication. It isn’t as ancient as
Eastern healthcare and has none of its traditions. What it seems to be, more than anything, is
just another hustle playing on the ignorance of desperate people who have had a
history of betrayal via events such as the Tuskegee experiment (for over three
decades Black American men were allowed to suffer syphilis and had the
progression of the disease charted while the men infected loved ones and
families) and medical experimentation for profit entities on places such as
Parchmon farm in Mississippi (cosmetic , food, and pharmaceutical companies) to
the use of deception in the sterilization of Black women in southern states
(Fannie Lou Hamer is perhaps one of the most famous cases of a rural Black
woman who went to a clinic, was told she needed minor surgery, and did not find
out until many years later that she had been sterilized against her will). The fertility of the ground for disbelief by
Blacks of White practitioners is as rich as the soil which surrounds the
Mississippi River.
Yes. There are indeed vast territories of lies and
frankly speaking crimes against the humanity of Black American citizens in the
ocean of medical care and concern we have received at the hands of persons
known. And that personage, in most
cases, was the White medical community which had to be convinced that the
health of Black America was worth the trouble it took to save and secure. Those battles for healthcare were fought with
Black hands firmly placed in learned Black hands in the early days of
historically Black colleges and universities such as Howard University and
Meharry (naming two of the most prolific).
The Black university became the training grounds for nurses and doctors
until state universities would allow entrance of Blacks and city programs would
allow young Black women a seat in classrooms where nurses were trained. A stellar example of this program can be
found in the history of nursing education in the city of St. Louis. Nursing was an option one could select after
completion of elementary school. The
program was administered by St. Louis Public Schools. There was an additional program available
through what was then known as Jewish Hospital (later changed to Barnes-Jewish
and presently known as Barnes – Jewish – Christian Hospitals or BJC). In each example given this training was
either the result for a need for Black (“coloured”) nurses during and after
World War II and the advances brought about by Civil Rights Era legislation
during the early years of the decades which spanned the Korean War until the
conclusion of the armed conflicts of which comprise Vietnam. Black Americans became trained in the medical
professions as a continuation of family history and status or as the need arose
due to international engagement in military conflicts. In either case, socio-economic strata who
received training were never from the lowest classes of Blacks; they were
either elite or from the top of blue-collar, working class families.
With
this foundational information firmly in hand one must surmise that those most
likely to be effected by the misdeeds of White and Western medicine are those
who are now, most likely to be misled by a coterie of entrepreneurs who use
racism as their primary basis for leading Black Americans away from faith in
established medical avenues such as hospitals and clinics and towards products
which do not list ingredients, do not have results of testing, and moreover may
not ever address the health concerns or claims which seem to have no shame or
cessation. It’s a “pimper’s paradise
(Bob Marley)” for those who can spin a tale with the most flourish and
showmanship reminiscent of the country, itinerant Baptist minister. Please allow me my anger as it cannot be
contained when lives are in the balance.
Over
and over I have asked what I felt were cogent questions of the persons who
either touted or sold these products or who believed in the people who loosely
call themselves doctors. It seems that
asking, “Where did you attend and graduate medical training” somehow translates
into rudeness. It also seems that asking
for a product list is proof that I am somehow against a Black man trying to
make a living. And finally, my inability
to travel to a clinic in the Honduras signals that I am somehow a discredit to
my ‘race.’
Finally
I was forced to consider the role of religion in the morass of arguments
against this mythical evil creature western medicine. In my diagnosis, cancer, I was told that
without treatment I would probably live no more than six months. With chemotherapy the probability added 30
more precious months to my life span.
Calling the distance of someone’s life is a taboo in Black American
Protestantism (Baptist Church). It is
the express power of God and only God to know when a human will be born or
die. It is also the sole property of God
to say when an injury or illness has placed a sufferer beyond medical
attention. In this religion
paradigm, God can breathe life into “dry
bones,” call the dead back from the grave (Lazarus), and cure those who had
diseases which did not immediately end life but nevertheless made life very
problematic to say the least (i. e. leprosy).
There is no acceptance of mathematical or scientifically compiled
statistics based upon averages of outcomes in certain situations. My prognosis, does not take into an account
anything which cannot be scientifically predicted such as remission or an event
that is best couched in the realm of the supernatural, such as a miracle. Remissions and miracles occur every day but
they are not apropos to the scientific method.
Therefore, the numbers are chosen and in the interest of full disclosure
and medical transparency they are related to people like me who choose to allow
them to be weights or simply just another factotum in the long list of data
which eventually becomes part of the background music of a life spent in
pursuit of life. This is not blasphemy, its
science. Nothing more and nothing
less. Thought processes of those who
have yet to benefit from either higher education or secondary education which
included more than the generic biology class may have a harder time
incorporating and delineating what is the property of science and what is the
property of God and what are the areas the two entities share.
At
first the diagnosis was a shock. Then it
was a weight. Then it became a puzzle I
would attempt to unravel. Finally it has
become something which I have accepted as part of the disease. This is what cancer does. It takes over. It violates.
It divides. It schemes without
regard to the amount of suffering incurred.
It is not personal and it isn’t even a business. It just is.
It is not a judgment from God. It
is not a gift. It is no different from
catching a cold but far more detrimental and costly to treat. This gives rise to the next theory which
divides people from medicine. Cost. We are told that there is more money in
treating cancer than in curing cancer. From
where I sit today and with the conversations I’ve had with others who live with
or have survived cancer I do not believe that there are hospitals which gain
clear profits from cancer. Additionally,
if you cannot tell how or why something begins how can you become assured that
it even has a cure? There are virtually
thousands of types of cancers. We often
say, “cancer cure” as if it is a single battle and that is a huge disservice
and lack of respect for an enemy which daily extracts life from young and old,
rich and poor, those with the best medical treatment and those who either
cannot or do not seek treatment. I have
been told that there is a Dr. Sebi who has “cured cancer and HIV” and that there
is an herb called, “sour sop” which also has “cured cancer.” Yet, I have yet to see any evidence or
medical facts which can attest to these claims.
The premise is that poor people do not have access to these cures and
that the itinerant health care professional who does not use western medicine
to heal is really acting as an equalizer on behalf of poor people. If the claims made by those who are devoted to
Dr. Sebi (as an example) were true wouldn’t he have joined the ranks of the
wealthy a very long time ago? If only in
sales of books on how he managed this feat?
If the claims regarding sour sop or any other organic healer were true
wouldn’t every household in America with an accessible square foot or two of
dirt be the growing place of this tree?
Logic would dictate that the responsible person would take to this
specific horticultural cultivation if only to preserve future generations. The fact is this: it isn’t true. And further, in terms of economic gain, a
conspiracy to keep “the cure” out of the hands of poor people would have to
involve a pact between pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, teaching hospitals,
clinics, doctors, nurses, and university research institutions world-wide. Added to that would be the ever-present rogue
scientist whose measure of greatness has only one goal: earning the Nobel Prize in science. There is no amount of money in this world
which would buy this coveted award.
There is no amount of money in the next world which would arrest the
efforts of students, scholars, and universities in the pursuit of this crowning
jewel.
For
people who have no idea what any of these institutions are the only measure is
that of racism. People who have a
fervent belief that racism is an excuse for everything and cause for everything
and a rational for all things which keep them in darkness and ignorance cannot
touch base with four Chinese scientists who spend every waking moment trying to
untangle the mystery of why a certain gene always denotes an incident of
cancer. Those who are ignorant of where
glory lies for a scientist can be easily misled at every turn with stories of
how “big pharma” has gained control of markets all over the world and how
governments are gaining kickbacks and how hospitals and research institutions
are complicit in this effort to keep the poor dying and the rich living are
woefully rapt listeners and purchasers of cures from people who look just like
them. These new cures are without the
ancient proving grounds of Eastern medicine which can range from 8th
century eye surgeries successfully executed by African, Arab and Muslim doctors
and scientists to herbology, reflexology, and healing massage and acupuncture
carefully protected and studied in China (as well as throughout other eastern
nations). No. These new “doctors” do not prescribe eastern
or western medicine. All they really
sell is a feeling that one is “getting back” at racism, past injustices, and
keeping money revolving within the Black community. As I’ve stated before, these purveyors have
had very little success at curing any disease other than those which are cured
by the common sense of eating right, sleep, water intake, and stress
reduction.
The
pioneer for this type of healthcare is undeniably Dick Gregory. During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s Mr.
Gregory became involved in the health of Black America. Not once did he ever claim to cure cancer or
any other deadly disease. His work in
manufacturing products as well as the establishment of his clinics was two-fold
and came in the form of (1) teaching and (2) creation of products which could
be used along with but not in place of care given by hospitals. He did not usurp the place of those who had
earned medical degrees and neither did he ever represent himself as a
doctor. He brought doctors of color,
Black doctors, to the attention of those seeking relief from conditions but was
never divisive in his approach. It was a
lesson in syncretism as opposed to assimilation; natural methods working to
make the instances of more stringent pharmaceuticals and surgery less
necessary. Furthermore, Mr. Gregory
incorporated tenets of African healing arts such as meditation, diets which
eschewed sugar as damaging to the body, mind as well as spirit. Mr. Gregory’s approach was holistic in a
Pan-African sense and gave credence to the fact that African Americans are
still very much in possession of an African homeostasis. Two hundred years in one place does not
negate the evolutionary characteristics of an organism which has spent 10,000
years in another place.
Mr.
Gregory’s approaches to health care are also decidedly Pan-African as they
preceded colonialism as well as Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. This is key to the discussion of assimilation
within an existing system versus syncretism of cultural healing practices
without which do not allow the concurrent application of western medicine. The new healers’ approaches are divergent
from the founder (Gregory) as they urge the sick and ailing to choose one over the
other. After consultation with a houngan
or mambo the Haitian sick will still travel to the hospital (when finances
permit) and utilize both. This is the
case in Jamaica where Mr. Gregory’s clinics were first established. He offered an additional route to healing and
not an obliteration of established roads.
As has been found in far too many recent instances of independence
without an immediately readied transitional phase, the boat is destroyed while
the sailors are still stuck at sea. To
wit, the new healers have no connection with Pan-African thought, Caribbean
cultural practices, or early pioneers in the field of medicine catering
specifically to the needs of Black America.
The apparent goal which comes to mind is capitalism.
In the
goal of creating capital in a free market society, these new practitioners seek
profit against all directions of ancient and traditional thought: Eastern, Western and African as well. Yet, for some, they remain a relevant form of
treatment in order to obtain a semblance of racial independence and self-determination. And, much to my dismay as I tried to research
and decide what was fact and what was fiction, to question the products,
methods, or even the level of academic attainment of an individual who sells
himself or herself as a doctor or healthcare provider the mere act of positing
questions was an indicator of my lack of racial pride.
Questions
for Those Who Do Not Practice Established Eastern Medicine or Western Medicine: A Guide to Treatment
1. What
is the medical background of the manufacturer?
2. What
are the ingredients of the formula and in what amounts?
3. How
long has it been in existence?
4. Has
there been outside (independent) testing?
5. Under
what conditions and where is the product manufactured, packaged and shipped?
6. What
is the level of academic attainment of the people who manufacture the
drug/treatment?
7. What
are the governmental departments which oversee the production of
pharmaceuticals (i.e. OSHA, DEA, etc.)?
8.
During testing, what was the sample size?
9. How
large of a group was used to test the medicine and under what controls?
10. Was
the product tested on various age groups?
11. Was
the product tested on healthy adults?
12.
What time period was used to determine the effectiveness of the medication?
13.
Where are the testimonials of those who have been helped and or cured?
14. Is
there pre-disease testing available for those who give testimonials?
15.
Were the persons who gave testimonials examined by physicians who receive no
benefit or are not connected to the product(s)?
16.
Were there any fatalities during testing?
17.
Were there any fatalities of patients using the drug/treatment?
18.
Were there any university trials of this medication?
19.
Were there any university trials at top tier research institutions or medical/surgical/research
teaching hospitals?
20. Is
the person prescribing the drug a physician or a research doctor?
As is
often the case with questioning, more questions will arise. I would like to reiterate that my conversation
is a niche area without relevance in any place except for the United States and
without reference to any other people than Black Americans. There are many instances throughout the
African Diasporas of healers who treat bodies and minds in obeisance to
religion, class, and cultural inheritance(s).
To bring an example from a specific source I have to offer the case of
Nigerians in medical professions. Before
independence, Nigerians were trained as doctors in universities and hospitals
inside of the British Empire.
Post-independence, there were concessions made by the University of
London to train Nigerian doctors and also to create clinics and health care
facilities which did not require travel to London in order to access. None of these concessions were ever created
in the medical fields for Black Americans during slavery, Reconstruction, or
post-Reconstruction. The closest
similarity would be an all-inclusive grant to Howard University from the
Freedman’s Bureau. Other than those
instances, which again, were not specifically for medical training, Black
health care was funded by Black American individuals and businesses (please see
the history of The Knights of Tabor and self-funding of hospitals and clinics
in Mound Bayou, MS). Black healthcare,
in Black America, has never been de-mystified and therefore can always be used
against those who are most likely to be disenfranchised by the wider, mainstream
system(s).
It is
perhaps one more unforeseen occurrence of de Tocqueville’s observation of the peculiarity
of American slavery that a body of injustices would begin to accumulate and
consequently occlude even the most rational thinkers. The twin snakes of Aeschylus have multiplied
in larger numbers and instead of gracefully twisting around a staff, they are
so very entwined that where one begins and the other ends is a conundrum which
may only been solvable by artificial intelligence. And while we all wait for treatments and
cures more will die without necessity.
Some, yes, at the hands of western medicine. And others will die because they listened with
their racial hearts and placed their trust in men and women whose only recommendation
is an ability to inflame a fatally misguided racial pride.
Bibliography: References Used and Selected Texts for
Further Reading
Outlaw Culture;
Resisting Representations by bell hooks
Golden Age of the Moor
by Ivan van Sertima
Medical Apartheid; The
Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times
to the Present by Harriet A. Washington
A Country of Strangers;
Blacks and Whites in America by David K. Shipler
Buried in the Bitter
Waters; The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America by Elliot Jaspin
To Serve My Country, To
Serve My Race; The Story of the Only African American WACs Stationed Oversees
During World War II by Brenda L. Moore
Slavery by Another Name;
The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by
Douglas A. Blackmon
A History of Nigeria by
Toyin Falola and Matthew M. Heaton
The Politics of
Knowledge; Area Studies and the Disciplines by David Seanton (Editor).
