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A Weekly Column By Walter B. Hoye II
Conflict Of
Interest
In the abortion debate, is there a "Conflict of Interest"within the Black community and among her leaders?
Subscribe Unsubscribe Forward Archives Issue No.: 2012.177
Environmental Products (8)
The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Poor, Rural Black American Men In The South Thought They Were
Receiving "Free Health Care" From The United States Government
"The United States government did something that was wrongdeeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our
commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens clearly racist!" President William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton's apology
for the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment to the eight remaining survivors, May 16th, 1997 1
For forty (40) years between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS)
conducted an experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. 2
http://www.sharethis.com/share?url=http://www.issues4life.org/blast/2012177.html&title=Conflict+Of+Interest&summary=Is+there+a+conflict+of+interest+within+the+Black+community+and+among+her+leaders?+Could+her+leaders+be+complicit+in+the+carnage+of+their+own+people?+Walter+Hoye%27s+weekly+column+examines+the+abortion+debate+from+an+Black-American%27s+perspective+with+a+Judeo+Christian+Worldview.&img=http://www.issues4life.org/images/20090525walterhoye.jpg&publisher=cd4a03ed-661d-424c-8305-634e10fbd2d5http://www.sharethis.com/share?url=http://www.issues4life.org/blast/2012177.html&title=Conflict+Of+Interest&summary=Is+there+a+conflict+of+interest+within+the+Black+community+and+among+her+leaders?+Could+her+leaders+be+complicit+in+the+carnage+of+their+own+people?+Walter+Hoye%27s+weekly+column+examines+the+abortion+debate+from+an+Black-American%27s+perspective+with+a+Judeo+Christian+Worldview.&img=http://www.issues4life.org/images/20090525walterhoye.jpg&publisher=cd4a03ed-661d-424c-8305-634e10fbd2d5http://www.issues4life.org/newsletters.htmlmailto:?subject=You%20Gotta%20Read%20This...&body=Greetings%20%5BYour%20Friend%27s%20Name%20Here%5D:%0A%0aI%20recommend%20you%20check%20out%20this%20link:%0A%0a-%20%20http://www.issues4life.org/blast/2012177.html%0A%0aYou%20gotta%20read%20this%20article%20from%20Walter%20Hoye%27s%20weekly%20column.mailto:[email protected]?subject=Unsubscribe&body=Newsletter%20Manager:%0A%0aPlease%20remove%20my%20email%20address%20from%20your%20list.%0A%0AThank%20you.http://www.issues4life.org/foundationnewsletter.htmlhttp://www.issues4life.org/blast/2012177.html7/31/2019 Environmental Products (8)
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By 1910 my grandparents, in the South are two (2) and four (4) years old.
Executive Summary
"Arguably The Most Infamous Bio-Medical Research Study In U.S. History" 3
"The men's status did not warrant ethical debate. They were subjects, not patients; clinical material, not sick people." Dr. John
R. Heller, M.D., Director of the Public Health Service's Division of Venereal Diseases 4
Between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama
the United States Public Health Service
(PHS), which by the fall of 1979 would become
the United States Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) 5,6 wholly dedicated to
"improving the health, safety, and well-being of
America," 7 studied the natural progression of
untreated syphilis in Black American men
who thought they were receiving free health care from their government to the
bitter end.
8
United States Public Health Service investigators recruited a total ofsix hundred (600) impoverished, Black American sharecroppers from Macon
County, Alabama. 9 Three hundred and ninety-nine (399) had previously contracted
syphilis before the study began. Two hundred and one (201) never had the
disease. 10 As reasonable compensation for participating in the study, the Black
American men were offered a free health care
planthat included free meals and free burial
insurance from the then trusted United States
government. 11 The test subjects were never
told they had syphilis and they were never
treated for it. 12 According to the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC), the men were told they
were being treated for "bad blood," a local term
used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue. 13 While
the Tuskegee study failed all ethical standards (including the 1947 Nuremberg
Code14) protecting the legal rights of research subjects and prohibiting human
experimentation, it was especially villainous, vile and vicious because the study's
researchers knowingly failed to treat patients after penicillin was validated as an
effective cure for syphilis in the 1940s. 15 IN SUMMARY: Twenty-eight (28) men
died of syphilis, one-hundred (100) men died from related complications, at least
forty (40) wives were infected and nineteen (19) children contracted congenital
syphilis at birth. 16
By 1932 my parents, born in the South, are two (2) and three (3) years old.
Part One: The Background
Working "ForThe Glory Of Science"
"The Longest Non-Therapeutic Experiment On Humans In Medical History" 17
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"The Tuskegee Study had nothing to do with treatment. No new drugs were tested; neither was any effort made to establish the
efficacy of old forms of treatment. It was a nontherapeutic experiment, aimed at compiling data on the effects of the spontaneous
evolution of syphilis on Black males." James Howard Jones, Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment 18
The Oslo study of Untreated Syphilis, began
in 1909 and was published in 1928. 19 This
epidemiological investigation of the natural
course of the syphilitic infection based upon a re-
study of the "Boeck-Bruusgaard Material"
reported on the natural history of untreated
syphilis in White males. 20 By 1932 the overtly
racist assumptions then prevalent in American
medicine, inclined physicians to believe that
syphilis would react differently in Black American men. 21 Dr. Taliaferro Clark,
who is credited with the Tuskegee study's origin, initially wanted to study untreated
syphilis in a group of Black American men for
six (6) to eight (8) months and then follow up
with a treatment phase. 22 However, Dr. Clark
didn't like how expensive the treatment phase ofthe study was, calling the "spinal taps" given to
the patients "treatment" and agreed with the
deceptive methods recommended by his deputy,
Dr. Raymond H. Vonderlehr, such as not
disclosing the seriousness ofuntreated syphilis
and misrepresenting daily doses of aspirin and
iron supplements as useful medication to the
volunteers of the study. 23,24 To better
understand Dr. Clark's attitude toward the Black
American's in the study, when referring to thevolunteers he said: "These Negroes are very ignorant and easily influenced by
things that would be of minor significance in a more intelligent group." 25Dr. Clark
retired after the first year and was replaced by
Dr. Vonderlehrwho went on to gain the consent
of the volunteers to endure "spinal taps" by
calling them "special free treatment." 26,27 Dr.
Vonderlehrretired in 1943 and was replaced by
Dr. John R. Heller as Director of the United
States Public Health Service's Division of
Venereal Diseases. 28 In 1972 when the public
learned the truth about the study, Dr. Heller
refused to acknowledge the inherent inhumanity
of the study, its similarities to Nazi human experimentation and defended the study's
unethical practices saying: "There was nothing in the experiment that was unethical
or unscientific." 29 "For the most part, doctors and civil servants simply did their jobs.
Some merely followed orders, others worked forthe glory of science." 30
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By the end of 1956 I am four (4) months old in Detroit, Michigan.
Part Two: On The Hill
A Congressional Hearing Was In Order
The Democratic Party Called for A Congressional Hearing To Investigate
"I didn't want to believe it. This was the Public Health Service. We didn't do things like that." Peter Buxtun, the whistleblower
responsible for ending the Tuskegee syphilis experiment. 31
In December of 1965 Peter Buxtun, a social
worker and epidemiologist in San Francisco, was
hired by the Public Health Service to interview
patients with sexually transmitted diseases. 32 In
the course of his work, Buxtun learned of the
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. In November
1966 he filed an official protest and the United
States Center for Disease Control (CDC)
responded by asserting that the study must
continue until all of the patients had died,allowing the researchers the opportunity to
autopsy all
the
patients. 33 This conclusion was also backed by
the National Medical Association and the
American Medical Association. 34 In 1968
Buxtun, filed another protest and again, his
concerns were ruled irrelevant. 35 By 1972 Peter
Buxtun leaked information on the Tuskegee
Experiment to Associated Press reporter Jean
Heller (no relation to Dr. John R. Heller). Jean
Heller's story, in the Washington Evening Star
exposing the ruthlessly
racist Tuskegee Syphilis
Experiment was published on
Tuesday, July 25th, 1972. 36 The next day, the story became
front-page news in the New York Times. 37 Senator Edward
Kennedy from Massachusetts, a member of the Democratic
Party, called for a Congressional hearing where Peter Buxtun
testified. 38 Shortly thereafter (Thursday, November 16th, 1972)
the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was terminated. 39Thank God! Understandably,
the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment created a deep and abiding distrust of
governmental health care programs among Black Americans that is still in effect
today.
By 1972 I am a sixteen (16) year old, high schooler in California.
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In 1972 Democrat Carl Bert Albert was Speaker of the House.
Part Three: In The White House
A Presidential Apology Was In Order
The Democratic Party Reached Out To Restore The Trust Of Black
American's
"What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the
eye and finally say on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful, and I am sorry To
our African American citizens, I am sorry that your federal government orchestrated a study so clearly racist." PresidentWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton's apology for the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment to the eight remaining survivors, May 16th,
1997 40
The United States Public Health Service's
Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was reminiscent
of Nazi experiments in Nuremberg. For twenty-
five (25) years Black Americans lived with the
explanation that the United States Public
Health Service's researchers "merely followed
orders" or sacrificially "worked forthe glory of
science." I do not have the words to express
how much it meant to Black Americans to hear
President Clinton, on Friday, May 16th, 1997
apologize to the surviving Tuskegee patients on behalf of the nation.
By 1997 I am a licensed and ordained Baptist preacher in the Bay Area.
"To the survivors, to the wives and
family members, the children and thegrandchildren, I say what you know: No
power on Earth can give you back the
lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of
internal torment and anguish. What was
done cannot be undone. But we can
end the silence. We can stop turning
our heads away. We can look at you in
the eye and finally say, on behalf of the
American people: what the United
States government did was shameful. And I am sorry. The Americanpeople are sorry for the loss, for the years of hurt. You did nothing
wrong, but you were grievously wronged. I apologize and I am sorry
that this apology has been so long in coming." 41
Today I work full time in the Pro-Life movement to reach Black America.
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In 1973, just sixty-seven (67) days after Merlin K. DuVal,
Assistant Secretary to the United States Department of
Health, Education and Welfare (HEW), wrote to Dorothy
P. Rice, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control
(CDC), to terminate the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
in 1972, the United States Supreme Court decided both Roe and Doe,
establishing a constitutional right to abortion on demand. 42
In 1972 Richard Milhous Nixon was President of the United States of America.
Conclusion
A New OrderIs In Order
"Sincere," "Sound" and "Good-Faith" Investments Are Needed
"I think he [Mitt Romney] has serious ideas. I just think those ideas would scare a lot of the American public. And I think that when
the public hears them and hears that he is serious, then we get down to we're not talking about Obamacare, we're talking about
your health care, we're talking about your Social Security, we're talking about your Medicare. When it starts coming into my
house that's why I said when I spoke at the Martin Luther King Memorial, it's not about Obama, it's about your
momma." Al Sharpton, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Live Thursday, December 29th, 2011 43
I am often asked to explain "how can" and "why
do" Black American's embrace Obamacare.
Frankly While Black Americans have already
experienced the manifold blessings of "free
health care" under both White Democratic and
White Republican administrations, the
Democratic Party has publicly acknowledged
America's racist tendencies and boldly invested
in Black America by way ofBlack Americans.This is not to say that the Democratic Party's investments in my community have
been "sincere," "sound" or even "good-faith" investments. Not at all. However,
this is to deliberately say, that "sincere,""sound" and "good-faith" investments
are exactly how New Order Investments by the Republican Party can and will
effectively reach voters in communities of color. So what does this look like?
"Sincere,""sound" and "good-faith" investments have always had the power to
make amends. "Sincere" investments will acknowledge and accept responsibility
for the harm caused by past failures to love communities of color and model
genuinely new behavior by spending the time, talent and treasure required to renew
and reconcile the relationship. "Sound" investments will overcome the damage to
communities of color caused by "politically expedient" spending on entitlement
programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid by getting resources out
of Washington, D.C. and back into the private sector where they can be used
productively to create businesses and jobs. "Good-faith" investments will make
room at the decision table for members from communities of color and meet the
physical needs of women, children and broken families without violating their
religious convictions.
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26. Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, "Study Clinicians" (http://bit.ly/MCVAHc).
27. Dave Wong and Stephanie Lord, "People of the Tuskegee Experiment," Dr. Raymond H. Vonderlehr(http://bit.ly/LNGdiN).
28. Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, "Study Clinicians," Dr. John R. Hellerled the national division (http://bit.ly/MCVAHc).
29. Aftermath of the Study, Dr. John R. Hellerquote: (http://bit.ly/NtsIDV). See also New York Times, July 26, 1972, p1.
30. Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, "Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs, and the Press" Dr. John Heller's quote is in the
chapter entitled: "The History of 'Black Paranoia'" on page 67 (http://bit.ly/L0WfkY).
31. Peter Buxtun, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/MIKtKF).
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. Study Termination, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/MpOuFk).
35. Peter Buxtun, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/MIKtKF).
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid. See also "Effects of untreated syphilis in the negro male, 1932 to 1972: A closure comes to the Tuskegee study,
2004," by Shamim M. Baker, Otis W. Brawley and Leonard S. Marks of the Urological Sciences Research Foundation. The article
by Jean Heller, front page, New York Times, July 26, 1972. Investigative journalism first brought the story to public attention
(http://bit.ly/fmdoUN). This news story is the property of Associated Press via Valeo Intellectual Property, Inc.
38. Ibid.
39. Memorandum, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of The Secretary, Merlin K. DuVal, M.D. says: "As
recommended by the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel, I have decided that the 'Tuskegee Study' as a study of
untreated syphilis must be terminated." (http://bit.ly/LolBMC).
40. Presidential Apology, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at
Tuskegee" (http://1.usa.gov/ckDD3i).
41. Ibid.
42. Roe v. Wade, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/11oVBK).
43. Al Sharpton, "It's Not About Obama, It's About Your Momma" (http://bit.ly/vYz55I).
44. Frederick Douglass, "What The Black Man Wants" at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society in
Boston, April, 1865, Douglass delivered the following speech on the subject: The Equality Of All Men Before The Law. Again,
please note that Douglass' speech was given within days of the close of the Civil War and the assassination of President Lincoln.
(http://bit.ly/LHwoOC).
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