Page 9
JHE VOICE
Februiry 11, 1972
‘OUR CHILDREN WERE HUNGRY AND YOU SERVED THEM THE MOON”
Many Blacks Unaware
Of Sickle-Cell Dangers
By ROOSEVELT McPHERSON
What would your reaction be
if suddenly you discovered you
had the inherent traits of an in
curable disease?
Well, many blacks can only
bemoan the shocking fact when
they learn they are afflicted with
traits of sickle-cell anemia--
an often fatal blood disease pre
dominant among blacks.
Medical authorities reveal that
one out of four blacks who have
the traits ultimately is stricken
with sickle-cell anemia.
If two persons who have the
traits marry, chances are high
their children will have the same
tendencies toward the disease.
Just as one plans his education
al goals and career, doctors also
urge that he think about planned
parenthood.
Sickle-cell anemia cripples or
kills, doctors explain. The sick
le-cell shaped red blood cells
caused by the disease, clump to
gether to cut off blood circulat
ion in knees, ankles, shoulders.
stomach, brain and other parts
of the body.
If a sicUe-cell amemia victim
has had one or more attacks, he
is likely to have reoccurences
commonly referred to as
“strrftes.”
A recent television documen
tation maintained, “a lack of
knowledge prevents the com-
plete story of sickle-cell anemia
from being told.”
Sickle-cell anemia is a threat
to pregnant mothers and unborn
babies. It is the leading cause for
deaths among infants in black
communities.
The documentary film further
revealed that although most mo
thers survive, still one out of
four babies die during pregnancy
or after delivery, due to the di
sease.
According to Dr. Ronald B.
Scott, a Howard University pro
fessor who has researched
sickle-cell anemia for more than
20 years, “about one out of every
ten American blacks carry the
trait."
Cop Out
Got so-o-o hig^
off of Colt 40-five
Thought I saw Black Moses
coming down from the sk-eye
Went to sleep and dreampt a dre
am, seem like I was (toing ev
ery-thing
Cau^t myself from crashing
tripping out on Boones Farm
rationings
Tried to glue myself back togeth
er, but my sinuses were clog
ged with weather
Thought I felt my Black man
come, figured out he’d had
too much Bicardi Rum
Couldn’t function right in this
society, thought I’d split the
scene with L-S-D
Couldn’t hang with the group
cause I didn’t use the dia
phragm or loop
Thought I’d buy myself the Pill
figured out it wouldn’t do no
good still
Don’t know what I want out of
life, makes me sick all this
trouble and strife
Bought a gun to shoot myself,
thought that wold blow my
mind.-so now what’s left
Put my head in a plastic bag
got scared of the fog so I
yelled for Scag
Heard my name on the televi
sion, stayed out of sight to
avoid apprehension
Couldn’t get caught with my mind
on the ground, felt my whole
world spinning ’round and ro
und.
Went in a hole and stayed for
a week, all that Black dark
ness was o-ooh so sweet
Left existence, sort to speak,
found out that dying ain’t like
what we seek
Tried to come back , but he
wouldn't let me go, so now
I’m staying in my hell below!!
EVERNA GWYNN
To Become Aware
Surveys further showed that
seven out of ten blacks have ne
ver heard or know anything about
sickle-cell anemia. Yet this di
sease involved some 2,500,000
American blacks.
An article in Ebony magazine
revealed that America’s black
communities are mounting a
counter-offensive against the
killer disease.
In 1970 the Sickle-Cell So
ciety Inc., in Pittsburgh was
organized by a man who has
had the disease for 54 years.
He is Nathaniel Murray, who
was able to organize the foun
dation with the help of com
munity groups and doctors.
Another organization based in
New York City, the Foundation
for Research and Education in
Sickle-Cell Disease, was instru
mental in setting up a city hos
pital, the first of five centers
devoted to the treatment of
sickle-cell anemia.
By OTIS CURRY
Not so long ago, as a mat-
ter of fact, two ^itions ago,
this reporter wrote an article
in this paper with the intention
of “maybe” awakening Blacks,
young and old, to a new thing
called “Black Consciousness”.
There were those who felt the
comments were “Right On”, but
many students on this campus
missed the message, for to the
deepest regret of many January
15th, the birthday of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. one of the great
est Black men of our time, pas
sed by without any type of com
memoration onthe“Black” cam
pus whatsoever. There was no
rally, no memorial service, no
comment.
Oh, but we are so Black. How
Black is your Blackness Broth
ers and Sisters?
There were rallies in Detroit,
Newark and Washington, D.C.
The schools were out in St. Lo-
uis, San Francisco and Atlanta.
Fort Bragg had a memorial ser
vice at one of its chapels and
even the Fayetteville Observer
found a place way back on the
Want Ad page to comment.But
the “Black Folks” at FSU must
have just forgot about Dr. King's
birthday.
The white establishment news
paper, radio and T.V. remember
ed. but those black fist-clenching
Liberation-minded, freedom-
seeking students at FSU just
plain forgot the man that started
the ball rolling for Civil Rights
that so many of us enjoy at the
price of the blood, sweat, tears
and even lives of others.
Administration, you wake up
also; many Black People would
not be holding a lot of the jobs
they have if it had not been for
the demonstration, sit-ins and
jailing of black students during
the civil rights movement. You
too forget.
January 15th will come again
and many of us will still be here
at this Black university. Let us
hope that it will not pass as this
one did without some sort of com
memoration for Dr. Martin Lu
ther King Jr.
Black Journal Spotlights ‘‘Racism”
“Jesus was a Black revolu
tionary messiah who was trying
to lead the people in a revolt ag
ainst the white gentile (^pres
sors.”
So says the Reverend Albert
Cleage, pastor of the Shrine of
the Black Madonna in Detroit,
during Black Journal's “Black
Paper on White Racism”. This
two-part investigation of insti
tutional racism by six Black
scholars and philosophers was
presented in December.
One investigative taam iBclud-
ed Cleage; John H. Clarke, as
associate professor of African
and Afro-American history at
Hunter College and author of 11
books including “Harlem USA”;
and Preston Wilcox, head of the
education workshop of the Con
gress of African People and pre
sident of the educational consul
tant firm AFRAM Associates.
They discussed the roots of white
racism in the fields of history,
education and Christianity,
Tracing racist patterns in
Christianity, Rev. Cleague, an
advocate of Black Christian Na.
tionalism, takes issue with the
church’s concept of Jesus as a
white man. According to him it
is “historically false and theo
logically absurd,part of a debas
ing institution that enslaves Black
people.”
He views Christianity as hav
ing its beginning in “an African
religion.” A basis for his con
clusion is the patriarch Israel’s
journey to Egypt with 70 people
and his emergence with a nation
of more than two million. The
Reverend sees Biblical Israel
as Black nation and, therefore,
Jesus as a Black messiahi He
feels that Apostle Paul was an
“Uncle Tom Black Jew*’ who
contributed to “destroying the
Basic Af r ican Background of
Christianity,”
Professor Clarke points out
that a root of white racism,
which also served as a basis
for the slave trade and colon
ialism, was the Papal Bull of
1455 authorizing the servitude
of all infidel people, most of
whom were non-white and non-
European. He also notes that
up until the 16th and 17th cen
turies Black Madonnas were
the images that prevailed in the
European Churches and that one
may still find them in some
churches in Europe.
Preston Wilcox feels that the
“clearest evidence of racism is
the essential control over Black
education” which he says de
ceives Blacks and whites about
such historical “realities” as
the religious interpretations by
Rev. Cleage. He also notes that
although whites keep Blacks out
of their communities they still
exercise influence over the ed
ucation of Black communities.
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