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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 9, 1986)
Page 2, Portland Observer. July 9, 1986 Healthwatch t* The Disappearing Black Student" Along i fié Color I me by Or Manning Marable by Steven Bailey N D. As Homeopathic medicine continues its re newed growth in the U S ., it receives a critical national press Recently on the nationally syn dicated series by Dr, Dean Edell, KOIN TV aired a short segment on homeopathy in which Dr. Edell equated homeopathic medi cine with a drop of medicine in a swimming pool, and from this mixture a drop is mixed in another pool and so forth. Three weeks ago the New England Journal of Medicine carried a correspondence in which a doctor reported a case of pancreatitis following the ingestion of a homeopathic "over-the-counter" pro duct. The doctor went on to describe the con tents of the product with their full strength pharmacologic actions and toxicology. Thus the only two reports on homeopathy that I've seen this year both condem, but for exactly opposite reasons. One reporter equates the medicines w ith placeboes while the other warns of the highly toxic potential of the medi cines. While this might seem rather illogical, it is consistent with the long established bias that allopathic medicine has held toward homeopathy. Homeopathy began in the late 1700's under the creative force of Samual Hahnemann, M .D. Dr. Hahnemann, trained in then current European medicine, was working on a ' Ma teria M edica" (a text of the properties uses and toxicology of medicine) when he came to an important yet simple revelation. The plant China, from which we extract quinine, showed the same symptoms as a toxic influence (chills and fevers) as were present in malena for which China was given as the then current treatment. This apparent contradiction so intrigued Hahnemann that in 1790 he began his experiments with China. He began taking 4 drachms of China twice a day and recorded all the symptoms he experienced (this is called "provings" in homeopathic medicine, and all homeopathic medicines have gone through extensive provings to formulate current "Repatories" of symptoms). Within a short period of time, Hahnemann began to exper ience fevers alternated with chills, the exact same symptomology that he had been trained to treat with lower doses of China1 This initial experimentation marked the beginning of two essential componants of homeopathy: the Law of Similars and the Law of Minimum Dose. The "Law of Similars," much like the "Doc- trme of Signatures" employed by Hippocrates, states that the proper homeopathic medicine will, in toxic dose, exhibit the same symptom picture as is presented by the ill patient. When the medicine is exactly matched to the symp tom picture, it will, in small dose, help the body to complete the healing response repre sented by the non-resolved symptoms. The "Law of Minimum Dose" evolved from the logical extension of then current practice which utilized therapeutic dosage as that which did not create toxic reactions While we recognize today that many of the "safe" levels of allopathic treatments with mercury, lead, etc., actually caused dramatic injury to the patient, the law of minimum dose led homeopathic physicians to utilize dosages that were completely benign. Combined with the Law of Similars", Hahnemann experimented with the minimum dose and wrote extensively of his 40 years of research in "Fragmenta de Viribus Medicamentorum” , "M ateria Medica Pura and "Chronic Disease" as well as his still available and most celebrated "Organon of Medicine". In the 1800's another medical doctor contri buted to the philosophical base of horneo pathy. This was Dr Herring who provided a succinct definition of disease and cure which is known as "Herrings Law of Cure". This model of disease is the standard that most homeopathic doctors employ when treating with homeopathic medicines This theory re mains unparalleled in allopathic medicine, whose definition of cure is a finite (i.e. 5 year) period in which a particular diagnosed condi tion is not present While our society is becoming more con cerned with the use of drugs on both recrea tional and medical levels, the media assault on this orre form of "drugless" medicine seems to be growing even faster While the Queen of England and the Pope are two of the millions of people who seek homeopathic treatment, our media attempts to make homeopathic medicine appear as unfounded and preying on the ignorant. It appears that the majority of ignorance stems from the authors of these articles that selectively condem this science I invite readers to look in George Vitholkas' books on Homeopathy which are available throughout Portland bookstores for more complete outlines of Homeopathic philosophy and practice. Last month, I was invited to speak at the University of Chicago by the Black Graduate Student Association. The audience discus sion was stimulating, and I talked with several graduate students well into the night. I com mented that while my visit was very enjoyable, the turnout of Black students seemed a bit modest. Mr friendly hosts turned to me with looks of surprise and shock. The turnout was "g re a t,” they replied; the "real” problem was that Black students and faculty at the Univer sity of Chicago are "an endangered species." Statistically, over the last ten years, the University of Chicago's Black undergraduate population has been cut in half, down to only 2.5 percent of the student body. The Univer sity claims that it has 13 Black professors on its staff of 1,100 faculty, although most of the students say that the figure is inflated. Chi cago has never established a formal academic department or program in Afro-American Studies, and has 38 percent fewer Black faculty than 10 years ago The only thing missing from the University of Chicago's cam pus is a sign posted at its front gates, "N o Blacks Allow ed.” At the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the situation is identical. Originally opened in 1965, UIC claimed at that time that it would encourage the recruitment of Black, Hispanic and lower income students UlC's Black and Latino enrollments jumped from 80 in 1968 to 5,645 in 1980, out of a total student population of approximately 20,000 But with the era of Reagariism and "academic racism ," college recruiters shifted from inner city to suburban schools for prospective enrollments. State and federal financial aid programs were dra stically reduced. Enrollment standards were pushed up, not taking into account that a stu dent from a poor high school can compete with suburban students if adequate support survices are provided By 1984, UlC's enroll merit of Black students from Chicago's public schools fell to 141. UlC's total Black student enrollment fell to 2.447 in late 1985 Black and Hispanic faculty comprise only 2.2 percent of all tenured and tenure-track academic appointments. Other universities are witnessing similai declines in Black enrollments. The University of Michigan's Black student percentage has dropped from 7.7 percent in 1976 to 5.2 per cent in 1986. At Princeton University, only 22 of 1600 graduate students are Afro-Ameri cans. And at Harvard, Black enrollment has declined by almost one-third in the past decade. Turning around these statistics w o n 't be easy, but there are several successful pro grams which can be expanded and improved The federally sponsored Upward Bound Pro gram, designed to prepare Black and Hispanic youth, plus low income and physically handi capped students for college, has had a record of success. In 1973, about 51,000 high school students were enrolled in Upward Bound Today, the figure is only 33,000 students W ith increased federal expenditures for edu cation, and measures to support historically Black public and private institutions, we can increase the opportunities for m inority education. But ultimately, the decisive factor is the building of powerful, new movement for racial equality and social justice. Access to an excel lent education is a basic human right. No viable democracy can afford to sentence th o u sands of gifted Black teenagers to lives of poverty, when the expansion of programs de signed for educational opportunity can help to resolve racial and socioeconomic problems As the Black student disappears on white campuses, American society takes a huge step toward a domestic version of apartheid. Dr Manning M arable feaeba» sociology and political science at Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana Along the Color Line appears in over 140 newspapers internationalfy FREEDOM AND SOCIAL JUSTICE BY Alexander R Jones C hildren to be Guinea Pigs in Child M o lester Experim ent In a move that stands reason on its head, the United States' National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has granted $832,000 for a bizarre three year psychiatric study in which children will be deliberately exposed to the danger of rape and/or murder by 100 known child molesters. NIMH is a government agency under the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Fifty of these pedophiles, the technical term for child molester, will be given psycho therapy, the traditional "patient on the couch" type therapy The other 50 will be given con troversial behaviour modification treatment designed to create a feeling of physical dis com fort or unpleasantness whenever the per son becomes sexually aroused by children. Once the 38 week period of therapy is over, they will only be required to send a written, daily account of their experiences to a resear cher. Incredibly, these reports will be kept completely confidential; even criminal inci dents will not be reported to law enforcement authorities! Understandably, the proposed psychiatric study to be jointly conducted by the Florida Mental Health Institute and the University of South Florida has drawn great criticism. First of all, the researchers themselves admit that traditional psychotherapy has not proven effective in reforming child molesters, and as far as behaviour modification goes, the results have been anything but promising. Mark Chapman, the man who killed former Beatle John Lennon, was the product of a behaviour modification program in a mental institution in Hawaii Charles Manson underwent be haviour modification in U.S. prisons before he led his brutal, infamous, ritualistic murders in a rich American neighborhood This program should be stopped at once. There's only one certain thing that it will pro duce, and that's sexually abused children. There have been too many criminals who have been treated with behaviour modification and then have com mitted crimes far more violent than prior to their so called treatment. It is madness to subject children to such horrors EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY Elimination of Transit Police, Bad Public Policy “ Ä ? B a I I » ' Portland Observer Oregon M 1 S A sso .'. n '>n P Th* 1 ' i t i b i t d I g n m n IU S P S IB88BDI ■ pubi Thumrt«» by E m PvM aN ng Company Inc 1483 N E KMnga worth r s .- t w ^ Dragon »7311. Po« OTV.» Bo> 3137. PortlwxJ O o gnn »7708 S * » « 1 Uaaa poaaaga paM M P o rtw x l Oiagon Th« /><rth *A t M • «•«*«• m t»7D * ns NW A o«»' S u lm n p t' 00 p tr yaw « ih» Tn County « a a Post m a a t « Sand addraaa changa» lo 1ha P O r d M O ta tr rr r , P 0 Bo« 3137. P-attand. Oiagon »730*. Alfred L Henderson, Editor/Publisher A! Williams, General Manager 288-0033 N a tio n a l A d v a rtfa ln g R a p ra a a n ta tlv a A m a lg a m a te d P ub lla h a ra Inc N a w T o rli The decision by the Tri-Met Board to eliminate the entire transit police force is bad public policy. By eliminating the 11-man force, the Tri Met Board is jeopardizing its drivers, its equipment (which is publicly o w n ed) and the safety of the riders who support the transit system. Furthermore, the Board's decision to dis band the transit Police unit will endanger the economy of dow ntown Portland and increase the risk of liability for Tri-Met. The downtown transit mall will become a haven for drug pushers and users, drunks and panhandlers. The transit police budget was only $350,000 for the current fiscal year; a small portion when one considers that agency answered 2,000 calls and made 800 arrests last year. Most of the calls involved passengers being mugged, drunken passengers, weapons on buses, and assaults on drivers. W ith the abolishment of the force, these figures will most certainly increase. By eliminating the transit police force, the Tri Met Board has shown that it is insensitive to the safety of the public and Tri-Met employees. We, the public, unfortunately will suffer from this irresponsible decision by the Board.
