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T he P ortland O bserver • J une 11, 1997
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
Every Child is Our Child
President Clinton apologizes for Tuskegee Study, National Medical
Association says experiment left legacy of scientific discrimination
u.s.
Committee
For UNICEF
Ambassador
Laurence
Fishburne
Travels to
War-Torn
Africa on
Goodwill
Mission
National Medical Association’s
Response
To
President
Clinton’s Apology. -Randall C.
Morgan, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S.,
President, National Medical
Association________________
to a sense o f fe a r and general mis­
trust o f the medical research pro­
cess and the scientific community
As a consequence. African Ameri­
cans continue to suffer dispropor­
tionately from many diseases and
health problems. African Americans
are under-represented in clinical
research, so new treatment proto­
cols and health policies are based
on racially biased clinical studies
that further deny our communities
the benefits o f scientific advances.
President Clinton's apology does
n o t e x c u se the tra g e d y o f the
M ore than 60 yea rs ago, an
agency o f the U.S. governm ent
opted not to treat the sym ptom s o f
399poor African-American men in
Alabama who suffered fro m ad­
vanced syphilis. The legacy o f this
horrible experiment, which lasted
40 years, continues to affect Afri­
can Americans today and has led
Tuskegee Study o f Untreated Syphi­
lis in the Negro male, but it may
help to close this unfortunate chap­
ter in our nation's history.
The National M edical Associa­
tion, the oldest African-Americans
to lift the veil o f fe a r that surrounds
m edical research and p u t an end to
the legacy o f scientific discrim ina­
tion.
We must avail ourselves o f the
opportunity to participate in re­
search so that we truly can achieve
medical equality and enjoy the ben­
efits o f scientific advances.
DNC Chairmen Gov. Roy Romer and Steve Grossman
issue apology to survivors of the Tuskegee Experiment
ing the mission, Mr. Fishburne also
had the opportunity to visit two
schools, one o f which was the scene
of a 1990 massacre o f600 people, 75
percent of which were women and
children.
Founded in 1847 by freed Black
slaves from the southern United
States, Liberia is Africa's oldest in­
dependent republic. It is bordered by
Sierra Leone to the west, Guinea to
the north, and Cote d ’ Ivoire to the
east. The civil war, the bloodiest
chapter in the country’s history, be­
gan on December 24, 1989 and has
killed more than 150,000 people.
Another 750,000 people forced to
flee their homes have become inter­
nally displaced, and an estimated
768,000 people are now refugees in
neighboring countries.
Mr. Fishburne was accompanied
on his mission by Charles J. Lyons,
president of the U.S. Committee for
UNICEF. Mr. Lyons said, “We were
extrem ely pleased to lead Mr.
Fishburne on this field visit to
Liberia. Not only is it an important
part o f his continuing education
about UNICEF, but we were able to
visit projects that were directly
funded by money donated by the
people o f the United States.”
In his role as a U.S. Committee
for UNICEF National Ambassador,
Mr. Fishburne joins Maya Angelou,
Katie Couric, Jane Curtin, Edward
James Kiberd, and James Olmos as
a spokesperson and advocate for the
U.S. Committee for UNICEF, help­
ing to raise greater awareness and
funds in the U.S. on behalf of mil­
lions of children in more than 140
developing countries.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary
this year, the U.S. Committee for
UNICEF works for the survival, pro­
tection, and development of chil­
dren worldwide through education,
advocacy, and fundraising. To make
a contribution or inquire about vol­
unteer opportunities, please call 1-
800-For-Kids or write the U.S. Com­
mittee for UNICEF at 333 East 38th
Street, New York, NY 10016. Addi­
tional inform ation on Mr.
Fishbume’s mission to Liberia is
listed under “Laurence Fishbume’s
Daily Diary from Africa” on the
U.S. C om m ittee for UNICEF
hom epage
at
h ttp ://
www.unicfusa.org.
' As Chairmen o f the Democratic
National Committee we jo in Presi­
dent Clinton and the nation in a
long over due apology to the survi­
vors o f "The Tuskegee Study o f
Untreated Syphilis in the Negro
Male, " otherw ise know as the
Tuskegee Experiment.
"Trust in the truest sense o f the
word is the ability to believe and
have faith and confidence in som e­
thing or som eone A quarter o f a
century ago when p o o r sharecrop­
pers and day laborers lined up
outside Tuskegee H ospital in M a­
con County, Alabama, they did so
trusting that the U.S. Public Health
Department would deliver on a
prom ise to treat them fo r syphilis.
That prom ise was broken repeat­
edly fo r over 40 years, each time a
syphilis patient was denied the peni­
cillin, that offered a cure fo r the
disease.
"Countless men paid with their
lives fo r a medical study that yield
nothing more than tragedy and a
lasting mistrust fo r the government
By participating in the Tuskegee
experiment, African-Americans in
the m edical com m unity sincerely
believed that they could help change
the racist view that Blacks were
biologically inferior. Unfortunately
the study deteriorated into an un­
ethical medical experiment that re­
duced its victims to guinea pigs.
"The legacy o f the Tuskegee ex­
perim ent will be passed on fo r gen­
erations. We can not rewrite the
history o f what happened but we
can take solace in knowing that
history will not repeat itself. With
this apology we are hopeful that
our government and the medical
community can regain the trust o f
not only Macon County but an en­
tire minority community.
"An apology can never right the
wrongs o f the Tuskegee experiment,
and while the wounds are deep, it is
our hope that the healing process
can begin, " concluded Grossman
and Romer concluded.
Statement from RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson
and Co-Chairman Patricia Harrison
On behalf o f dll Republicans, we
join today in offering apologies to
the victims o f the Tuskeegee ex­
periments.
In th o se g o v e r n m e n t-s p o n ­
sored experim ents, p rom ises o f
meals a n d m edicine were u sed to
induce 399 m ostly u n educated
blacks to p a rticip a te in a stu d y o f
| D iversity
I 'M . «
the long-term effects o f untreated
syphilis.
The results were terrible: twenty-
eight victims died o f syphilis, 100
others died o f related complications,
at least 40 wives were infected, and
19 children contracted the disease
at birth.
None o f this should have occurred
The U.S. governm ent should have
prevented, not sponsored, such im­
moral activities
We grieve fo r those victim s
an d their fam ilies, an d we pled g e
that we w ill m ake every effort to
see that nothing o f this kin d ever
happens to A m erica n citizen s
again.
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Apologizes made
for Tuskegee study
For 50 years and into the future
Following in the footsteps o f leg­
endary U N ICEF A m bassadors
A udrey H epburn and H arry
Belafonte, Laurence Ftshbume trav­
eled to war-tom Liberia during a
three-day mission with the U.S.
Committee for UNICEF, the United
Nations Children’s Fund. It was the
first goodwill mission for the actor,
playwright, director, and producer
who was appointed a National Am­
bassador for the U.S. Committee for
UNICEF in June 1996.
While in Liberia, a country cur­
rently surviving with no electrical
pow er or ru n n in g w ater, Mr.
F ishburne v isite d num erous
UNICEF-assisted projects that aid
the many women and children who
have been affected by a seven-year
civil war. It is estimated that more
than 15,000 children were recruited
to serve as soldiers for the armed
factions, forcing them to participate
and witness violent acts o f brutality.
UNICEF is currently helping war-
affected youth rebuild their lives by
teaching them trades that will en­
able them to earn a living in the
future. Mr. Fishburne visited two
such projects where children ages 8-
17 are being trained in agriculture,
sewing, tool-making, carpentry, and
soap-making. The children also re­
ceive trauma counseling to help re­
lieve the scars of war.
Reflecting on the children who
have been traumatized by the war,
Mr. Fishburne said, “These children
are a living example of the best of
human nature. They have no bitter­
ness. They just want to gain the
skills necessary to reconstruct their
lives. They are truly the country’s
most valuable resource and I will
work diligently towards helping
them achieve their goals,”
Mr. Fishburne also visited one of
many camps that houses approxi­
mately 180,000 internally displaced
Liberians. The shelters are over­
crowded and lack adequate access to
safe water and sanitation. The dan­
ger o f outbreak o f diseases, such as
cholera and diarrhea, looms large.
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