"In Sickness or in Health?"
By Dr. Gloria Latimore-Peace
Presented by Omni-University
It would be a gross understatement to say that we've heard enough bad news but, the latest
reports of the COVID-19 vaccine "elixirs", while encouraging some, does not distract from
the growing statistics on the dwindling number of personnel and facilities available to the sick and dying. The last straw- the very last thing- that anyone needs or wants to have happen is to fall ill and face the possibility of having nowhere to turn. But, by all allegations, this is the state of affairs - at least in this part of the world. According to Amy Goodman, Commentator for "Democracy Now," ...the "surge" has forced hospitals to turn to desperate measures: canceling surgeries; forcing ICU patients out of intensive care early; training nurses from other departments to work in Intensive Care; and, Governor Gavin Newsom has granted waivers to hospitals [in California], which force ICU nurses to treat 3 patients at a time versus the 2 patients allowed under state law." These "measures" represent a blatant abandonment of the Hippocratic Oath as set forth by Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine", who clearly stated in "The Epidemics":
"The physician must first be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future- must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely to do good or to do no harm."
The edict to "do no harm" has been MIA in Black and poor communities since before the onslaught of experiments like the earlier ones performed on Black women by J. Marion Sims MD, the "Father of Gynecology", and "The Tuskegee Experiment" which was conducted on Black men. Additionally, the paucity of ethical professionals, humane practices, appropriate treatment modalities, and accessible "health care" facilities is neither a recent nor a new phenomenon: this has long-since been the status quo in our communities. Not only do we suffer from "health care" deserts but we are also subject to "food" deserts as well. Thus, Black and poor people, who are more often than not one and the same, are in a perpetual struggle to live in health rather than in sickness, i.e. between a rock and a hard place. To put it bluntly, the people who are most in need of those things that are essential to health and well- being are the same people who have been deprived of them on a daily basis since the advent of the captive- aka "slave"-trade. Consequently, whatever the malady- be it Cancer or Corona, Diabetes or Stroke, Heart disease, kidney disease, Hypertension, or Homicide, the greatest casualties seem somehow predestined to be Black and poor people.
We use the term "predestined" not to suggest that these maladies are inherent in the DNA of the victims but rather to state the obvious: As People who have been held under the knee of oppression for over 400 years, we are bound to be undermined, in every conceivable way - spiritual, mental and physical- by this continual experience.
That this is the case is underscored by the mortality rates in every category for Black and poor people. The pre-existing conditions that were initiated by the chattel "slave" experience and augmented by the subsequent imposition of Jim Crow- both old and new-are exacerbated by the unhealthy lifestyles which we have adopted and to which far too many of us have become addicted. Should we continue on this path, the outcome is as obvious as is the fact that we can ill-afford to be sick and we certainly cannot afford to make our own selves sick by placing ourselves "in harm's way". Thus, having nowhere to turn, we must obey the admonitions of our Ancestors from Imhotep, The first physician, through, The Hon. Marcus Garvey, Dr. Alvenia Fulton, Dr. Roland Sidney, Dr. Margaret T.G Burroughs, Dr. Robert Mendolsohn, Dr. Llaila O. Afrika, Dr. Johnny F. Price, et al to"Know Thyself", to "Do for Self" and to care for self and each other.
This is the "Information Age" but, since freedom of information is so often obstructed "we must find the truth...for [ourselves]. [1] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV). Study also, and rightly divide, the words of our Ancestors and contemporaries, some of whom are listed in our recommended reading list below.
You are invited to watch "In Sickness or In Health?", an episode of the H3O Art of Life Show" featuring Olumenji O'Conner, Educator and Health Researcher.
Blognote
[1] "Life with Margaret" by Ancestor Dr. Margaret T.G Burroughs
Recommended Reading
"On the Epidemics" by Ancestor Hippocrates
"Radiant Health Through Nutrition " and "The Fasting Primer" by Ancestor Dr. Alvenia Fulton
"African Holistic Health " and "Nutricide" by Ancestor Llaila O. Afrika
"Confessions of a Medical Heretic" and "Male Practice: How Doctors Manipulate Women" by Ancestor Dr. Robert Mendolsohn
"Life with Margaret" by Ancestor Margaret T.G Burroughs
"Super Healing" by Dr. Elaine Ferguson
"Heal Thyself "by Queen Afua
(See also: Recommended Readings in our blog entitled "Remembering Baba Prince: Dr. John F. Price".