Racism and Science
The Tuskegee Experiment really brought to life many of the pieces we have been reading in class. Previous to watching this documentary, like all the pieces that we have read, the racism involved in science was just part of the fiction for me: not real. The Tuskegee Experiment really took place. It not only took place, it took place in the United States. The United States is supposed to be the land of the free and the protector of civil rights. What went wrong?
While watching the documentary in class, I got chills thinking about the damage that this scientific experiment caused. As a firm believer in the good that science can accomplish, it angers me that there are such people that abuse the practice. It is these types of experiments that give science a bad projection within society.
In class, we touched on the fact that, as a result of the experiment, many blacks became distrustful of the United States Government. In fact, I found that “In 1990, a survey found that 10 percent of African Americans believed that the U.S. government created AIDS as a plot to exterminate blacks, and another 20 percent could not rule out the possibility that this might be true.” (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762136.html) WOW! The sad thing is that I can’t blame the black community for believing in a government conspiracy against the black community.
While the health department disagreed that the Tusdkegee experiment was even remotely similar to what went on in Nazi Germany, I would beg to differ. Just like the Nazi government did, Public Health Services preyed on the targeted sect of the population to complete their goals at any cost. Through propaganda and incentives, the government tricked, deceived, and performed inhumane experiments. “The United States government did something that was wrong—deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens. . . . clearly racist.” – President Clinton 1997- Why did it take so long to get a formal apology? It is sad and pathetic that such racism is still prevalent.
While watching the documentary in class, I got chills thinking about the damage that this scientific experiment caused. As a firm believer in the good that science can accomplish, it angers me that there are such people that abuse the practice. It is these types of experiments that give science a bad projection within society.
In class, we touched on the fact that, as a result of the experiment, many blacks became distrustful of the United States Government. In fact, I found that “In 1990, a survey found that 10 percent of African Americans believed that the U.S. government created AIDS as a plot to exterminate blacks, and another 20 percent could not rule out the possibility that this might be true.” (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762136.html) WOW! The sad thing is that I can’t blame the black community for believing in a government conspiracy against the black community.
While the health department disagreed that the Tusdkegee experiment was even remotely similar to what went on in Nazi Germany, I would beg to differ. Just like the Nazi government did, Public Health Services preyed on the targeted sect of the population to complete their goals at any cost. Through propaganda and incentives, the government tricked, deceived, and performed inhumane experiments. “The United States government did something that was wrong—deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens. . . . clearly racist.” – President Clinton 1997- Why did it take so long to get a formal apology? It is sad and pathetic that such racism is still prevalent.
posted by Ami at 8:00 PM
3 Comments:
I totally agree with you -- it's nice to think that now, several decades later, racism is not as big a force as it was back then. Unfortunately, things are happening everyday that are reflective of this country's racist tendencies; in my cultural anthropology class, I learned about the channeling of jobs along racist lines: if a Latino applies for a management position, he is many times turned away and encouraged to apply to be a busboy or dishwasher. Conversely, if a white male applies to be a busboy, he may be encouraged to apply for a management position simply on account of his race. And get this: a black male with a clean record has the same chances of being hired as a white male who has been charged with a felony (provided they have the same credentials). Fair? I certainly don't think so!!
“As I see it,” one of the doctors involved explained, “we have no further interest in these patients until they die.” (your link)
The doctors conducting the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment didn't care about finding a cure for African Americans. It seemed as if they just wanted to study the effects that this disease had on someone's body. What I want to know, however, is why they didn't experiment on Caucasians if they wanted to compare how the disease affected certain races differently. How can you compare and contrast if you only study one race? There is no excuse for this experiment and I agree that it is ridiculous that it took the US 40 years to put an end to it.
It’s very scary that American scientist lied to the black community about treating them for syphilis. During the Great Depression when they did not have the means to treat anyone, the scientist should have been honest with the black community. However the fact that they continued to study the effects of syphilis after a cure was found is completely appalling. There was no need to study the disease anymore when it could easily be eliminated. There was no information to gain; the people in charge of this experiment used science as a way to torture innocent people.
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