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Racism and research Case of Tuskegee (2)
Racism and research: Case of Tuskegee
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Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
Racism and Research was a study conducted by Allan M. Brandt on occurrence of racism when it comes to scientific research using the case of Tuskegee Syphilis as his case study. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study was a study conducted on African-American men to observe the natural occurrence of syphilis on them. The study was carried out by researchers who took 600 black men, 399 with syphilis 201 without and conducted the study without their knowledge. The researchers told the men that their blood was being taken to test for bad blood hence the participants were unaware of what was being really done. The researchers made sure that the 399 men with syphilis remained unaware of possible penicillin treatment so as to continue with their study. The study was conducted for up to 40 years when an Associated Press story exposed what had been going on. Allan M. Brandt is medicine historian and Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University. Allan M. Brandt wrote an article by the name Racism and Research: The Case of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, to show the racial background behind the Tuskegee Syphilis study (Brandt, 2012).
Tuskegee research raised a lot of question whether it was valid or not. Brandt in his research wanted to find out if racism played a role in certain scientific research. The research questions involved in this study included
Did the participants have enough knowledge on the research that was conducted on them?
Was the Public Health Service and Tuskegee Institute justified to conduct the research?
Did racism play a par in these scientific research?
In order to conduct the research, Allan Brandt came up with hypotheses that would have helped him arrive to his findings
H0 The Tuskegee research was justified and ethical and had no impact on African Americans.
H1 The Tuskegee research conducted on young African American men was racist, had an impact on trust between African – Americans and health care providers
In testing the hypothesis, Allan used qualitative research method to gather his data which involved extensive document analysis. This data selection method involved getting all material on the Tuskegee research and compiling them. He also used material from other authors who had weighed in on the matter determining how ethical or unethical the research was. In selecting the participants of the Tuskegee study, Dr. Raymond Vonderlehr assembled men who would be sampled and stated that they were being tested for bad blood a term that was used to describe cases such as syphilis and anemia. They went through thorough examination including x-rays and spinal tab in order to know their incidence of neuro-syphilis. The research had been conducted in good faith as United States Public Health Service had promised the Macon County that they would treat the people who had been infected. Allan also got hold of conversation between Clark and Dr. Vonderlehr that helped out in his research.
The research by Allan Brandt had the following findings; the Tuskegee syphilis study showed that major ethical issues in the medical research field needed to be looked into to avoid the repeat of such a study. One of the key issues of the Tuskegee study was lack of informed consent. The 600 participants of the case had been misled to take part in the research by being lied to that the research was about testing for bad blood but in the real sense it was to check the nature of syphilis among black men. The researchers were supposed to let all their subjects know about all the aspects of the research but since they knew it would greatly affect their willingness to participate, they didn’t inform them.
Another major ethical issue was brought about by the withholding of any form of treatment that could be offered to the 399 black men with syphilis, for the purpose of their research. The 399 syphilis suffering patients were not given welfare consideration since they were not informed of the penicillin treatment. Researchers who took part in the Tuskegee study tried to justify themselves that penicillin was not yet proven to be the best option for curing syphilis since it had negative effects on patients. A group of physicians believed that it was better to deal with the minimal damages of penicillin while another felt the drug would lead to much harm. The claims of the penicillin effect on patients did not justify that subjects should have been given a choice about continuing in the study once penicillin was available.
According to Allan M. Brandt research article, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study occurred at a time when Darwinism gave a new angle for American racism. Some people believed that primitive peoples, could not reach the level of white civilization. Scientists claimed that the African Americans were doomed in the struggle for survival. Cultural diversity is the existent of many ethnic or cultural groups in society. There existed a cultural diversity among the white and African American that led to racism since the white thought of themselves as superiors. The Tuskegee syphilis study was meant to evaluate the natural progression of syphilis in black men because white men believed their syphilis cases were different from those of black men. White Americans thought there were health disparities hence their syphilis would not be the same as that of the African Americans (Tuskegee syphilis experiment).
White Americans had based their superiority from Darwinism which claimed that man evolved from monkeys. Whites thought that the black man was closer to the monkeys in the evolution chain and they were highest. Many scientists then went on to say that African Americans were not likely to survive as time goes by due to evolution. The claims made by the white scientists were wrong for the African American only has more melanin compared to them hence his darkness. Due to the superiority belief that the whites had, they went on to try and enslave the blacks as well as oppress them for they believed they were powerful and more superior to the other race hence the lying in the Tuskegee report to the African Americans and the use of knowledge to their advantage.
Empathy was not shown in the olden days since White Americans saw themselves being more superior. The whites thought that all other races were primitive and did not have a chance in survival. The lack of empathy for other races led to them mistreating them and seeing them as animals rather than humans hence slavery occurred. The Tuskegee study confirms that the researchers who were whites, lacked empathy for the blacks for they conducted the study without their consent and did so for 40 years. Even when a treatment was available, though it had side effects, they did not care to inform their subjects but went on to take blood in the name of bad blood finding. It is due to the notion that the white men created that they are more superior that causes them to have empathy towards other cultures and races.
An African-American patient’s attitude towards a medical research was measured. African American’s mistrust doctors, scientists, and the government due to unethical conduct of previous cases. African Americans are treated poorly than the White Americans hence they have a negative attitude towards researches done by the medical body. In the Tuskegee study, the African Americans could have been pressured to agree to the study or might have not understood what they were getting themselves into. As a result of an attitude towards authoritative figures such as nurses and doctors, they were forced to sign the contracts for agreement.
Future directions that were proposed for the research were recommendations to be put in place on how research could be conducted. Although research may be conducted on a man to save his life or that of others, then participants need to be on the know of what research is being conducted on them and the future implications that the research may have. Racism needs to be dealt with as at times subjects of African Americans get experiments done on them without full knowledge and tend to be treated differently than the white participants, In the case of the Tuskegee Study, it revealed more about the case of racism as compared to a study on syphilis. The study also had an impact on why most African Americans are still wary of health care providers.
The Tuskegee syphilis report has over the years led to a global self-awareness of the public health. The Tuskegee study has led to ethical standards being given much importance such that everyone is given the right to make formal decisions that could change their dignity, justice to be offered to all hence no segregation of a certain group, and also the health of an individual to be given priority. (The Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Its Implications for the 21st Century, 2015) Tuskegee serves as a very good example of unethical practice all over the world for it portrays racism, lack of empathy and a bad attitude towards others.
Reference
Brandt, Allan M. (2012). “Racism and research: The case of the Tuskegee Syphilis study.” The Hastings Center Report 8(6): 21-29.
RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION
RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION
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Racism and Discrimination
While recently, many people can agree that everyone deserves equal opportunity and rights regardless of race, color, and origin; this was not the case as near as three decades ago. The texts and films discussed below in this paper share a common theme, racism, and discrimination. Although discrimination has significantly reduced in recent times, it was more in the periods these books are based. Oppressive rights enacted by the discriminators were aimed to keep certain groups segregated with fewer opportunities. Therefore, this paper will look to discuss instances in the selected reference material that display cases of racism or segregation. By using quotes and relevant illustrations, the article will aim to show when such measures were used and the effects they had on the subjects. Additionally, the paper will demonstrate the harmful effects of these techniques.
Abina and the Important Men is a book based on court records from a West African case. A woman named Abina is wrongful sold into slavery and took her master to court to fight for her freedom. The theme of racism is evident as the book is based on a time when British colonialism in Africa was at its peak. Despite the abolishment of slavery more than thirty years prior, influential British landowners continued to exploit helpless Africans by enslaving them. As Abina attempts to explain her troubles to her lawyer, she says, ‘it was never about being safe. It was about being heard.’ This statement depicts how Abina did not care about her safety. She would instead prefer her message to be heard. The racism was so prevalent that getting physical harm was not an issue for her. Throughout her court cases, she has flashbacks of how she was mistreated. She remembers how ‘they held her down and cut her beads.’ Despite substantial evidence supporting her case, these ‘important men’ still manage to derail her attempts to search for freedom. Unfortunately, she does not lead to winning the case a second time after sheer determination and help from her trusted lawyer. It shows how, despite her apparent innocence, she still could not face a fair trial. It was because the judges of the trial were racist themselves and corrupt. The landowners were powerful; hence the judges were obliged to take heed to their claims. Abina faced a lot of suffering in her journey, at one point being described as someone with no history. She was traumatized by the experience faced, and her only wish was for her story to be known (Getz & Clark, 2016).
Born a Crime is a factual written by a South African, Trevor Noah, born and raised during the apartheid regime. Apartheid laws favored white supremacists and ensured that black communities were slaves and remained weak. Noah was born to a white father and black mother at a time when such marriages were punished by imprisonment. Due to the indiscretion in his birth, Noah’s father neglects him and opts to move in with his second wife. Noah’s mother is forced to hide him from the world, keeping him indoors for the majority of his early life. Noah goes on to say, ‘You separate people into groups and make them hate one another so you can run them all’ to describe the racist measures in place. He also explains how the colonizers ‘forced’ their religion on the South Africans (Noah, 2016). The public-school Noah attends practices segregation as different races did not mingle. His light-skin appearance also puts him in a difficult predicament as he is unable to identify with a specific race. As he grows older, the apartheid regime ends, but the segregation continues. The primary effect on black communities is that they remained in poverty and crime rates soared. For example, Noah describes his grandmother’s area of Soweto as ‘designed to be bombed.’ He also claims the overturning of the apartheid system was called the Bloodless Revolution. It was because ‘very little white blood was spilled’ while ‘black blood ran the streets.’ Noah claims that the system was designed to show that race mixing was not a typical event (Noah, 2016).
For this reason, the regime feared that in case the races interacted more, it would derail their system as the races may help each other grow. Although the conditions faced in these times were often unbearable, Noah believes that they supported the black community lift themselves. An example is the black-market, although illegal, which provided food for many poor households.
Sarah Polley’s documentary called The Stories we Tell investigating her families’ secrets. Polley is born from extramarital affairs her mother, an actress, has with her director. This fact remains a secret to Polley until she realizes a few years after her mother dies. Polley’s mother dies when she is eleven, and she faces discrimination from her siblings at this time. She is segregated and ridiculed by her siblings, as it is evident from a young age that she does not resemble her mother’s husband. She was teased for years without knowing the fact that she was had a different father from her siblings. When she turns eighteen, she decides to discover the truth herself and attempts to uncover the identity of her birth father. Later, she finds her father’s identity as a director who had worked with her mother. As a young girl, the discrimination she faced helps shape her up to the woman she became. Hence, after her mother’s death, she is often lonely as she does not see eye to eye with her siblings. In school, her peers also followed the trend employed by her siblings. However, according to the documentary, she believes that the difficulties she faced played a part in making her character stronger and more resilient (Polley et al., 2013).
In conclusion, the racism and discrimination proved to have similar effects on their subjects. Some of them include lowering self-esteem, increased crime rates, and unequal opportunities to minorities. However, these cases provide a form of motivation to the citizens facing such conditions to be better. It also serves as motivation to the modern-day minority groups on how to deal with similar scenarios. Even though the cases of discrimination are not as evident as back then, they still exist. Therefore, these instances serve as an inspiration for minorities to work harder. Additionally, it shows oppressors to realize the significant consequences of their actions.
References
Getz, T. R., & Clarke, L. (2016). Abina and the important men: A graphic history. Oxford University Press, USA.
Noah, T. (2016). Born a crime: Stories from a South African childhood. Hachette UK.
Polley, S., Lee, A., Polley, M., Gulkin, H., Buchan, S., Buchan, J., … & MacMillan, R. (2013). Stories we tell.
One of the most heinous villains in Shakespeare, Iago is fascinating and manipulative and a key character in Othello.
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One of the most heinous villains in Shakespeare, Iago is fascinating and manipulative and a key character in Othello. The description of Iago in Othello takes many forms as character who has many forms and acts in unpredictable ways. In his appearance, Iago takes many personalities and struggles to find himself in life. It is these traits that define how Iago behaves and treats people. In one of the most fascinating acts, Iago chooses to remain silent and reflect on what he has achieved in life. In another perspective, Iago attains a new dimension of thinking that makes him have a relation of what and how he could have become even a greater person. “It is Iago’s talent for understanding and manipulating the desires of those around him that makes him both a powerful and a compelling figure.”
The first instance that shapes Iago’s thinking is where he had to make a choice between self and inner thrive spirit and emotions. In this outlook, Iago commits to working through a strong view of life that gives him hope of retracing his past that was already darkening and worrying. The need to have self-approval and strength of the spirit adds to Iago’s choices that in this case refers to how he made his decisions about life. The creative and strong mind that helped Iago arain the much he had in life resonates with what the author refers to as the real engine that drives all human beings. The character is both well in true with his past but apso seeks to build on a legacy that will dominate the good life he will live (Van Duijn et al., 155). In addition, Iago does not shy from building circles that reflect who he is than what he might become. He refers the future as an unknown mystery that can only be revealed by unfolding the thoughts that obscure people from their visons.
In order to earn the right peace and self-calm, Iago dedicates to living a life of personal drive that is not run by what and how people see him. It is through these decisions that Iago adopts a life of positivity that even catapults him to win the right image and strength within the derived notion on personal growth (Abuzahra 201). The author seeks to show that Iago was not only living a personal life but one that was reflective of other people. Iago says he thinks Othello may have slept with his wife, Emilia: “It is thought abroad that ’twixt my sheets / He has done my office” (I.iii.369–370). Iago mentions this suspicion again at the end of Act II, scene I, explaining that he lusts after Desdemona because he wants to get even with Othello “wife for wife” (II.i.286). He is constantly seeking growth but also being tagged to his former life that is described within the context of happiness and love. These traits shape Iago’s behavior and also directs his steps to win the confidence he had for long searched in the wrong places. Iago is an example of a character with multiple traits who seeks not to deviate from the course he takes no matter the cost.
Othello’s depiction of Iago is very intense as he is tainted as person who is strong and effective in deriving happiness in all situations. Iago does not only hinge his happiness from the surroundings but works to see that he is happy and well in tune with his life. The description of Iago is thus inclined to a very broad derivative that is common in literature. There is thus a literal and intellectual description of Iago that Othello seeks to sell in this piece of literature and this brings the reader to a closer understanding of what and how Iago operated. One of the most striking traits of Iago is that he has deep hatred for women as he always despised them in all ways. Iago appears to have a had a rough past with the women and this is revealed in the way he talks a treats women. In his own capacity when approached by one of his colleagues claims that he has no room for women talk. In fact, he advocates for a broad and integrated outlook on what and how women should be treated (Smith 119). The aim here as intended in Othello’s outlook is to show the role and state of gender in the society. As a key theme, gender parity is bets revealed by Iago who in his case has a very negative attitude towards women. Other characters appear to interact well with women but Iago takes a different direction to an extent of causing murder of Emilia.
The theme of gender inequality and discrimination is best brought out by Iago as he is always negative and despising women for who they are in the society. To add on this, the value and nature of how Iago acts is brought out in many ways as he neglects his duties and goes forward to lay blame on women for their failure to be responsible (Abuzahra 199). This is totally false because it is clear that Iago is intentionally failing to own up his roles and blames women for the various failures. The various traits by Iago are well developed by Othello who in this case seeks to bring a character who has many asides and a disoriented view towards women. Shakespeare in this case brings s very different taste to literature in his description of Iago who in many ways remains a mystery to the audience.
Conclusion
In his defense, Iago personally convinces himself that he was once a good person who rated people for who they were and worked to ensure that he related with them on a level of respect. Iago is often funny, especially in his scenes with the foolish Roderigo, which serve as a showcase of Iago’s manipulative -abilities. He seems almost to wink at the audience as he revels in his own skill. As entertained spectators, we find ourselves on Iago’s side when he is with Roderigo. Iago is not only depicted a character of many forms but also takes many angles in his depiction of who and how he approached life. He is also treated as wise and trickery in the way he treats his colleagues but also fails to decline to won up his mistakes. The hatred for women is depicted in many forms as he often claims that women are part of the problem the society faces. He is even quoted saying that he would do better if he had a little touch for women. Iago is not only hinged in creating the right life for himself but his failures only gets worse when he strives to make a change in life.
Works Cited
Abuzahra, Nimer, and Rami Salahat. “Analyzing Iago’s Speech in Shakespeare’s Othello.” Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics 2.2 (2018): 185-203.
Smith, Ian. “We are Othello: Speaking of race in early modern studies.” Shakespeare Quarterly 67.1 (2016): 104-124.
Van Duijn, Max J., Ineke Sluiter, and Arie Verhagen. “When narrative takes over: The representation of embedded mindstates in Shakespeare’s Othello.” Language and Literature 24.2 (2015): 148-166.
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