The C.O.W.S. MEDICAL APARTHEID Part II

The Context of White Supremacy hosts the second study session on Harriet A. Washington’s seminal text, Medical Apartheid: The Dark History Of Medical Experimentation On Black Americans From Colonial Times To Present. Washington’s historic book covers centuries of deliberate pillaging of black bodies under the guise of “science.” Washington’s research should affect how black people interrogate the scientific breakthroughs of whitefolks – like the “crispr” gene editing technology and DNA tracing websites that stockpile genetic material. Last week’s session provided a thorough foundation for the book and detailed the opposition Washington faced to publicizing this information. She also stressed that much of the discourse on the scientific misuse of black bodies is buried in scientific journals and highfalutin jargon. Washington informs readers that enslaved black people suffered from poor nutrition, overwork, extremely poor sanitary conditions and primitive medical practices; this exacerbated the poor health of black people.This should be mandatory reading for attempted counter-racists and all black people.