In the 1993 Issues & Views'
booklet, "Keeping the Spotlight on Failure," we discussed the tendency
of those blacks who fixate on past catastrophes that have befallen the
race. Whereas members of other groups celebrate their individual and collective
victories over natural and manmade disasters, most blacks seem to enjoy
wearing past injustices like badges of honor. Although every group on earth
has its share of woeful stories to tell, most of the others lack an elite
who might profit from the repetitious telling of these maudlin tales.
From time to time, in criticism
of Issues & Views' emphasis on the great successes of blacks even during
the "worst of times," we receive a letter, stuffed with newspaper clippings
or photostat copies of book pages, recounting some racist horror story
from the American past. A favorite theme revolves around the destruction
of black property and/or lives. These missives come with an implied or
sometimes outright message: "See what they did to us, when we tried to
do something for ourselves? So what's the use?"
A favorite tale of woe is the story
of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Earlier in this century, Tulsa was home to a vibrant,
economically prospering community of blacks, whose Greenwood business district
consisted of almost every kind of business--from groceries, clothing stores,
gas stations, hotels, restaurants to doctors, dentists and lawyers. This
commercial activity, along with some oil-rich land, generated wealth for
many residents. In June, 1921, sparked by an inaccurate and exaggerated
newspaper account of an altercation between a black man and a white woman
on an elevator, a white mob descended on Greenwood. They looted and set
fires to stores and nearby homes. When the dust had settled, 300 people
were dead (black and white), over 4,000 blacks were homeless, and the entire
business district was destroyed.
The destruction of Tulsa's Greenwood
section certainly rates high on any list of horror stories. Yet the part
of the story that no one sends us clippings about is the part truly worth
celebrating. Not only did blacks rebuild the homes that had been destroyed,
but by 1923, the Greenwood business district was on its way to becoming
even bigger than it was before the riot. Historian John Sibley Butler,
in Entrepreneurship and Self-Help Among Black Americans, writes, "Mostly
because of self-help and the pooling of money for the capitalization of
business enterprises," Tulsa's blacks outdid themselves in their determination
to overcome the tragedy.
So, what finally happened to this
commercial gem? The same thing that happened to viable black communities
everywhere. Blacks themselves abandoned it. Butler writes, "In the late
1950s and early 1960s, the enterprises of the once proud district began
to suffer because blacks won the right to spend their money freely anywhere
in Tulsa." The loss of a consumer base, which also spelled the loss of
capital, and the later intrusion of urban renewal in the 1960s, effectively
put an end to the blossoming renewal. One could say that Greenwood died
two deaths, one at the hands of envious whites and the second at the hands
of indifferent blacks. Through their dollars, blacks became instrumental
in increasing the prosperity and wealth of other parts of the city, while
neglecting their own.
Throughout the country, this became
the pattern in one town and city after another. It is this scenario that
did more to slow down black economic progress than any wicked deeds dreamed
up by the Klan. Although no white mobs ever torched the successful black
financial centers of Durham or Portsmouth (VA) or Memphis or Birmingham,
these cities suffered the same fate as Tulsa. With the clamor for integration,
money ceased to circulate in black communities, which guaranteed swift
and sure economic decline.
Copyright 1997 Issues &
Views
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Humble Rush Limbaugh expressed some exasperation that U.S. Black citizens
keep voting for Democratic politicians that lie to them (December 2000).
Limbaugh claims to be on the 'cutting edge' of most issues. However,
on the issue of abortion-breast-cancer Rush is not even on the trailing
edge, perhaps because he believes that profound medical knowledge is required
to understand it.
All that Rush needs to know is that it is accepted medical fact that
a young childless pregnant woman who delays her first birth via an induced
abortion, raises her risk of breast cancer. Why? The earlier the age at
first full-term birth, the lower a woman's risk of breast cancer. Will
Rush be the last to know? When Black women and men realize that the 'choice'
that Jesse Jackson and others offered to Black women was higher risk of
breast cancer, there will be a back lash.
In the years 1947-1949 U.S. Black women under age 40 had about 10%
lower risk of breast cancer than Caucasian women under 40; over age 40
Black women had a 30% lower risk. Advantage: Black women. Remember
that 80% of breast cancer cases occur after age 49. Did this advantage
continue for Black women? In the years 1969-1971 there was some slippage,
since Black women under age 40 had a 20% higher risk of breast
cancer than Caucasians; over age 40 Black women maintained a 30% advantage.
The overall advantage was 20% for Black women. This data was reported
by Nancy Krieger in a 1990 article for the American Journal of Epidemiology.
The last time period for this report was 1978-1981. Black women under age
40 then had a 30% higher risk of breast cancer than ‘White’ women
under age 40.
The trend becomes even worse. If it were always the case that Black
women under age 40 have a somewhat higher BC risk but Black women over
age 40 had a reduced BC risk, the net result would be: advantage Black
women. Why? 80% of breast cancer cases occur after age 49 years. But the
'trend' is not 'friendly'. In 2000 Dr. Lecia Apantaku reported, “However,
Black women younger than 50 years have a higher incidence of breast cancer
than White women.” If this trend continues, U.S. Black women will have
higher BC risk regardless of age. Welcome to the ‘world of “choice”’. They
never told women that the choice' was ... breast cancer. And the
death rate from breast cancer is 35% higher in Black women than Caucasian
women according to 1997 data.
Why this trend toward higher breast cancer rates in young Blacks? There
is no one dominant factor that explains why breast cancer risk has risen
much more sharply for Black women than it has for Caucasian women. One
reason is that Black women, on average, do not nurse their young as long
as Whites. But another reason is that before the mid 1960s Blacks had a
lower rate of induced abortion than Whites. As of the mid-1990s Blacks
had triple the rate of induced abortion. In 1990 researcher Nancy Krieger
fingered induced abortion as a possible cause of young Black women having
an elevated risk of breast cancer compared to Caucasians:
“Black and/or low-income women under the age of 25 currently
are at least twice as likely to obtain an abortion as are similarly aged
White and/or higher-income women ... The higher teen abortion
rate among Black women could conceivably heighten Black teenagers susceptibility
to potentially excessive and increasing exogenous carcinogenic exposures,
thereby contributing (along with lower breast feeding rates) to higher
rates of premenopausal breast cancer.”
Since the abortion rate is now even higher (triple v double) for Blacks
vs Whites, this factor is now even more important than when Nancy
Krieger wrote her 1990 article. For an overview of the 'ABC' risk read
Dr. Chris Kahlenborn's book Breast Cancer: Its link to Abortion and
the Birth Control Pill; ISBN: 0966977734, Price: $US25. This book
provides the documented evidence validating induction abortion as a risk
factor for breast cancer. The following ‘pro-choice’ medical
professionals have conceded the ABC (Abortion-Breast-Cancer) risk:
Dr. Janet Daling, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, Dr. Susan Love, Nancy Krieger
(PhD), Lynn Rosenberg (ScD).
Does a previous abortion result in deadlier breast cancer? What are
the odds that women with previous induced abortions will have a breast
cancer ‘relapse’ within 3 years (i.e. breast cancer reappears)? In 1983
researchers reported the following:
Number of prior induced abortions Odds of BC recurring within 3 years
0 10.5%
1 20.5%
2 32.3%
Since U.S. Black women have triple the induced abortion rate as Caucasian
women, this may explain why their rate of breast cancer death is
35% higher, although their overall BC rate is lower than that of Caucasian
women. At least 25% of women who contract breast cancer will eventually
die from breast cancer. Increased risk of breast cancer is not listed
on abortion clinic consent forms!
Note: On July 19, 2000 nineteen year-old Stephanie Carter sued abortion
doctor Charles Benjamin, one reason
being that he failed to inform Carter of the breast cancer risks associated
with induced abortion.
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