"Black men who had syphilis were lied to and told that they were being treated for a bad blood disorder and were never treated then for the disease, an experiment that lasted forty years." This is an excerpt from my book, "Born In The Wrong Country." This was an unspeakable and despicable crime that took place long after slavery was over. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment> One would have thought that this was the end of such disgusting crimes, but on Friday, October 1, 2010 I learned of something else, which is as dreadful and appalling. The entire world learned something which is just as sickening, horrific, and unconscionable as what was done in the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Susan Reverby, a professor and researcher at Wellesley College, found that doctors had infected over 1,500 Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea in experiments from 1946 to 1948; those in the experiments didn't know what was being done to them. When you think that something is over and you find out that it's not, one can't help but think of what hasn't been uncovered or what other secrets of an atrocious nature are being withheld from the American people. A statement was released by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saying, .."We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices." <http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/01/1852997/us-apologizes-for-abhorrent-guatemala.html>
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XydKHo8FNl4&feature=player_embedded#!>
Having to apologize after 64 years without any kind of recourse, and to let the perpetrators off the hook, even though dead is unconscionable. Mind you the Tuskegee men were African-American People of Color, and the Guatemalans are not of the White race; this leads me to believe that these two racial groups were being targeted by White men for these atrocious experiments. Someone needs to pay restitution for these crimes, just as this government still needs to pay some kind of restitution for the enslavement of the African-America People of Color, and the crimes against humanity that were done to them. Reparations must be paid because an apology for horrors is never enough; it's almost like condoning what was done.
In order to get the full scope of the horror, one needs to read more about how these diseases were given to the people in Guatemala; it is beyond sadistic and it's horrifying. When you read articles embed below, you'll see how this was done and who funded it; this is also a gross misappropriation of funds.
<http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/10/01/1852997/us-apologizes-for-abhorrent-guatemala.html>
<http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/01/us.guatemala.apology/index.html?hpt=T2>
It would have been better for the researchers to have burned this money than to do what was done; it was by no means money that was well spent. Egregious acts within the United States of America never bolster the trust or image of our country. The embedded articles mention that today safeguards are in place, which would prevent something like this from occurring; personally I have my doubts; evil and sinister people are geniuses too.
When something like this is brought to light, it makes me wonder what the American people don't know, and what other secrets are lurking around to be discovered. I feel as if America is not only the America of top military secrets, but the America of secrets that have been purposely hidden to keep from telling the real history and story of this country. As I wrote about in my book, "Born In The Wrong Country," "An olive branch must be extended to the Black race that did you no harm; it was you that did unspeakable harm to the Black race." America must give a real apology for what they did to the African-American People of Color."
The abominable acts that were just uncovered state that there were 1,500 Guatemalans that were infected; something like that didn't just happen, as stated in the above, "We deeply regret that it happened, ... When something is done on purpose to someone singularly or to a mass of people, one should not say that it happened. There was a perpetrator that caused this unlawful, distasteful and unmitigated act; this was not human error; what was done to those people was not by happenstance; this was done on purpose and it was an act of terrorism. One can no more say that this happened, no more than they can say that the enslavement of the African people by Whites in this country was happenstance. When news like this is uncovered, one has to wonder what else is hidden in the closets of America's secrets.
There are those in this country that want to blame every lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender man and woman for what they feel is wrong in our country, and who call our actions wrong and disgraceful. There are some people that want to blame others for things that they are responsible for; it's called passing the buck and not taking responsibility for their own actions. Some people go as far as claiming that the United States of America is a Christian country, and then there are others who want to bring the Church back to this government. When is America going to out itself and tell the whole truth about America? When is America going to start telling the truth and tell who's been raping little boys and girls beside the Catholic Church? When is America going to clean out their closets and come clean about what needs to be outed in the history of the United States of America? When will they stop trying to blame everything on minorities, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender men and women, for what they think is wrong? I would venture to say that the ills which are hidden go much deeper than what they would like us to believe. When is America going to learn that this country is no more a Christian nation than the so-called Christians that enslaved Africans, that hung, branded, raped and murdered Black people, and more recently went over to Uganda and tried to help them pass a law that would incarcerate and kill some gay people for being who they are?
< http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2010/03/15/abc-links-american-christians-anti-gay-death-penalty-uganda-ignores-r> <http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/25/international_uproar_over_uganda_anti_gay>
This country is no more Christian than those people who let the Tuskegee men believe that they were being treated for a bad blood disorder, and those who injected 1,500 Guatemalans with syphilis and gonorrhea. Some of the so-called Christians and some of the politicians of the American government don't know what God likes. Anyone that is so racist, hateful, vengeful, deceitful, and as prejudice as some of the groups of people here in America, are in no position to say what God wants, and are definitely not the ones that should be trying to teach the Bible or foster love. God loves all of us, but they want to rewrite the Bible to say that God only likes what they want, and they will dare tell you that you should not interpret the Bible. Injecting Syphilis and gonorrhea into someone's body without them knowing it is not God-like; it's demonic and it's sadistic, but some Americans would have the world believe that they are Christians, just as they would have you believe that American slavery was right because in the Bible there was slavery, and it was okay. Whose interpretation is this country going to depend on when they want to kill and torture people, who don't even know that they are being used in a dreadful experiment?
People, politicians and so-Christians must realize that when there is no love, then it is not God-like. When you fill someone with a live disease to run experiments, which can harm and or kill them without their knowledge is more than evil; there is no love there. So-called Christians, whether from the Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church, Protestant, Lutheran or any other Christian group cannot make their own rules of how God looks at things, especially when they are destroying people by invading a country, which caused thousands upon thousands of deaths and injuries. This invasion didn't just happen anymore than 9/11 happened to the United States of America; there was a perpetrator in both cases.
As I say in "Born In The Wrong Country,"-- "If this nation is to survive, there must be a healing process that must start, and there must be a follow through to let its people and the world know that they are sincere." When the world reads or hears about America's own atrocities, what happens to America's image? You see it's not just about the recent headlines of injecting syphilis and gonorrhea to 1,500 Guatemalans; this tears into the fabric of what America is, and it forces people to ask, are there other secrets that America is hiding? When these things seemly pop up out of no where, they undermine America's credibility and what she stands for.
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