Happy black history month

Via the Alameda Health System

Nearly a third of all births in the United States are through cesarean section. The surgery is done for a variety of reasons, including when labor isn’t progressing or when a baby is breech, but that doesn’t mean that the procedure is easy. Surgeons have to cut through skin, fat, fascia, and muscles just to get to the uterus. For centuries, c-sections were a death sentence for western women—the maternal mortality rate for the procedure was 85% in Great Britain during the 1860s. Recovery for those who survived was difficult and painful. In central and eastern Africa, this wasn’t the case.

African doctors had nearly perfected c-sections by the 1700s. Doctors took great care to make sure no organs were damaged and the mother didn't lose much blood. Additionally, they took steps to dull the mother’s pain and prevent infection. The biggest concern for an African mother after her c-section was when she would be able to breastfeed, while a European mother’s the biggest concern was whether she would survive the surgery.

A Scottish anthropologist observed a c-section on a young woman in Uganda. He documented that the mother never expressed pain during the procedure, and she was able to breastfeed within two hours. Her wound healed in less than two weeks. The anthropologist considered the techniques to be a medical marvel and believed that the world should follow suit.

It took until the 1900s for c-sections to become safe in the western world. If we had taken a page out of Africa’s book sooner, many mothers could have lived to watch their babies grow up the way that young Ugandan woman did.

Via the Independent

As members of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, African American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos used their worldwide attention to protest segregation in the United States and South Africa. The main goals of the OPHR were to criticize racism in sports, and to have more people of color as athletic coaches and trainers. 

In the 1968 summer Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos won gold and bronze medals respectively for the 200 meter track event with Australian OPHR supporter Peter Norman winning silver. While receiving their medals, Smith and Carlos lowered their heads and held up their fists in the Black Power salute while Norman wore an OPHR badge in solidarity. The statement couldn’t have been clearer.

The demonstration was met with worldwide anger. The president of the International Olympic Committee called the action “violent” and threatened to ban American athletes from competing in track events, despite not minding when Nazi salutes had been used in the 1936 Olympics. Norman was shunned by his country and barred from all future sports events. Smith and Carlos were removed from Olympic Village and suspended from the American track team. Upon their return home, the athletes were met with death threats.

The impact of the Black Power demonstration is still felt today. When athletes have something to say, they use their global attention to say it. In 2016, football player Colin Kaepernick protested police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem— an action that circulated throughout the NFL. During the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, Milwuakee’s basketball team held a walkout at one of their games. Just a few months ago, Iranian soccer players refused to sing their national anthem to draw attention to the violation of women’s rights happening in the country.

Thanks to Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Peter Norman, athletes all over the world have learned to use their platforms to stand up.

Via the African American Intellectual History Society

The Black Panthers were founded in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, two college students. A Black power activist group, they were most politically active in California, organizing protests and special services. Here in Portland, the Black Panthers organized free healthcare and dental care programs, along with providing breakfast for children before school.

The intention of the Black Panthers was never to do harm. Still, they were targeted by the government in arrests and even shootings. Eventually, political pressure forced the Black Panthers to scatter, but their impact is still resonating today. 

There were ten demands listed by Black Panthers known as the Ten Point Program:

1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.

2. We want full employment for our people.

3. We want an end to the robbery by the Capitalists of our Black Community.

4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.

5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in present-day society.

6. We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.

7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people.

8. We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.

9. We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black Communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.

10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.