GUN VIOLENCE IN AMERICA: FOR WHO THE BELL TOLLS NEXT.

Just five people shy of Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting incident that claimed 26 lives, the Uvalde Texas Robb elementary school mass shooting at 21 victims, now ranks among the highest grossing gun carnage in America. It is sad that such frequent blood spilling has tragically become part of our culture as a society. May the souls of the killed now rest.

25th AMENDMENT: ITS NOW ALL CRICKET.

Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi once questioned former President Donald John Trump's fitness to remain in office due to what she claimed was his declining mental capacity. Does anyone know what Madam Speaker presently thinks about the incontrovertible case which America is now saddled with? Just curious!

WHO WILL REBUILD UKRAINE?

The West should convert frozen Russian assets, both state's and oligarchs' owned, into a full seizure and set them aside for the future rebuilding of Ukraine. Like the Marshal Plan, call it the Putin Plan.

A HERO IS BORN.

I am staying put. I will not run away and abandon my people. The fight is here in Ukraine. What I need are weapons and ammunitions, not a ride out of town like former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani - President Volodymyr Zelensky.

IT IS WHAT IT IS.

"There is too much hate in America because there is too much anger in America." - Trevor Noah.

WORD!

A life without challenges is not a life lived at all. A life lived is a life that has problems, confronts problems, solves problems and then learns from problems. - Tunde Fashola.

NOW, YOU KNOW.

When fishing for love, bait with your heart and not your brain, because you cannot rationalize love. - Mark Twain.

JUST THE FACT.

In our country, you can shoot and kill a nigger, but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings - Dave Chappelle

DO YOU?.

“What you believe in can only be defined by what you’re willing to risk for it." - Stuart Scheller.

HEDGE YOUR CRISIS.

Never get in bed with a woman whose problems are worse than yours. - Chicago PD.

PROBLEM SOLVED.

'The best way to keep peace is to be ready to destroy evil. If you Pearl Harbor me, I Nagasaki you.' - Ted Nugent.

OUR SHARED HUMANITY.

Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings. - Cardinal Matthew Kukah.

WORDS ON MARBLE.

"Birth is agony. Life is hard. Death is cruel." - Japanese pithy.

REPENT OR PERISH - POPE.

Homosexuality is a sin. It is not ordained by God, therefore same sex marriage cannot be blessed by the church - Pope Francis.

CANCEL CULTURE IS CORROSIVE.


FOR SAKE OF COUNTRY.


MAGA LIVES ON: NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER!

TWITTER IS BORING WITHOUT HIS TWEETS. #RestorePresidentTrump'sTwitterHandle.


WORD.

"If you cannot speak the truth when it matters, then nothing else you says matters.” - Tucker Carlson.

#MeToo MOVEMENT: A BAD NEWS GONE CRAZY.

"To all the women who testified, we may have different truth, but I have a great remorse for all of you. I have great remorse for all of the men and women going through this crisis right now in our country. You know, the movement started basically with me, and I think what happened, you know, I was the first example, and now there are thousands of men who are being accused and a regeneration of things that I think none of us understood. I’m not going to say these aren’t great people. I had wonderful times with these people. I’m just genuinely confused. Men are confused about this issue. We are going through this #MeToo movement crisis right now in this country." - Harvey Weinstein.


RON DELLUMS: UNAPOLOGETICALLY RADICAL.

"If it’s radical to oppose the insanity and cruelty of the Vietnam War, if it’s radical to oppose racism and sexism and all other forms of oppression, if it’s radical to want to alleviate poverty, hunger, disease, homelessness, and other forms of human misery, then I’m proud to be called a radical.” - Ron Vernie Dellums.


WHAT REALLY MATTERS IN LIFE - STEVE JOBS

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. However, aside from work, I have little joy. Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. Memories precipitated by love is the only true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on. The most expensive bed in the world is the sick bed. You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life. Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. Treat yourself well. Cherish others.” - SJ

EVIL CANNOT BE TRULY DESTROYED.

"The threat of evil is ever present. We can contain it as long as we stay vigilant, but it can never truly be destroyed. - Lorraine Warren (Annabelle, the movie)


ONLY THE POOR WISH THEY HAD STUFF?

“I’m not that interested in material things. As long as I find a good bed that I can sleep in, that’s enough.” - Nicolas Berggruem, the homeless billionaire.

Friday, October 15, 2021

HENRIETTA LACKS: WAS ONLY GOOD FOR HER CELLS BUT NOT WORTHY OF MENTION.

ICHEOKU says but for the World Health Organization bestowing her an otherwise overdue recognition for being the source code of medical and scientific breakthroughs which has helped millions of cervical cancer patients, many people including this writer would never have heard that a black woman named Henrietta Lacks once walked this earth. But she had cervical cancer and while undergoing treatment in Washington DC in 1953, her cervical cells were secretly harvested and used in developing many vaccines and modeled treatments and management of cervical cancer as well as other diseases. 

As a result, millions of women's lives have been saved and still being saved; many scientific medical breakthroughs were recorded including discovering the human papilloma virus (HPV) and polio vaccines, drugs for Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS) treatment and cancer. Her cells are also aiding the COVID-19 research. But America refused to acknowledge her nor gave her, her rightfully earned place in the annals of history for her role in unearthing these discoveries and palliatives. But ICHEOKU is not surprised, as her case was just one of such examples where black Americans contributions to humanity were intentionally played down and suppressed lest they will become full bona fide human beings with awesome mental quotients. 

It followed a pattern which continuously diminished and minimized black Americans contribution in American history, including so many inventions of theirs that were either outrightly hijacked or passed off and named after white men as black people were not good enough to invent anything or contribute any meaningful tangible thing to humanity's wellbeing. Speaking about such keep them hidden syndrome and the real McCoy and his oil filter, the traffic light and refrigerated trucks come to mind, including other sundry inventions which black people brought about but which they were not given credit for, until very recently.

It was the same story with white slave masters who constantly slept with black women slaves including the wives of their slaves; and fathered a lot of children with them but refused to acknowledge their paternity. Instead they were forbidden under penalty of extreme torture and punishment, including sale, indentured servitude and lynching by hanging from ever speaking a word about their dirty liaisons. Even the late South Carolina Senator Strum Thurmond had such illicit relationship which resulted in an unacknowledged child who remained incognito until the good ole boy passed away at 100 years old in 2003. 

The daughter, Essie Mae Washington-Williams died at 87 years in 2013 and for her 70 years on this earth kept the senator's secret secret. It is their thing, the code of co-existence to "never be seen or loudly heard outside", the "know your place" racial hierarchy in America which somewhat still prevails till today, admitted in more subtle forms.

By honoring Henrietta Lacks, WHO has somewhat ameliorated some wrong done to her and her family, first by stealing her cells and second, by not acknowledging her for all the inroads made finding cures for so many diseases through her cells. WHO should take further step by endowing a chair in her name in a medical research institution and that way help to immortalize her. Her surviving family deserves substantial compensation and profit sharing from all the drugs developed from using her cells. It is not enough to just give a plaque or certificate of recognition, more needs to be done including making a real cash compensation. Companies making fortune from her cells need to also pony up for all their major breakthroughs

Paying compensation to her family or establishing an endowment in her name will be a more tangible way to really honor her, advance racial equity in health and science and truly recognize women, particularly women of color for their incredible contribution to medical science. She saved countless lives and her immortal cell line, HeLa cells, are still saving countless lives today and will continue to save countless lives long into the future. HPV and Polio vaccines, drugs for HIV/AIDS, hemophilia, leukemia, Parkinson syndrome disease, in-vitro fertilization, cancer, gene mapping, research on chromosomal conditions and other precision medicine are all good tidings which emanated from her cells. 

So what else can anyone ask of anybody, especially someone who has contributed this so much to humanity's betterment and general wellness. A woman whose cells became the first human cell line to ever reproduce and replicate outside the human body. What an indelible historical record; an honor which have earned etching her name in immorality. Imagine if she were a white blondie, but unfortunately she was of the "wrong" skin color, hence the need to suppressed her name and not let the world of women particularly white women, beneficiaries of her cells scientific endeavors, know that it was a black woman whose cells helped save their lives. 

It is sad that the effect of slavery and racial injustices in America lingers on til this day and you ask yourself, what will it take to finally rest that ugly chapter in America's life. Will there ever be an apology for the horrors of slavery and will there ever be compensation or what is termed reparation for the harm caused by slavery. Its other resulting injustices such as the story of Henrietta Lacks should tug at our conscience in speeding up the recompense. But it is doubtful if it will happen right now because the nation has lived with it for so long that they have literally acquiesced in it. Hopefully, progressivism will some day force a different outcome. What a woman and her wondrous gift to humanity.

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