WHERE WE LIVE DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF OUR LIVES-ACROSS THE TRACKS IS NOT SO GOOD!!

[James Scruggs]

Dear Sir or Madam:

Please consider printing the article given below in your paper. Edit where needed.

DR. J. ALVA SCRUGGS
FRANK(LY) SPEAKING
OR LETTER TO EDITOR 1804 MAYFAIR DRIVE
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32303
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WHERE WE LIVE DETERMINES THE QUALITY OF OUR LIVES-ACROSS THE TRACKS IS NOT SO GOOD!!

(Unedited/Unabridged 2011)

 

Have you ever given any thought of what is meant by the label, “On the other side of the track?” For Blacks it has meant that they were living on the side on the railroad track that divided the town from its dumping and waste reservoirs/landfills! Blacks were poor like many whites and in an unhealthy environment, which compounded their condition! This has manifested its self in the health and life span of the overall Black population of America. Department of Healthand human Services reporta that, “African Americans have 2.4 times the infant mortality rate as non-Hispanic whites. They are four times as likely to die as infants due to complications related to low birthweight as compared to non-Hispanic white infants,”

As a Black living in a southern town that was located literally “on the other side of the tracks and-by the city dump.” It was witnessed how neighbors would go to the city dump next door-get a decaying chicken-soak it in bleach power and water-then in vinegar water-rinse it in water-then coat it with flour-and finally fry it in pork lard or bacon drippings! This was a common thing to see.

Today these views of places where Black are living are considered as still across the tracks in American and in the world (i.e. “The Dark Continent or Africa.) The life span of the Black is shorter than all other populations because of health and stress! (Susan Brink, Black men’s shorter life span may be attributable in part to the stresses of their position in society, Los Angeles Times, September 24, 2007)

The article entitled “Is Piracy A Cover For Nuclear Waste Dumping Off Africa?” records the activities being carried out by the industrialized world by this dumping “Nuclear Waste” in the waters off the shores of this continent!

            This activity has manifested its self in the activities of Somalia people labeled privates that are fighting the vessels participating in this sorted dumping activity.

Reports go like this, “The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.”

 This nation of people of color is truly living in a nation “on the other side of the track,” so to speak! (Pile, Is Piracy A Cover For Nuclear Waste Dumping Off Africa?, BSAlert.com, January 10, 2009)  America’s policies were against the government and as soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken at first suffering from strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. (Somalia Life expectancy-Life expectancy at birth: total population:50.4years, male: 48.49 years, CIA World Factbook)

Hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels began to wash up on shore after the 2005 tsunami. More than 300 died People died from radiation sickness. There was also poisonous lead, and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and mercury in the waste materials.  Much of it could be traced back to European hospitals and factories. It was alleged that this hospital waste was passed on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply.

Surprise! America’s response to this tragedy was to declare war on the Somalia Pirates that were trying to stop this criminal activity against its people! The dumping was never addressed. In fact, Obama’s first official "Kill" as president was the order to kill six Somalia boys on one on the Pirate vessels! This was the action that endeared him in the hearts and minds of hawks!

It is sad to see how some bad policies of America leads to actions that never approach the problem but continues to punish those that the policy was intended to help. In this case the acceptance of poor living condition of some citizens in the US has lead to the implementation of such policies for other nations. Old habits are hard to break. Why expect Obama to be able to so much good at stopping bad policies in one or two years as president?

Finally, poor and Black people live in dangerous environments, decaying parts of a city and nation, eat unhealthy foods, get bad medical care, in the winter freeze in the dark and starve, live hard and die younger than other populations!

 

Dr. J. Alva Scruggs,  BS, MS, MA, EdD
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