Monthly Archives: March 2022

RCL4

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The website I chose above is an organization named Americans United for Life that advocates for pro-life beliefs, which I do not support. I believe that every woman should have the right to decide what to do with her body without the input of rich, white, old lawmakers telling her otherwise. Their mission statement put in simple terms is: We advance the human right to life in culture, law, and policy. The website states that since their creation in 1971, they have been advocating for the protection of human life within all court systems. They claim to be involved in every abortion-related case decided by the Supreme Court. The website includes a list of Supreme Court cases as evidence to support their pro-life arguments/beliefs; these include Dobbs v. Jackson and Roe v. Wade. This group advocates for the reversal of Roe V. Wade in order to “uphold life saving law” in Mississippi. They have a group of lawyers who defend the Hyde amendment which states that federal and state governments do not have to fund elective abortions. There are also a list of briefs they say have played a major role in maintaining “common-sense health and safety regulations of abortion providers, protecting the conscience rights of health care professionals, and preventing the judicial recognition of suicide by physician.”

They have developed a report titled Unsafe that highlights America’s abortion industry conditions. The report has been endorsed by several politicians and even The Washington Post. This report is evidence offered to support their arguments that abortion does not uphold health and safety regulations. Lastly, the Americans United for Life organization took the words of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and twisted them in a way to show she supports pro-life beliefs. She made points made during her opening statement that emphasized the importance of family ties and unity based on her own experiences. The AUL says that even though she seems to take a neutral stance, she is hinting at the fact that all human life should be preserved. To ass, they are trying to endorse her in a sense because they end the article with, “Here’s hoping that if confirmed, Justice Jackson will have ears to hear the wisdom of more senior members of the Court, and that there will be many more lunchtime conversations that turn on lived experience.” This shows that they want Judge Jackson to be persuaded by these older members who share these egregious beliefs since they think her life story supports pro-life beliefs.

RCL3

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The American Medical Association should increase the amount of healthcare programs within lower income communities because this is a discriminatory inequity that causes an increase in infant mortality rates.

As previously noted, the American medical system has been around since as early as 1735 and it is a system that is vital to the lives of all individuals no matter your age, race, gender, religion, creed, etc. This system has a long history of mistreatment amongst African American individuals, dating as early as slavery. I will be focusing on the topic of infant mortality in my essay, and a major way that we can decrease the amount of infant deaths in the black community is by placing more vital institutions in needy communities. It is important to educate ourselves on the current impacts of such systemic issues and their significance to our lives, our ancestors lives, and the lives of those to follow. I think it is important to reference the racial and socioeconomic disparities that black Americans face. These disparities were instilled in the foundations of America has been actively placed into vital institutions, such as the healthcare system, affecting the development and growth of minority populations. 

I am motivated enough to discuss this topic because as a black woman who has encountered numerous eye-changing experiences, I always felt as though my duty and purpose in life was to advocate for those who face similar struggles that I do. Being “woke” about these important civic issues is a major part of my identity and I love sharing the knowledge I obtain when researching these topics. These issues drive me to be an advocate for change and be the support system not many of my African American counterparts have. Black Americans lack a lot in the United States, and I feel as though bringing awareness to issues such as this is the first step to major change. The most common misconceptions that many people hold about the subject include: black people (in this case women) are less sensitive to pain, white people are default humans, and race has no role in determining the rates of infant mortality.

My 3 specific research questions are:

  1. What is infant mortality and why is the rate so high in AA babies compared to other races?
  2. What impact does this high mortality rate have?
  3. How can an increase in healthcare programs benefit rates, inhabitants of lower income communities and society as a whole?

The library book source I found is titled Eliminating Healthcare Disparities in America. This book promises to be a very useful source for this project because it highlights ways we can eliminate the disparities in order to ensure that people get equal access to these vital systems. The first section discusses the underlying causes of disparities which ties into my first research question, the second section discusses current disparities in health care which ties into my second question, and the last three sections discuss approaches and recommendations for correcting the problem which ties into my last question. I believe that this book will be very informative in terms of policy since it outputs suggestions to eliminate disparities in healthcare.

CI4: How Can We Improve Trust?

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Building trust within someone or something involves many components. Entities such as policy makers, employees, and children all have to work together in order to build trust. Racism is ultimately the root cause of this mistrust which led to the development of a model titled “Racism as a Root Cause” that was created by the American Academy of Pediatrics. This model (RRC) is an approach for pediatric healthcare specifically that serves to develop strategies, policies, and mechanisms to address the root causes of health disparities. The authors of this article state that there are four components that are critical to advancing population health, and these include: precise impacts for racially marginalized communities, system changes in regards to policies and environments, long-term sustainable impact, and reparations regarding historical injustices within these systems.

The author of the article also provides a list of ways that one can check if they are dealing with a population of individuals that experience racism, which I will discuss more in my last CI post. The 1934 establishment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is a prime example of how the white community was uplifted using the four components of the RRC approach. If the white community can be uplifted through these techniques, the same can apply for marginalized groups of people as well. Lastly, the author provides four ways that we, as a nation, can integrate the RRC into the field of pediatric health which I will also include in my last post. This approach targets racism at any level, and since we have the resources to address racism as a root cause at the childhood spectrum, we can prevent the increase of racial health disparities in America.

It is a known fact that people of color receive less and worse care compared to white Americans and according to an article I have read, African American men have it the worst. At age 45, their life expectancy is 3+ years less than that of non-Hispanic caucasian men. Notably, black patients are tended to more when they are seen by black doctors/health care providers. There seems to be an increase in communication and empathy on both ends when these groups of people are racially matched. In order to limit the amount of mistrust between health care providers and patients, we must improve communication, increase transparency, create welcoming communities, and attend to access barriers. It is recognized that this lack of trust can have positive and negative effects on the black community. On the positive side, it can empower one to fight for change, on the negative side, it can cause individuals to avoid the proper care they need. If we strengthen these vital relationships and get rid of the social and racial disparities within America, it can build trust and cause great benefits for our nation as a whole.

PAS4: Genesee River Monster

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PAS4: Genesee River Monster

Trigger Warning: Death, Rape, Cannibalism

Arthur Shawcross was born June 6, 1945 in Maine and he was the oldest of 4 children. Many people who knew Arthur growing up said he has the sociopathic characteristics of a serial killer. When he was super young, his family moved to Watertown, New York and more problems began to arise in Arthur. In school, he was very introverted and it was hard for him to be accepted by his fellow classmates. He eventually changed from the introverted student to the class bully who had very random aggressive outbursts. Arthur stated in his interview that his mother and aunt would perform oral sex on him as a kid and in junior high, he had sexual relations with his sister. His family objects these claims. Arthur had a very low IQ, which is somewhat common within serial killers. Arthur enlisted in the army at 19 and was eventually drafted to Vietnam. His sadistic behaviors caught up to him here: he claims to have rape, killed, and ate two Vietnamese girls. This is not documented to be true.

Arthur married 4 times in his civilian life and he also had kids. All of his marriages ended due to his anger issues and distance from his children. During his third marriage, he moved back to New York and in 1972 he abducted his neighbor’s son. He ended up suffocating the young boy until he passed and he sexually assaulted his corpse. His body was not found for 5 months and when it was found, his genitals were bitten off. 4 months later, the body of an 8 year old girl was found under a bridge. She was raped and murdered and her insides, as well as her clothing were stuffed with debris such as leaves, grass, mud, and dirt. Arthur was brought in for questioning about this murder because he was last seen with this girl before he died and he was last seen with the boy before he died. During questioning, he confessed but since there was lack of evidence, his lawyers plea bargained the first boy’s case. In October of 1972, he pled guilty to manslaughter of the young girl, avoiding a first degree murder charge. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison but he only served 15 due to good behavior.

In March of 1978 he moved to another area of New York and was publicly shamed by his neighbors. He informed his parole officers which led them to smuggle him into Rochester and seal his prior criminal record all so he could fit in. This allowed Arthur’s murderous behavior to continue yet again. He went under the name ‘Mitch’ and he would attract sex workers in the area, rape, and murder them as well as dismember their bodies and toss them into the Genesee River. One odd thing he liked to do was revisit the crime scene in order to regain pleasure; he would masturbate at the scene. He confessed after scare tactics by police. His confession was about 80 pages long, and he admitted to revising some of the bodies to eat pieces of skin from the body, including genital areas. He was charged with 10 counts of second degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years for each murder. Arthur passed in November of 2008 due to cardiac arrest.

The link to his interview: https://youtu.be/NQNwjEkszvg