Blacks 'Injected' With Syphilis? Never Happened

One peculiar footnote of the Jeremiah Wright controversy has been the repetition -- by educated black men on national television -- of a stubborn myth. That the U.S. government "injected black men with syphilis."

Rev. Wright said from the pulpit, in a video clip shown on Fox News: "The government lied about the Tuskegee experiment! They purposely infected African-American men with syphilis!"

Wright is wrong. That's not what the Tuskegee experiment was.

In the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male," federal researchers refused to treat a group of black men who already had syphilis, long after a cure had been found.

Instead, doctors treated these men like laboratory animals, studying the course of the disease over decades.

The Tuskegee experiment was the most shameful episode in the history of the U.S. Public Health Service. President Bill Clinton apologized on behalf of the nation in 1997.

But the government did not infect black men with syphilis.

To invoke the Tuskegee experiment to suggest that the government invented AIDS to kill black people, as Rev. Wright did... that dishonors the truth. There is no excuse for it. It must stop.

Yet here's what Obery Hendricks, a professor at New York Theological Seminary, said on "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night in defense of Rev. Wright: "We do know the government injected black men with syphilis."

On "Hardball with Chris Matthews" on Tuesday, journalist Ed Gordon said it's "not so far-fetched" to suppose that AIDS is weapon of genocide... considering that "the government was giving syphilis to black men."

Likewise, CNN contributor Roland Martin said last Friday: "I was watching another channel where they played a sermon where [Rev. Wright] said that America infected African-American men with
syphilis, called the Tuskegee experiment. That actually did, indeed, happen."

No. It. Did. Not.

And the only reason Obery Hendricks, Ed Gordon and Roland Martin weren't humiliated on national television is because Bill O'Reilly, Chris Matthews and Anderson Cooper are more ignorant about black history than they are.

I can't believe that none of those well-educated black gentlemen has read the highly praised book "Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment." Or seen the HBO movie "Miss Evers' Boys."

I recommend they do so before popping off again in public about the Tuskegee experiment. Same goes for Jeremiah Wright.

Comments

[wbateman]

Maybe. Maybe.

Maybe the 399 men from the Macon county area weren't injected with syphilis. Maybe. Maybe the goverment is not responsible for their affliction. Maybe. Maybe the doctors and Public Health officials in Alabama as well as the Surgeon General or the Lawn Boy that was snickering or the 201 uninfected members of the experiment never knew a thing. Maybe. Maybe.

Most assuredly the wives that contracted the bad blood (syphilis) were INJECTED by the negligence and Don'tGiveA­DamnAboutT­heColoreds­InTuskegee attitude (they WERE refered to as "darkies" in documentation) that was rampant in the fat tie and funny fedora hat wearing Goverment of the time. The children born (blind, mentally deficient and otherwise afflicted) were INJECTED by the negligence and They'reJus­tSomeDarki­esWhyShoul­dWeBeConce­rned attitude of those that felt the experiment, the patient wait for the autopsy, outweighed the need for a healthy, strong family unit. Most assuredly. Most assuredly.

Maybe.

Maybe that's where the term "bad blood" comes from... or is it just ironic that the term fits between the black community and the goverment? Maybe.

[dollphingurl]

i like you, wbateman. excellent points.

i must say, seeing all you post comments has given me a lot more encouragement about our ability to bridge the gap. thank you so much.

[UndercoverBlackMan]

Funny... it has affected me just the opposite. :^(

[PTTY]

Oh are you a little hate monger who likes to keep lies going.

I hope Pastor Wright, His Church and The Church Members file a Defamation of Character, Malice, Slander, etc., Law Suit against Fox Network, ABC and all the Learned so-Call Journalist.

Go to Trinity Unity church page and see why Barack didn't denounce or disown the man the un edited version in context of Pastors Wright sermons. In the link below

http://www.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO

Here are links to youtube videos of Rev Wright
preaching. I got them from a comment someone left on
Roland Martin's blog.

The person leaving the comment
says listen to sean Hannity, then watch these and ask
yourself who's really spewing hate.

Part 1 - http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch? v= cdfbWSJINhg
art 2 - http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch? v= JVeK0JDPm8Y
Part 3 - http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch? v= 1o36KBeDXJ8
Part 4 - http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch? v= PFQAQVcn89A

http:/ / www. youtube. com/ user/ TRINITYCHGO

And if you are a well-educated person, then maybe you would have taken the time to listen to the complete sermons, but of course not, you believed ever thing the Government to cover their behind.

The thing is you were not even there.

[PTTY]

The African American community never accepted that excuse from the Government. Those men never knew they in fact had Syphilis.

You sound just like Sean Hannity, Rush, O'Reilly only playing distortseased 15 or 30 second sound Bytes.

My friend grew up with her Grand Father telling her about these incidents and the Government trying to cover up saying the men came there with the disease. The men never told the government they had the disease.

Half truths repeated are just as bad as complete lies.

Were you there? And I supposed you trust the Government to tell the Truth about this crime.

I supposed you believed the Fox News Network, the Fair and Balance people that those tapes were the complete Sermons.

Vote for Hillary if you want to, but stop spreading half truths.

[mikekev58]

That the men didn't know they had the disease already is part of the horror of this so-called experiment. The point the author is making is that what the government actually did was monstrous, and that the truth does not need to be distorted.
African-Americans have good reason not to trust the government, as do we all. But the African-American community also thought, by and large, that justice was served in the OJ Simpson murder trial. Does that mean that justice was, indeed, served?
Until it can be demonstrated that the government did inject syphilis into those men, then it does indeed dishonor the truth to say otherwise. And to say that the government invented AIDS to infect the black community would be news to the gay community, who were the first to experience the ravages of the disease.

[SamThornton]

Whether black men were injected with syphilis so they could be studied, or merely not told they had syphilis so they could be studied, strikes me as one of those classic "distinctions without a difference­."

Bottom line, they all died an excruciatingly torturous death at the hands of those who were sworn first to do no harm, and second, to exhaust all methods to save their lives.

That they met their fate because they were black is not debatable. Quibble over the details if you must, but that's the way it was.

[FreedomLoverX]

Very naive, and you didn't do your homework.

[joeholla]

If the government was willing to refuse treatment is it really much a stretch to believe that should more "Test subjects" be required they would also manufacture some infections.

[American289]

The point of the article is to not make claims when you don't have your facts correct. When you are going to choose a delicate subject that might incite a particular race, you better be correct or you stand a chance of hurting race relations.

[dollphingurl]

my uncle did two tours in vietnam and came back suffering horrible effects. he died a couple of years ago from lung cancer. the whole time he was suffering with the treatment, we were told it could not possibly have been that, no no no. it was too long ago, no no no.

what did the cause of death on his death certificate say? "lung cancer brought on by agent orange exposure".

you haven't even walked to the door in the mocsassins of people of color, Mr. Mills, let alone a mile or a day. may i please suggest that you google and youtube a profound teacher named Jane Elliott.

it's not that the government "removed the water supply from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina" it's just that they couldn't figure out how to get water to them -- for five days...or was it just four and a half?

pain is pain, and THAT'S the point. YOU are exacerbating the wound by this pointless parse.

[margi]

Why did Bill Clinton apologized for something that never happened?!!!!!! Strange ..... Please get your facts right.

[jcutbirth]

The experiment happened, and that is what he apologized for. Is that too difficult for you to understand? What didnt happen was the way it is being described by people who are unaware of black history. Is that too difficult for you to understand?

[mikekev58]

He apologized for what the author described, you idiot. The US government using black men with syphilis in a Menglean experiment to study the course of the disease. The truth is horrible enough without distorting it. That's the author's only point; don't dishonor the truth.

[Ramirez]

Mills does have his facts straight.

Clinton apologized for racism and callous denial of treatment. He did not apologize for (or even mention) any urban legend about injecting the victims with syphilis.

You can read the Clinton apology here:
http://clinton4.nara.gov/textonly/New/Remarks/Fri/19970516-898.html

[margi]

You must get your facts straight my friend. If you knew half of what Black men went through because of the govt you would cringe , again only if you have a soul. No human should be subjected to that. the truth is hard and painful to face. We nusst heal the wounds and move forward, that's the best we can do. A bright future is ahead of us. We must acknowledge the past , help heal the wounds and promise not to let that happen again.

[MichaelDeane]

HuffPost's Pick

Perhaps I'm a bit more cynical than you but nothing done by a few psychos in the guise of acting for the government would surprise me. It was our government that condoned the slaughter of many Native Americans. It was our government that imprisoned Japanese citizens at detention centers like Manzanar (while curiously allowing for the most part citizens of Italian and German descent to remain free). It was our government that blacklisted scores of innocent Americans during the McCarthy period. It was our government that tested nerve gas in the NY City subway system. It was our government that condoned the illegal wiretapping and surveillance of anti-war activists during the sixties. These are only a few of the abuses done in the name of our government.

My father was both blacklisted and charged with treason by the US Navy. His court case, handled by Leonard Boudin, lasted less than five minutes. My father was never sure of the reason for the case though he did suspect that a ballot in the 1948 election for Henry Wallace might have been compromised.

I don't know what happened during this horrific experiment in Alabama. If your sources are only the HBO movie and the book, I'm not sure you know either.

What I do know is that this government stood by and willfully allowed these men to suffer. These men did not willingly agree to participate. They were used as guinea pigs by some crazed psychopaths acting as agents of the US government.

We often condemn Japanese educators for not teaching their children the truth about Japanese aggression in China and during WWII. We should consider that we often do not teach our children the real history of this country, warts and all.

[Eternal]

Not only these men, but their wives and unborn children.

If a person wanted to parse the meaning of "caused" perhaps they could with the original men but there is no such wiggle room with it comes to responsibility for the introduction to the wives and children, none.

What was the point of the original article, "Hey they didn't give them Syphillis, only their wives and children" ?

[mikekev58]

Our government tested nerve gas in the NY city subway system? Wow...give me some reference for that will ya? Reliable reference, please.

[Jazz42]

I agree with you completely.
Well stated.
(MichaelDeane)

[Gem4Obama]

Michael all of your points are well taken. Might I just add that it was our government that also turned a blind eye for decades on de jure and de facto apartheid (Jim Crow).

[army193]

Q. Were women involved in the study?

A. The study was limited to Black men 25 years of age or older. Some women contracted syphilis from their husbands who participated in the study’s syphilitic group.

What is the real differance?


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[Durango]

But the government did use full power of the states to engage in state sponsored terrorism to keep African-Americans in "their place."

Such terrorism involved the brutal murder, often by torture or burning alive, citizens of the USA. Many race riots were conducted. Often a result of deliberate conspiracies, where hundreds, if not thousands of people of all ages were brutally murdered in state endorsed ethnic cleansing of entire neighborhoods or cities.

The deliberate disenfranchisement of a good percentage of citizens and taxpayers based on race, despite the clear language of the Constitution. Upheld by ALL Levels of the government local, state, national.

That in large portions of the nation, people of color were denied justice on all levels. African-Americans could never expect the all white courts or juries to ever punish any whites for the worst atrocities committed against people of color. There was simply no justice or law if you had the "wrong" color of skin.

All of which was backed up by the full power and authority of the governments. State Sponsored Terrorism directed at citizens of the "Land of the Free."

Can't imagine why any African-American might harbor any resentment for this? Especially since many African-Americans over the ages of 40 or so ACTUALLY LIVED WITH THIS TERRORISM every day of their lives.

[mikekev58]

It is more than understandable that African Americans would "harbor" resentment for past injustices, although Obama does want us all to move on.
It is another thing to embellish on injustices and, in so doing, distort what really happened. The truth about Tuskegee is horrible enough without adding unfounded elements.

[gerireig]

Let me get this straight: Federal researchers didn't inject but made these syphilitic men believe that they were trying to help them. So in your eyes, this proves what? If one of these men was your father, would the researchers' conduct endear you to them? Morally, both scenarios are the same. If anything, this makes me more suspicious about our government and aids.

[mikekev58]

The author is saying, respect the truth. For if Wright and others offer distortions of what happened, it can all too easily be used to dismiss what really happened. The author is certainly not justifying what happened, and you are an idiot to believe that the US government invented AIDS ("man-made" in Rev. Wright's words).

[sunzen]

they used dirty needles and cross contaminated others that did not have it.

[Trutolife3]

I recommend they do so before popping off again in public about the Tuskegee experiment. Same goes for Jeremiah Wright.

Wow, I hope you do the same. But I guess it depends on what is,..is..t­o you. How dare you. You have no standing on this subject and I hope you let the experienced journalist report the truth. Our government allowed these men to go back to their homes and infect their wives and unborn children. And yet your half of a brain tried to throw sand in the readers eyes by reporting that our government did not inject these men.. You should ask your wife (if you had one) or your dad would they let the government off the hook if this happened to them. I am glad that it is a crime to KNOWINGLY pass on a deadly STD to unsuspecting individuals. To bad it came to late for these men and their families.

[mikekev58]

Read the author again. There is no attempt to diminish what the government did. But it does no good to distort what really happened in order to justify the specious theory that the US government invented AIDS and set it loose on the black community. That kind of crap undermines the truth of what happened. The author is not the one trying to throw sand in the reader's eyes. That would be the likes of Jeremiah Wright, et al.

[sunzen]

Infected before or after the Govt. administered a "blood test" it is impossible to know. I am sure they used dirty needles so some people were probably cross contaminated.

[ShugAvery]

"In the "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male," federal researchers refused to treat a group of black men who already had syphilis, long after a cure had been found.

Instead, doctors treated these men like laboratory animals, studying the course of the disease over decades."

AND YOU FORGOT TO MENTION..
That many of them were never told they had the disease and ended up infecting their wives and went on to DIE from complications of syphilis. Dude tell the whole story. And while you're at it. How bout putting yourself or you FATHER in that position!

[donovong]

In view of the bigger picture, I can overlook the mistaken fact of the injections.

You are correct in your assertion of the fact that the subjects of the Tuskeegee Study were not deliberately injected. However, it is easy it understand how that simple fact could be neglected in the larger context of not just that "experiment," but also the long history of deliberate abuse of African Americans in the early US medical community. Specifically, "painful, sadistic, risky experiments, such as untested vaccinations, intentional burns, and exposure to lethal levels of heat. African captives were displayed in zoos and museums. We learn of sterilization of black mothers, injection of radioactive substances into uninformed and unaware research subjects, seduction and trickery of parents so that they allowed their children to participate in high-risk experiments and invasive surgery, and even release of dengue-, malaria-, and yellow-fev­er-bearing mosquitoes in African-American neighborhoods as part of an experiment by the Army Chemical Corps to test the efficacy of disease-bearing mosquitoes as a form of biological warfare. Even death did not bring respite; black cadavers were stolen from cemeteries to be used in white medical schools."

My reference source for the above quote is below:

http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/58/10/1380