|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By Willie Brown
As we reflect this month on the many accomplishments of African Americans, it’s nothing less than a miracle that we’ve survived long enough to make history.
The harsh reality of living in America, being subjected to horrible living conditions, brutality, and psychological abuse, has created more genetic stress for Black people than any other racial group.
The toll that it has taken on our physical and mental health makes every victory extraordinary. It’s not just about making history while being Black,, but making history while being disproportionately impacted by heart disease, diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, or any of the 10 leading causes of death. Compared to our white counterparts, we have the highest rates of chronic disease across the board.
According to the Centers of Disease Control (CDC), in 2019, African Americans were 30 percent more likely to die from heart disease than non-Hispanic whites. African American women are nearly 50 percent more likely to have high blood pressure, as compared to non-Hispanic white women.
One remarkable Black woman who succumbed to heart disease in May 2007 was Yolanda King, the firstborn child of Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. In a twist of irony, she died from a heart attack shortly after giving a speech for the American Heart Association. She became a spokesperson to promote stroke awareness after her mother passed away a year earlier.
By all accounts, she seemed healthy, and at 51, it was the last thing anyone close to her would have suspected.
February is the month for Black History and heart health. It’s a great time to be proactive against the number 1 killer in America.
In honor of Yolanda and countless others who’ve died way before their time, it’s important to take your heart health seriously. Dexter King, the third of Dr. King’s children, who passed away recently from prostate cancer, recalled Yolanda saying that she felt tired, but he figured was just due to her hectic schedule. Who knew she’d pass away so suddenly?
It’s important to note that a Black man named Daniel Hale Williams founded the first black-owned hospital in America, and performed the world’s first successful heart surgery, in 1893.
The patient, who was stabbed in his chest, walked out of Provident Hospital and Training School in Chicago 51 days later and lived for over 20 years after the surgery.
We are indeed our brother’s keepers. Watching out for the health of others may seem like a small act, but in light of Black history, it is what makes it possible for us to have a history.
As Dr. Williams once said, “A people who don’t make provision for their own sick and suffering are not worthy of civilization.”
