It was a bold thing for Clinton to speak and apologize to the survivors, their families, the families who lost members, and the entire United States. He was well spoken and although an apology is not going to fix the years of pain, it was a heart-felt one. I was happy to see that Clinton not only apologized for something he had no part in, but also that he devised an entire plan to rebuild afterwards and prevent the situation from happening again.
I think that having Obama in office is a sign of how the U.S. has moved through racism and has proved any American citizen, even minorities, can make a change.
I found this video on youtube while i was looking for video of the Tuskegee apology. While there were no search results for the apology, I did find this guy talking about U.S. government conspiracies: including the Tuskegee study. There are lots of different videos and pictures and it is shocking what you will find.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp8IrwHr2BQ
Very interesting video. I had never thought of it as being a "conspiracy" per se, but the definition of a conspiratory being "An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act," pretty clearly states that it was a conspiracy. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study truly was horrible and shocking. It also gave me a new perspective when the narrator of the video said to think of it as being your own father they did this to. Having that in mind makes it all the more real and all the more awful.
ReplyDeleteI agree that having President Obama in a sign that we are beginning to overcome racism and that everyone has the ability to make a difference.
Another very well written story by Ms. Miller. I second the disturbing length from when the tuskegee tradgedy ended, to when the apology was given. Even though this was very disturbing trend, I also felt like President Clinton's apology was amazing and very heartfelt. Also having a black president will hopefully alleviate some of the racism that exists in this country still at this moment. Great article and video.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it took way too long for any sort of apology to take place after such a tragic event that could have been prevented entirely.
ReplyDeleteI, too, respected Clinton even more for the apology by presenting a plan for rebuilding the trust between Government Health Officials and the African-American community in the U.S. Without public recognition that this was a wrongful act, it would be hard to trust the government again and I think his plan was a great step to improve our health system.
The Tuskegee study has an infamous history,even with Clinton's apology and the election of Obama I think we have a long way to go before the issues are resolved. As an example many of my friends who are from a minority background are very skeptical of Obama. They believe his education and upbringing make him lean towards the majority on most issues and the fact that he is colored was just a ploy to ease some racial tensions. While not everyone thinks this way it shows that feelings die hard and we all need to be aware of them when confronting future issues
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