"The Nation of Islam, Caring for the Black Body, and #VaccineHesitancy," another thread for #BlackHistoryMonth

The history of the Nation of Islam (#NOI) *helps* to explain why some U.S. African Americans do not want a foreign substance injected in their arms.
#COVID19 cover of Black Muslim Religion by Edward Curtis
As @COVIDBLK and others have revealed, the horrible impact of #COVID19 has had on Black people is due to the health care system's anti-Black racism as well as social and economic racism.

Any "cultural explanation" that blames Black people for #vaccinehesitancy repeats racism. CDC graph of Covid-19 impacts by race
The assault on Black people's bodies is a pillar of U.S. culture. And since forever, Black people have developed cultural, social, political, and economic strategies--from root work to community organizing--to protect the Black body.
I see #VaccineHesitancy as one of many attempts to resist racist abuses of Black people's health. My view is influenced by my work on how protecting, caring for, dignifying, and strengthening the body were among of the Nation of Islam's most popular activities. cover of Elijah Muhammad, How to Eat to Live
Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam had a complete program that included a holy diet, beautiful clothes, physical training, sexual proscriptions, mental exercises, time management, and business to heal the body and mind from internalized oppression.
sapelosquare.com/2021/02/15/bus…
Much of the program featured on the gender of members, and the Nation of Islam offered its Islamic version of middle-class Black respectability and what Ula Taylor called the promise of patriarchy. Ula Taylor, The Promise of Patriarchy
In addition to a Black Muslim ethics of the body, the Nation of Islam's leaders preached a terrifying mythology that identified white-dominated science, medicine, and health care, including eugenics, as a primary abuser of Black people:
scholarworks.iupui.edu/handle/1805/14…
The horrors of twentieth-century medical science--forced sterilization, the Tuskegee experiment, and Nazi experiments--began in primordial time when the big-headed, mad scientist Yakub engineered the white man. cartoon of Yakub, the scientist
This was "stigmatized knowledge" (Barkun) hidden from Black people: Yakub recruited ‘‘doctors, ministers, nurses and a cremator," he "ordered the nurses to kill all black babies...by pricking the brains with a sharp needle as soon as the black child’s head is out of the mother.’’ Elijah Muhammad
If the mother was watching, then the nurse was to lie to the mother and claim that the baby was an ‘‘angel child’’ that must be taken to heaven. The child would then be fed to ‘‘wild beasts,’’ or if none was available,‘‘Yakub told the nurses to give it to the cremator to burn.’’ The Supreme Wisdom by Elijah MUhammad
The message that the white medical establishment and its medical technologies and therapies could harm Black people had staying power.

Wu-Tang Clan's Gravel Pit samples lines from a movie: "You, Yakub, are the bearer of 9,999 diseases, evil, corrupt, porkchop-eatin' brain!" album cover for Gravel Pit
The case of the Nation of Islam's approach to white medicine is just an illustrative example, one branch of a larger tree that explains how grassroots medical knowledge is a rational and also aesthetic, affective, imaginative, world-remaking response to racism. Please add to it.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Edward Curtis

Edward Curtis Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @EdwardECurtisIV

15 Feb
#MalcolmX and the #Arab World, a thread for #BlackHistoryMonth . Based on my "My Heart Is in Cairo: Malcolm X, the Arab Cold War, and the Making of Islamic Liberation Ethics," @JournAmHist

#AfricanaReligions #blkaarsbl #AfAmReligion #BlackLivesMatter #Religion #Black #African Malcolm X with Shaykh Abdel Rahman Tag, head of Cairo’s Al
From the late 1950s until 1965, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz developed and maintained consequential relationship with Arab and Arab American leaders. His message to them, whether as #NationofIslam leader or Sunni convert, was: Islam requires you to support Black Liberation. Dartmouth student Ahmed Osman and Malcolm X. Credit: Emily O
Arab Americans like Aliya Ogdie Hassen (@saladinahmed 's great grandmother) believed that Muslim unity was necessary for self-determination and human rights. Hassen was the liaison between Malcolm X and the Federation of Islamic Associations.

lebanesestudies.ojs.chass.ncsu.edu/index.php/mash… Aliya Ogdie Hassen, founder of ACCESS.
Read 20 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!