The Legacy of Sara lives in me... fighting because she could not....

Sara's story:
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35240987

I think a lot about Sara lately.  not any sara yall would all know, but Sara who was taken from South Africa and her body put on display in Europe for the White Gaze.

Baartman agreed to be studied and painted by a group of scientists and artists but refused to appear fully naked before them, arguing that this was beneath her dignity - she had never done this in one of her shows. This period was the beginning of the study of what became known as "racial science", says Holmes.

Baartman died aged 26. The cause was described as "inflammatory and eruptive disease". It's since been suggested this was a result of pneumonia, syphilis or alcoholism.

The naturalist Georges Cuvier, who had danced with Baartman at one of Reaux's parties, made a plaster cast of her body before dissecting it. He preserved her skeleton and pickled her brain and genitals, placing them in jars displayed at Paris's Museum of Man. They remained on public display until 1974, something Holmes describes as "grotesque".

This part of this article is what haunts me when I go to appts.  the coercion to allow fellows and interns be a part of looking at my black female body so THEY learn something and all I get is a bill and sometimes NO help or relief of what ails me.  the dissection of her body was on my mind when I was asked for a biopsy of my heart after waking from near death.  now this was some bullshit.

BEING ON DISPLAY.  it is the violation I felt in the hospital and the inhumanity of the experience.

The history of OBGYN is not much different.
3 women who were slaves had surgeries performed without medicine.  Even though meds were available.  and the "father" Dr. sims of modern GYN made notes of their pain and his success, of course black womens bodies suffering to help white women and his career.  awesome.  note my sarcasm.  yes, fixing fistulas was good work, but again, the basis of medicine in america is a war on the black women's bodies.

AND i think of that every time a PCP asks for blood or wants to make a referral authoritatively and not collaborate with the patient at all.  thats why your ass will get fired.

http://newamericamedia.org/2010/12/dr-marion-sims-statue-where-should-it-stand.php

and folks want me to be complacent.  get out of here.  #alwaysfurious