Examining Tuskegee III

 The quote from Albert Julkes, "'Can you close out slavery? There will never be closure. But this offers a salve on a festering sore'" (226). This quote about then President Bill Clinton's apology and emphasis that this was a race issue and not a medical consent issue to me is pivotal in the entire book. It pulls everything in this course in and frames a central idea. The idea being that the wake left by slavery is something everyone will always struggle with. We would not be having these discussions or having courses on race in medicine if not for slavery. However, taking courses and airing out dirty laundry is beneficial to everyone in the classroom. One instance of forgiveness being a band aid but, not being the end all be all of this continuing dialogue. Reverby even agrees with me in the following paragraph, "The apology for the Study mattered because it acknowledged the pain and renewed the necessity for a discussion of the history" (226).