Body and Soul, Chpts. 3 &4

Chapter 3 of Alondra Nelson’s book Body and Soul focused largely on the initiatives of the Black Panther Party to “serve the people, body and soul” through the “formal establishment of a national network of PFMCs” (Nelson 90). The People’s Free Medical Clinics, PFMCs, that the Party established helped to provide basic healthcare, first aid, and various health exams to those who could otherwise not access it. With the help of the Party, patients were provided with “basic health needs that might have otherwise gone unconsidered or untreated” (Nelson 106). Unfortunately, patients that were in desperate need of medical assistance were denied treatment because “emergency medical services were ‘often distributed on racial basis rather than on the basis of need.’ Sick or injured persons requiring medical transportation were allegedly vetted by callous ambulance dispatchers who were instructed by their supervisors not to send assistance to poor blacks who might be unable to pay” (Nelson 110). Ironically, the World Health Organization (WHO) defined health as “one of the fundamental rights of every human without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition” (Nelson 11). According to WHO, there should be no discrimination against who receives health care—but it appears that not everyone was in agreement.  Because of the large disparities in health care, the Black Panther Party “attended to more than just narrowly defined health needs” (Nelson 114). The Party helped PFMC patients seeking advanced medical treatment receive it through their patient advocate system. The Party would inform the patients of their diagnosis and the proper treatment required, educate them on the rights they hold as a patient, and provide them with an advocate to stand up for them to ensure they received the best care.

Chapter 4 further describes the multiple ways that the Black Panther Party advocated for the health of African Americans. The Party “contextualized sickle cell anemia within a matrix of mediating factors that included not only biology but also racism and poverty” (Nelson 118). Sadly, there were still prominent—and false—perceptions that African-Americans were more susceptible to disease than their Caucasian counterparts. These fictitious ideas further alienated the African-American community and prevented them from receiving proper care. While the “U.S. National Institutes of Health devoted considerable resources to the study of genetic conditions common among white Americans” they failed to provide adequate funding for “research on treating and preventing sickle cell anemia, which predominated among (but is not exclusive to) African Americans” (Nelson 119). These disparities undoubtedly fueled the false notions that African-American were more prone to disease because without proper medical treatment more African-Americans would be left without care—allowing for their conditions to worsen. Fortunately, the Black Panther Party was able bring “sickle cell anemia to the attention of African American communities” and reveal the “deeper structure issues affecting black health, such as lack of access to medical care and impoverished living conditions” (Nelson 151).

Works Cited

Nelson, Alondra. Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight against Medical ----------------------Discrimination. University of Minnesota Press, 2013.