Helen J. Sanders, RN

“No I would not like to be an organ donor. I worked in the liver transplant unit for more than nine years and I saw how the transplants were given out. (AWN “How was that?”) “Well you had to be of a different ethnicity. You had to have some money; you can say you want your organs to go to your people of color, but the people of color are usually the last ones on the list to get those organs. So therefore, I would not donate my organs or recommend to my family members to donate their organs.”

Lola Harrison

“I’ve struggled with that question for some time. I think on my license I did put I would be an organ donor, but then I sort of questioned that. I would love to be able to contribute to prolonging the life of someone else if I were not here. And then I think about the natural physical body being taken apart – that is not an attractive thought. But if I no longer need the body, I would want someone else to benefit. After I’m dead there is no use for it. The part of me that lives on would not be in this body. So I’ve chosen to be an organ donor, but I don’t even want to know what happens afterwards. They can do what they want to do with it.”

Bro. Kweku-Guy Lawson

“I’m not signed to be an organ donor. I didn’t voluntarily do that and I’ve never really seriously thought about. At this point I can’t tell you if I would be or if I wouldn’t be and I can’t give you an intelligent reason why. But I might think about it in the future.”

Randon Gardley
(former campaign organizer/strategist for Barack Obama’s campaign for U.S. senator)

“Although it’s difficult to confront my own mortality, I would have to say yes: I would definitely be an organ donor. Well, I think particularly among African Americans there are so few of us donating organs and stepping up to the plate, and there is such a shortage that I would have to. I mean we have to meet the need.”

Tiffany Marie Smith

“I actually am a organ donor. I just need somebody to sign the back of my license because my parents don’t believe in it – but I do. (AWN “Why don’t they believe in it?) “Because they feel that ‘the man’ (white man) is going to take your organs. So they think if you’re sick and in the hospital and they see a person is an organ donor, the belief is ‘let’s not make the effort to heal this person, we’ll just use these organs because they are needed.’ But I believe that it is something we should do because there are very few African American donors. If I need an organ I would want one available for me, and I want to do the same.”

Rebecca Sanders

“I just don’t want to be an organ donor. I don’t want to be cut-up when I’m gone on. I want to go back the way I came.” (Rebecca is the mother of Rickey Sanders of Rick’s Devine Cater and AABNA member)

Tidbits

?Upcoming date to remember: Jan. 15, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday. The holiday observance will be Jan. 16. A third installment of author Taylor Branch’s trilogy on Dr. King. “I Have Seen the Promised Land” is being released this month. Taylor Branch has won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for his first installment, “Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963.” Also there is an article by Jonathan Alter of Newsweek Magazine called “King’s Final Years.” Taylor Branch has written extensively about Dr. King, and his latest book might not be what King admirers are interested in reading. On the other hand, readers might separate the unfavorable from the positive of King’s legacy.

?The New Year began with an armed robbery for former Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry. He was robbed inside his home by youths who volunteered to carry his groceries. Barry was mayor for four terms and is currently a city councilman.

?If you’re interested in joining the effort concerning Area 2 police commander Jon Burge contact the law offices of Stan Willis, 312/554-0005 or fax 312/554-1012.

?” Delores McCain