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By Rodolfo F. Acuña / Guest contributor
This week has been a mind blower. The news is filled with Ebola – the hysfrenzyteria around it reminds me of the HIV/AIDS. Homosexuals and Africans were said to have been punished by god. The kooks had a field day.
The Ebola epidemic is eliciting a similar response, but not yet as open. Like the gang problem it was okay as long as it was not in our backyard. Anti-immigration forces have rapped up their message of border security, justifying the sealing of the border.
Stupidity when you consider our global reality. I know of people who don’t like Mexicans, don’t like blacks and don’t much care for anyone who is poor, but they support universal health coverage. They want healthy neighbors and healthy workers. They know that the menial labor from the restaurants to the gardening is done by the poor. They handle their food. So health for them is a national problem.
The AIDS epidemic has become manageable in the U.S. –still problematic in the poor zones of the world. Ebola only became a problem when found in the U.S. and Europe. Intelligent people saw that the solution had to be global and that is why a small country like Cuba is sending close to 500 medical workers to the infected areas. Africans are their sisters and brothers.
The intelligent response to viruses is universal health coverage for the entire globe. Disease will continue to emerge in the poverty stricken areas. Like climate change it is inevitable. Poverty breeds disease as well as most social ills. Walls cannot isolate the inevitable catastrophe.
— Rodolfo F. Acuña is an historian, professor emeritus teaching at CSU Northridge. He is the author of “Occupied America: A History of Chicanos.” Visit http://rudyacuna.net for more information.
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