Historical Wrongs Research Articles

Abstract B075: The "let's talk about Black people and cancer" conference

Abstract In the United Kingdom, despite having a healthcare service that is free at the point of access, inequalities in cancer care persist. Recent data shows that for certain cancer groups (e.g. breast cancer), Black patients present with worse grade and stage leading to poorer outcomes. Reasons for the disparities are multifactorial but include lack of awareness in the community, structural barriers to accessing healthcare, limited research into genetic variability and/or biological differences, and hesitancy to engage with health care professionals due to historic wrongs. Often different stakeholders work in different silos to try and remediate these barriers however they are not often in one space and have the opportunity to learn from patient experiences and how they can all dovetail together to improve patient outcomes. In an attempt to bring different sectors together the senior author established the “Let’s talk about Black people and cancer” conference 2024. The aim of this event was to increase awareness and understanding of cancer in the UK Black population. Methods This event covered the major cancer groups (breast, prostate, haematological, bowel and gynaecological) focusing on genomics, symptom awareness, screening programs, and how and when to access secondary care. We sought patient feedback from this conference style intervention to see the effect on attendees in terms of increase in knowledge specifically around Black people and cancer. This study utilized a two-part survey to evaluate the effectiveness of the conference, assessing knowledge held by registered attendees pre- and post-conference. A 5-point Likert scale was used to extract degrees of opinion, providing accurate and representative feedback. There was a total of 46 questions in the survey targeting the demographics of the attendees, their connection to cancer, and knowledge about cancer including the risks/outcomes regarding Black people specifically. Results The world cancer day conference had 190 registrants. 83 responses to the questionnaire (43.7% response rate). Pre-conference questionnaires highlighted around two thirds had knowledge of the 3 major screening programs, but after the conference this increased to more than 90%. A similar trend was noticed when looking at change in knowledge regarding the five cancer groups covered. Conclusion We have demonstrated that this targeted conference style intervention was effective in raising awareness not just for the public but for those professionals involved in the delivery of cancer care for Black people. While these are snap shots in time it would be useful to see how that information translates in a longitudinal fashion in terms of positive modifications in health behaviors and delivery of services. Citation Format: Teniola Adeboye, Georgette Oni. The "let's talk about Black people and cancer" conference [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B075.

Original Voices: A Native Comic Creator’s Journey

ABSTRACT: I am of Yurok, Maidu, and Pit River Native ancestry from northern California. As a Native person, I feel it is imperative that we own every step of our storytelling process. Our stories and art are vibrant and powerful, but if we do not have editorial or publishing oversight, do they remain ours once they are shared in comic form? The task of crafting fun, exciting, and compelling stories is often fused with the adherence to cultural responsibilities for Native creators. Is the art respectful, is the dialogue correct and not stereotypical, or is it all right to show certain tribal images? These are some of the questions that I’ve pondered while creating and publishing multiple comic stories through my imprint called Original Voices. My graphic novel titled Soldiers Unknown is published by a Native-owned press (Great Oak Press) and printed by a Native-owned print company (Tribal Print Source). I will provide insights from the four-year journey to create this book, and I will cite different forms of Native community involvement as this book was created. It is true that Native people have always used sequential art to convey who we are and why we are here. Comics are another format that can spur dialogue, give meaning, and guide future Native artists. They can also further historical wrongs in publishing. Ownership, historical accuracy, community investment, and cultural responsibility are some of the aspects that Native comic creators must grapple with. These elements of the publishing process are just as important as drafting exciting stories and drawing dynamic characters.

סוגיית העדפת בני המקום בהקצאות קרקע למגורים בסוגי יישוב שונים בישראל

The question of who has the right to reside in a particular locality has been at the center of public and legal discourse in Israel for many years. This is the result of official and unofficial mechanisms intended to exclude certain individuals or groups. This article deals with a related though different issue, which focuses on the preference given to locals during the allocation of state land. Addressing this question requires a discussion of issues such as individual freedom, the meaning of home, the importance of family, the significance of residency in a particular place, the nature of various types of settlements in Israel, justice in land distribution and the necessity of correcting of historical wrongs versus the perpetuation of existing social stratification, as well as the preservation of existing communities versus concerns about pushing them out of a neighborhood or settlement. After presenting a framework for thinking about the issue of preference of locals, the article conducts a critical examination of the existing legal framework in Israel in both rural areas, where the right of residency is managed by cooperative associations, and urban areas, which include, for this purpose, the settlements of minorities. The conclusion drawn from this analysis is that the same flaws in legal decision making with respect to acceptance by a settlement also exist in the regulation of the preference for locals. The social and economic outcomes that affect the lives of individuals and the distribution of land in Israel perpetuate established ways of thinking about forms of residency and about disparities and social differentiation in Israel.

The Political Economy of Reparations and the Dialectic of Transnational Capitalism

ABSTRACTThe contemporary global capitalist crisis provides the context for studying reparations, the struggles for which face uphill challenges, foremost because transnational capital will only engage with reparations to serve its own interests. Far from being a panacea for historical wrongs, reparations campaigns are shaped by the historical logics of capitalist accumulation and the liberal racial social contract. The cases of Namibia and the Commonwealth Caribbean (CARICOM) that are examined in this study highlight the contradictions that underpin the demand for reparations arising from genocide in Namibia and capitalist slavery in the CARICOM region. The cases reveal an association of reparations initiatives with buying complicity or capitalist fixes rather than reparative justice for historical grievances, while more autonomous demands for reparations face violent suppression, as in the case of Haiti. Today's reparations struggles are further undermined by revolutionary innovations in digital and robotics technology, confronting exploited racialized populations with a rapidly dwindling supply of jobs. This article locates the contemporary reparations debate within the wider context of global capitalism and its racialized liberal foundations, tracing the links between colonial wrongs, international power relations and ongoing systems of capitalist accumulation which reparations are used to stabilize rather than challenge. It is thus difficult to make a case for the transformational potential of reparations.

Patient Consent for Medical Student Pelvic Exams under Anesthesia: An Exploratory Retrospective Chart Review.

We conducted an exploratory retrospective chart review of electronic consent forms at a single academic medical center using contingency tables, logistic regression, and nonparametric tests to explore relationships between patient and physician characteristics and consent. We identified and downloaded electronic consent forms for a census of 4,000 patients undergoing gynecologic surgery from September 2020 through calendar year 2022. Forms were linked to anonymized medical record information. Of the 4,000 patients, 142 (3.6%) were removed from analysis because consent forms were incomplete. Of 3,858 patients, 308 (8.0%) were asked for EUA consent more than once, 46 of whom were not consistent. Overall, 3,308 (85.7%) patients consented every time asked, and 550 (14.2%) refused or limited EUA consent at least once. Nine patients limited their consent to female students, and two patients refused medical student participation at all. We performed exploratory multiple logistic regression analyses exploring differences in rates of consent across patient and physician demographic groups. We find that some patients are more likely than others to refuse a pelvic EUA, magnifying the dignitary harm from a nonconsensual invasion of intimate bodily integrity and perpetuating historic wrongs visited upon vulnerable people of color and religious minorities. Patients' rights to respect and control over their bodies require that physicians take seriously the ethical obligation to inform their patients and ask them for permission.

Compensation for Historic Injustice: Does it Matter how the Victims Respond?

When states are required to compensate victim groups for the historic wrongs they have committed, how should the compensation due be calculated? It seems that alongside the counterfactual world in which the wrongdoing never occurred, we should also consider the counterfactual world in which the wrongdoing has occurred, but the victims have responded to it in a prudent way. Under tort law, the damages a victim can claim are reduced if they are judged to have been contributorily negligent, thereby exacerbating the harm they have suffered. The paper considers four reasons why victim groups could not be expected to respond collectively to injustice in a way that outsiders might judge to be prudent. 1. The wrongdoing has destroyed their capacity to act as a group agent. 2. The wrongdoing has inflicted psychological traumas that lead them to make poor decisions. 3. They would need to violate a moral norm that is deeply embedded in their culture. 4. They would need to adopt policies that risk inflicting severe injustice on an internal minority. In many instances of historic injustice, one or more of these reasons apply. So although in principle victims’ behaviour is relevant when compensation is being calculated, we must be very cautious in using that doctrine to assess real cases.

Remedying Historical Wrongs: Plain-speaking in the Time of India's Rise

Remedying Historical Wrongs: Plain-speaking in the Time of India's Rise

“Reformation Beyond Representation: The Social Life of the Constitution in Remedying Historical Wrongs”

“Reformation Beyond Representation: The Social Life of the Constitution in Remedying Historical Wrongs”

From Ecclesial Sin to Ecclesial Han: Ecclesiology Beyond “A Church of Sinners and Saints”

Debates within ecclesiology on the nature and possibility of ecclesial sin have regained interest in the midst of rising awareness of the church’s historical wrongs. Most theologies and metaphors of a sinful church, however, fail to consider the theological identity of the “sinned against” within the church. This article reads Andrew Sung Park’s theology of han (a Korean concept denoting a complex sense of woundedness) as the underside of sin against Karl Rahner’s theology of a church of sinners to point toward a vision of ecclesial han that attends to the woundedness within the church and its healing.

When the specter of the past haunts current groups: Psychological antecedents of historical blame.

Groups have committed historical wrongs (e.g., genocide, slavery). We investigated why people blame current groups who were not involved in the original historical wrong for the actions of their predecessors who committed these wrongs and are no longer alive. Current models of individual and group blame overlook the dimension of time and therefore have difficulty explaining this phenomenon using their existing criteria like causality, intentionality, or preventability. We hypothesized that factors that help psychologically bridge the past and present, like perceiving higher (a) connectedness between past and present perpetrator groups, (b) continued privilege of perpetrator groups, (c) continued harm of victim groups, and (d) unfulfilled forward obligations of perpetrator groups would facilitate higher blame judgments against current groups for the past. In two repeated-measures surveys using real events (N1 = 518, N2 = 495) and two conjoint experiments using hypothetical events (N3 = 598, N4 = 605), we find correlational and causal evidence for our hypotheses. These factors link present groups to their past and cause more historical blame and support for compensation policies. This work brings the dimension of time into theories of blame, uncovers overlooked criteria for blame judgments, and questions the assumptions of existing blame models. Additionally, it helps us understand the psychological processes undergirding intergroup relations and historical narratives mired in historical conflict. Our work provides psychological insight into the debates on intergenerational justice by suggesting methods people can use to ameliorate the psychological legacies of historical wrongs and atrocities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Prioritizing the Health and Well-Being of the Indigenous Communities in India.

The International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples and the Tribal Pride Day hold significant importance in India, home to 106 million indigenous individuals. There are 705 recognized Scheduled Tribes (STs) in India that enrich the nation's cultural fabric but experience disproportionately high morbidity and mortality. Historical injustice, geographic isolation, and cultural diversity deeply influence ST health causing disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous health indicators. To meet Sustainable Development Goals, India established the Ministry of Tribal Affairs and implemented various health initiatives. However, climate change, deforestation, limited education and employment opportunities, poverty, and under-representation pose a challenge. Empowerment, inclusive policies, community-specific targets, resource allocation, technology utilization, and multi-sectoral collaboration are vital for indigenous health. Achieving health equity for indigenous communities is a global commitment and moral imperative. By addressing historical wrongs, and working holistically, we must ensure that indigenous communities in India and beyond enjoy improved health and well-being.

Religious Institutions and Personal Injury Compensation Claims for Abuse: The Noteworthy Significance of Insurance

Many churches, religious schools, and care institutions have apologised for historical child sexual abuse and committed themselves to reparation and safeguarding. However, recent changes to legislation have resulted in a deluge of tort law claims, civil litigation, and work for lawyers. Religious leaders and devotees today bear the financial burdens of compensating for historical wrongs sometimes many decades old in times of meagre or no insurance coverage. This article recalls some relevant discussion at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse about the anticipated consequences for insurance. Next, there is an examination of judicial ideas about insurance in decisions relating to civil liability. Then, it provides a look at some commercial comparisons and the response of governments to the lack of insurance. The article further considers a case example of what happened to a major faith-based insurer after the legislative changes. Finally, some alternative perspectives are investigated alongside a look into the future.

역사 안에서 완성되는 구원으로서의 종말

This study undertakes a theological critique of historical interpretation and eschatological thought within the corpus of Belgian theologian Edward Schillebeeckx, whose scholarship was prominent in the Netherlands. Drawing from the insights of M. D. Chenu, Schillebeeckx embraces a historiographical stance informed by the methodologies of the Annales School, which postulates historical progression through a lens that allows for the interweaving of Divine will and human action in the pursuit of God. This vista sets the stage for history's protagonists to be perceived not only as the Divine orchestrator of salvation but also as humanity, in partnership with the Divine directive.
 At the crux of this engagement is the fundamental belief in Divine self-disclosure and creativeness, which aligns humanity with the Divine will, confirming the thesis of God as the sovereign architect of history.
 Schillebeeckx's historiographical methodology recognizes the intricate interaction between the vicissitudes of socio-economic frameworks and shifts in ideological paradigms, associating such seismic shifts — comparable to historical cleavages — with the ecclesiastic vocation of navigating the path to salvation. His eschatological construct, an outgrowth of this historical interpretation, contends that the ultimate realization of salvation unfolds within the historical episode wherein individuals pursue self-fulfillment, placing this pursuit at the heart of eschatological discourse. Within this paradigm, God is posited as the definitive horizon for humanity, traversing from historical antecedents through the contemporary to the eventual.
 In this theological architecture, the Divine does not precipitate the eschaton by abruptly rectifying historical wrongs. Rather, the Divine presence engages with humanity in a concerted struggle against injustice, marshaling human agency toward redemptive ends throughout this journey. Schillebeeckx’s eschatological vision, characterized by its critical negation, offers a prophetic eschatology that integrates the theme of humanity's historical absence at the pivotal intersection where dogmatic theology's principal treatises meet.

Book review: all through the town: the school bus as educational technology

Book review: all through the town: the school bus as educational technology

Responsible citizens of responsible states

ABSTRACT Avia Pasternak’s book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of citizen responsibility for historical wrongs. This review nevertheless offers some scepticism about resting citizen liability exclusively on the idea of intentional participation. It argues that the necessity of the state possessing continuing legal responsibility over time is so intrinsic to the function of statehood that the question of citizen liability should be seen as part of the general theory of political obligation. So seen, fair play duties provide a more plausible general ground for citizen liability, even when adapted to unjust regimes. The model of intentional participation may by contrast harbour a muted connection between the ideas of blameworthiness and responsibility that the book in the main wishes to deny. And the practical problems of resting responsibility on intentional participation alone are substantial. Pasternak’s major contribution, untouched by this critique, is to explain how the special obligations undertaken by intentional citizenship strengthen and extend beyond that more foundational duty of responsible citizens.

INDIGENOUS CLASS PROCEEDINGS IN CANADA. AN EXAMINATION OF THE CONVERGENCE OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND CLASS ACTIONS IN THE CANADIAN COMMON LAW SYSTEM

The foundations of contemporary Indigenous relations in Canada have been laid by class action lawyers who foresaw the potential for correcting, acknowledging and addressing historical wrongs. Decades of persistence by Indigenous leaders and collateral work by lawyers compelled the Canadian government, the Canadian public and its major religious and charitable institutions to face their pasts. Class and mass action lawsuits are indispensable to lawyers seeking to advance claims that recognize the systemic oppression of Indigenous people beyond individual harms. Respected class action lawyer Steven L. Cooper, KC, outlines more than 250 years of this legal history that has defined the unique status of Indigenous Canadians, from recognizing royal proclamations as they relate to land claims to settlements that have seen hundreds of thousands of Indigenous people compensated for harms inflicted in residential schools and hospitals.

Diane M. Nelson (1963–2022)

Diane M. Nelson (1963–2022)

Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism by Ben Railton (review)

Reviewed by: Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism by Ben Railton Brian Whetstone Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism. By Ben Railton. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2021. ix + 194 pp. Note on sources, index. $36.00 cloth. The tumultuous administration of Donald Trump and ensuing initiatives to examine American history and identity, such as Nikole Hannah-Jones's 1619 Project, have produced extensive public and academic conversations about American patriotism and identity. Ben Railton's Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism intervenes in these scholarly and popular debates, tracing the history of American patriotism from the American Revolutionary era to the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s before concluding with a reflection on patriotism in the age of Trump. Railton's method reflects his background in English and American literature as he draws upon the writings and cultural works of a diverse spectrum of Americans across the nation's history, including such disparate works as Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the passionate appeal of Ponca chief Standing Bear in his 1879 trial, and the Wizard of Oz to underscore the appeal of patriotic sentiments across time. Less interested in rooting his analysis in original archival research, Of Thee I Sing works well as a broad synthesis of secondary literature on American patriotism, and Railton's accompanying Note on Sources will surely serve as a useful entry point for students and scholars of American identity looking to expand their research beyond Railton's overview. Railton identifies four varieties of United States patriotism: celebratory, mythic, active, and critical. Celebratory patriotism encompasses actions and shared rituals like the national anthem invested in portraying the US uncrit ically as the "greatest country in the world." Mythic patriotism, Railton argues, is the most dangerous because it generates mythologized narratives about the past that increasingly divided the US into communities perceived to belong to an idealized nation and "those overtly and violently excluded from it." In contrast to celebratory and mythic patriotism, active and critical patriotism constitute more constructive and inclusive patriotic impulses. The former involves active commitments to the US such as military service, social activism, and protest, while the latter stems from a desire to right historical wrongs and drive the country to live up to its high ideals for all Americans. Railton devotes considerable attention to developments in the Great Plains, particularly westward expansion, that generated expressions of critical patriotism, such as the works of Helen Hunt Jackson in the nineteenth century and the American Indian Movement in the late twentieth century. While Railton's work succeeds at introducing readers to a wide cast of historical actors, his analysis and insistence on dividing patriotism into four primary expressions tends to oversimplify complex historical developments. While characters come and go through each of the eras Railton analyzes, the four varieties of patriotism are unyielding and unchanging, presenting American history as one timeless, unchanging struggle between those who subscribe to celebratory and mythic forms of patriotism and those who place faith in active and critical patriotism. Despite this oversimplification, Of Thee I Sing still offers an important historical intervention into contemporary debates about American patriotism, nationalism, and identity. [End Page 111] Brian Whetstone Department of History University of Massachusetts Amherst Copyright © 2023 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Editorial Commentary

Editorial Commentary

Words matter: The language of difference in human genetics

Diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in academia are leading publishers and journals to re-examine their use of terminology for commonly used scientific variables. This reassessment of language is particularly important for human genetics, which is focused on identifying and explaining differences between individuals and populations. Recent guidance on the use of terms and symbols in clinical practice, research, and publications is beginning to acknowledge the ways that language and concepts of difference can be not only inaccurate but also harmful. To stop perpetuating historical wrongs, those of us who conduct and publish genetic research and provide genetic health care must understand the context of the terms we use and why some usages should be discontinued. In this article, we summarize critiques of terminology describing disability, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and ancestry in research publications, laboratory reports, diagnostic codes, and pedigrees. We also highlight recommendations for alternative language that aims to make genetics more inclusive, rigorous, and ethically sound. Even though norms of acceptable language use are ever changing, it is the responsibility of genetics professionals to uncover biases ingrained in professional practice and training and to continually reassess the words we use to describe human difference because they cause harm to patients.