The website The colorlines.com has a great article on the issue of "The Danger of Testing for Sickle Cell." In the article written By Aisha De Avila-Shin, she talks about how Colleges are screening for the blood disorder, but will this be another round of discrimination?
It has been three years since Dale Lloyd, a Black student at Rice University, collapsed during a light football workout and was rushed to the hospital. The next morning, he was pronounced dead. According to doctors, Lloyd died because of complications due to having the sickle cell trait.
As part of settling the lawsuit with the family, the National Collegiate Athletic Association recommended this fall that colleges screen all athletes for sickle cell. However, people who know the racial history of sickle cell testing are raising red flags.In the 1970s, mandatory screening for the sickle cell trait occurred in the U.S. Army after four Black recruits died during basic training.
The deaths were attributed to the sickling of the cells, and the federal government decided to bar people who had the trait from certain military sections, including the Air Force. Because one in 12 Blacks in the U.S. carries the sickle cell trait, the policy had a disproportionate impact on this racial group.Nine years later, Stephen Pullens, a Black cadet, sued after being forced to resign from the Air Force Academy because he had the sickle cell trait.
Pullens had already shown that he could work at high altitudes, and he was a champion hurdler. Due to his lawsuit, the requirement to be screened was revoked.
Were those four deaths in basic training due to having the sickle cell trait, or was the sickling of the cells a manifestation that happened after their deaths? Read More HERE
The American Sickle Cell Blog asks: Is the article written By Aisha De Avila-Shin on point? Will colleges screening for the sickle cell trait be another round of discrimination? What do you think?
What should a national Sickle Cell Disease organization such as ASCDF to make sure discrimination does not happen?
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