richardmurray

Miss Evers Boys from Movies That Move We with Nike Ma + Zenobia Marshall
my thoughts
1932 to 1972 the Tuskegee experiment went on.
I learned of Tuskegee in the home and community centers at elementary age and in high school in the educational system.
...
I remember a scene in the film Giant 1956 when the character played by rock Hudson says to the character played by Elizabeth taylor that the white doctor of the family is not for public use or use for other people, other people in this case were Mexican immigrants in Texas. That scene encapsulates the overall problem. The healthcare industry in the usa has always been a business that is used by whites to display biases toward the non white. The movie Alice 2022 shows this in multiple ways. And the problem with healthcare as an industry is it is historically expensive. Healthcare is not cheap. Consider that car company workers/steel company workers/government workers, the cost of their healthcare overtime is the biggest bill. 
in amendment or commented
Healthcare has always been historically for the have's not all, and you see that throughout humanity even today, even in countries in western europe deemed universal in care. I can't wait for your first show in black history month:) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJrcIlzfQhc

TRANSCRIPT
0:13
[Music]
0:25
[Music]
0:30
hey everyone welcome back to another
0:32
edition of movies that move we today we
0:37
will be talking about Miss ever's boys
0:41
um now I hope you not not like me if you
0:43
hadn't heard about this film before and
0:45
thought it was about medar Evers and his
0:48
mom and them it's not it's not this is
0:52
um it's a fictionalized telling of the
0:58
Tuskegee uh project
1:00
and if you don't know what that is let
1:03
me tell you a little bit about it um
1:05
Tuskegee Alabama there was
1:08
a pretty decent population of black men
1:12
who had
1:14
syphilis and um you know the government
1:17
saw it and said hey perfect opportunity
1:20
for us to explore how this the progress
1:25
of this
1:27
disease and so they
1:30
setup shop in
1:32
Tuskegee told these men hey we're going
1:35
to treat you for the condition they
1:38
didn't tell them that they were research
1:40
subjects they didn't tell them they
1:42
weren't getting
1:43
treatment and these men did not give
1:47
consent to basically be used as guinea
1:51
pigs this project ran from was it
1:57
1932 to
2:00
19 no 1932 to
2:05
1972 okay so they were allowing men with
2:08
syphilis black men with syphilis to just
2:13
ride the disease out um and it's not a
2:16
comfortable disease you you can get it
2:19
it can go
2:21
dormant it can come back up there's like
2:24
five stages to the condition you'll end
2:27
up with skin lesions there are some
2:29
people who who survived it the biggest
2:32
problem here beyond the fact that they
2:35
were experimenting on black bodies was
2:38
that when it was found out that
2:41
penicillin was The Cure none of these
2:44
men were given the option never told
2:47
that some of them would die if they like
2:49
took it well no in reality no yeah but
2:53
I'm just saying in the movie like that's
2:55
what they were they were telling them
2:56
that if if you take it you you could die
3:00
which wasn't true but talking about the
3:04
movie this is it's not based on a
3:07
specific story but it is inspired by a
3:12
nurse who did work with some some
3:15
patients during that time so we have in
3:19
the role of nurse Evers um Alfrey
3:25
Woodard Caleb humph is her love interest
3:29
who is is played by Lawrence Fishburn
3:31
and I believe he's one of the producers
3:33
of the film um Dr Douglas is played by
3:37
Craig Sheffer and he is the white Doctor
3:40
Who is leading the um experiment um we
3:46
have Dr Sam brus who's played by uh Joe
3:50
Morton AKA Papa Pope those of you who
3:53
know no um he is the black doctor that
3:58
is leading it because of you have
4:00
something like this going on you got to
4:01
get black people to talk to black people
4:04
um Willie Johnson is played by Oba Baba
4:09
tund hodman Bryan is played by Van
4:13
couter Ben Washington is played by Tom
4:16
gosam Jr so
4:20
Caleb uh Willie hodman and Ben they're
4:25
referred to as Miss ever's boys and all
4:29
of them them were
4:31
participants in the study in this film
4:36
um and then the late great aie Davis
4:39
played um Alfrey woodard's father Mr
4:43
Evans so this is going back like I said
4:48
1930s
4:50
Tuskegee black people were still working
4:52
in the fields there were still
4:54
sharecroppers um and it was a big deal
4:57
that
4:58
she uh Unice Evers was a nurse you know
5:03
she's working in the hospital she's
5:05
working with doctors she wasn't a
5:07
servant or anything like that she
5:10
recognized it her father recognized it
5:12
it was the type of career that could
5:14
have taken her
5:15
anywhere um when this came up she was
5:19
the head nurse
5:22
under Dr broadis so Joe Morton she was
5:27
working with him and he said hey
5:30
I'm taking you with me we're going to to
5:33
Tuskegee there's something happening
5:35
down there that they want us to be a
5:37
part of that happened to be the area
5:40
where she grew up so Caleb she was
5:43
already familiar with because he used to
5:46
pull her Pigtails in
5:48
class so there was some relationship
5:52
there and her relation built with the
5:55
other three men to the point that you
5:57
know they were performers in the
5:59
community Comm they name their band
6:01
after her um the whole thing gets
6:05
sticky because at a certain point she
6:09
realizes that wait a
6:11
minute we're we're not treating them
6:14
we're just doing research and she was
6:17
excited at first because the
6:20
government's paying for it they're
6:21
giving these guys they're they're going
6:23
to help the black people and there were
6:25
a handful of people who were wey but
6:27
when they heard what I get a free meal I
6:31
can get free rides and all this other
6:34
you know the government is catering to
6:35
me they were like all right sign me up
6:38
so I'll let you take it from here what
6:40
what were your thoughts about well first
6:43
of all I'm going to ask the question I
6:45
usually ask is this something you
6:47
learned about in school no not at all
6:50
and what was crazy was when I when
6:53
I because I was actually the one that
6:55
chose the
6:57
movie when I saw it
7:00
I never even really heard about it but
7:04
when I saw it I was like oh you know
7:05
what based off the description I was
7:07
like this might be a good watch it seems
7:09
like
7:10
something that um might be educational
7:13
because this is something again we
7:15
weren't taught about in school so to
7:18
watch it and then like even down to the
7:22
way things were kind of broken down to
7:25
these men when they're coming into their
7:27
community and telling them what they're
7:29
going to do and how the government is
7:31
funding this and everything like that it
7:34
was
7:35
so it was kind of surreal for me to
7:38
watch cuz it's just like they really
7:40
kind of felt like they had to not only
7:43
bring Miss Evers and the doctor in the
7:46
black doctor in
7:48
to kind of facilitate or help facilitate
7:52
these conversations with these men but
7:55
it was almost
7:56
like oh we have to kind of dumb it down
7:59
for them too because whereas the white
8:02
doctor that came in was kind of like hey
8:05
you know I want to get technical with
8:07
these guys and let them know the exact
8:09
diagnosis Miss Evers and the other
8:11
doctor involved were like no we should
8:15
probably kind of tell them something
8:18
different I don't think they were
8:21
dumbing it down I
8:24
think okay let me not say that yes they
8:26
were but by saying blood like oh well
8:29
it's something in your blood like I'm
8:32
and she explained that what she said to
8:34
to the doctor
8:36
was you have to talk to them in their in
8:41
their language if you tell them that
8:45
they have a virus they're going to panic
8:48
and we won't have anyone to complete the
8:50
study with so they understand illness is
8:54
something in the blood so that's what
8:57
we're going to tell them that there's
9:00
something in the blood we're gonna give
9:02
them some treatments to to help heal
9:06
them and they'll be more willing to go
9:09
along with it if we phrase it in terms
9:11
that they comprehend okay okay that's
9:15
like a lawyer trying to speak to you in
9:18
legal vernacular and you're going my
9:19
rights or what and there was a scene in
9:21
the part or there was a scene in the
9:22
movie
9:23
where the the white doctor is like
9:26
telling them what he's about to do and
9:28
what testing they're about to kind of go
9:31
through and everything and why they're
9:32
being tested for this and they're just
9:34
all sitting there looking at him like
9:37
you going to do what and Miss Evers kind
9:40
of had to step in but I just felt like
9:42
throughout the whole
9:43
film there were so many things that and
9:47
what was crazy was there was kind of
9:48
like that little bit of a contrast
9:49
because here it is you know they're kind
9:51
of talking like that to the rest of them
9:53
they're not giving them full information
9:56
as to what's going on and Lawrence fish
9:59
Burn's character um Caleb Caleb
10:04
he he actually was kind of already
10:07
educating himself you know he let Miss
10:09
Evers know look like you don't think I
10:12
can read I'm going to the library and
10:14
I'm looking this stuff up myself yeah
10:17
and he asked for a book cuz he was like
10:19
I want to know more about this exactly
10:22
so he kind of even though he was also
10:24
not giv a lot of
10:26
information Miss Evers did kind of offer
10:28
up a little little bit of information to
10:30
him in the beginning
10:31
but he kind of already knew in the back
10:34
of his mind certain things and something
10:36
wasn't right yeah so he was kind of
10:38
already hip to what was going on but
10:42
unfortunately these other guys that were
10:44
involved in this process they just
10:46
didn't know and they kind of like leaned
10:49
on Miss Evers a little bit to kind of
10:51
take them through this process yeah um
10:55
and it's unfortunate because if they
10:58
were a little bit more
11:00
honest and even a little bit more
11:03
instead of using them as guinea pigs
11:05
actually got them the help that they
11:08
needed they would have been fine you
11:11
know they would have lived normal lives
11:12
you know um oh my gosh I keep drawing a
11:16
blank with his name Caleb when he went
11:18
to the military he said look I got that
11:21
penicillin shot because one this was my
11:24
only way to get into the military
11:27
properly but two like I'm not messing
11:29
around my health like I'm doing whatever
11:31
I have to do and he was kind of trying
11:34
to encourage the other men to do the
11:36
same
11:37
but the the the role of the medical team
11:42
in this
11:44
situation was to just monitor the
11:47
progress of the disease and keep them
11:51
from getting treatment elsewhere yeah
11:54
and there's a scene in the film where
11:56
one of the guys um he's like I can't
11:59
take it anymore Caleb takes him to a
12:03
hospital to get the penicillin and the
12:05
nurse turns around looks at the
12:07
clipboard and says no you can't have it
12:10
and they were like why can't he get it
12:14
and she said because you're on the list
12:16
I can't give it to you cuz he was a part
12:18
of this experiment so all of the
12:20
hospitals in the area had the names of
12:23
all of the the the men who were being
12:27
researched and they refused them care
12:31
when they came to it and in this
12:33
situation it
12:35
was uh Willie Willie was the dancer in
12:39
the group you know he was hopping up and
12:41
down you know dancing like they do at
12:43
the Cotton Club and he had dreams of
12:44
getting there and it started to affect
12:47
his Mobility so he was like I can't I
12:49
can't live like this I need to to have
12:53
it fixed Caleb didn't tell him exactly
12:57
what was going on even though though he
13:00
had an
13:01
ankling and he did try to talk to Unice
13:05
about it and say okay what aren't you
13:07
telling me and she was like I can't I
13:10
can't and I think part of the reason why
13:13
she said she can't a um she was told
13:17
that she can't she shouldn't and then
13:19
the other part was she was ashamed
13:21
because once she
13:24
realized what this really was MH she was
13:30
like I I can't tell anybody that I'm
13:33
knowingly a part of this and she was
13:38
offered an opportunity she was about to
13:41
take the opportunity to go back up north
13:45
for for
13:47
work and she changed her mind because
13:50
she was like these guys need me I can't
13:54
leave them in other words I help put
13:56
them in this predicament I can't aband
13:59
she went through a tremendous like
14:01
internal struggle to the point where it
14:04
even affected the relationship she had
14:05
with Caleb because it was like here it
14:08
is they were in love they kind of wanted
14:10
to go away together and all that but she
14:13
had the guilt of kind of how this whole
14:16
process started and then the guilt of
14:18
like kind of what happened after that
14:21
how these men were affected and then
14:24
here it is you know Caleb comes back
14:25
from the war and everything and he's
14:27
like look like you know it the deed has
14:30
been done this is already happening like
14:32
we need to just go start our lives and
14:34
she's like I can't leave these guys
14:37
behind like I just can't do it and it it
14:40
it unfortunately affected their personal
14:44
lives because it's kind of
14:46
like had this experiment not even
14:49
happened none of them would be in this
14:51
predicament at all so right and so um
14:57
back to reality
14:59
um a lot of things came out of this time
15:05
period rules were put in place um once
15:09
this was re was revealed and you know
15:13
the public expressed outrage over it new
15:16
policies were put into place to make
15:19
sure that you know people were aware of
15:24
when they were a part of medical
15:26
research so now you are in invited to
15:30
clinical studies you don't just become a
15:33
guinea pig because someone says you know
15:35
what I want to see how long this person
15:37
survives if they have XYZ disease you
15:42
have to be offered you have to be
15:44
compensated you have to be treated like
15:47
a human being and not a lab rat that's
15:50
required by law um there are
15:55
institutional review boards so one set
15:58
of do s can't come up with this
16:00
experiment run it privately and then do
16:04
what they want with the information if
16:05
you're going to have a clinical trial
16:08
then there's a review board to make sure
16:10
that you are following all processes and
16:13
protocols that are laid out to make sure
16:15
that the patient is cared for um and you
16:20
know this this movie kind of speaks to
16:23
and you being a Med medical professional
16:25
you're aware of some of this um it kind
16:29
of speaks to what impacts uh mortality
16:33
rate amongst
16:35
African-Americans and while it has
16:39
improved there's still room for
16:43
improvement plenty of room for
16:45
improvement because the mortality rate
16:48
birth rate between black women and white
16:51
women there's still a gap there same
16:54
thing for breast
16:57
cancer there's still a gap there and
17:00
even and I can speak from my own
17:02
experience when trying to get um
17:06
assistance with health
17:08
issues you probably going to have to go
17:10
through as a a black woman you're
17:12
probably going to have to go through a
17:14
few doctors before you can get yeah what
17:18
you need I had a talk with my doctor the
17:20
other day and she was like oh I
17:22
recommend this doctor and I was like
17:25
uhuh went to them and I didn't even get
17:28
into it with her about why how racist
17:32
this doctor was towards me I just said
17:36
no and I think that's where I related to
17:40
Caleb because he was like I'm advocating
17:44
for myself for myself I'm here but I
17:47
have a lot of questions that I need and
17:49
I love you know I love that about his
17:50
character because I feel like and I try
17:52
to kind of impress this upon the
17:54
patients I work with in general because
17:57
as a human being like you have to be you
18:01
have to be researching you have to be
18:04
thoughtful and thorough with your own
18:06
health care like you have to be
18:08
questioning these doctors you know and
18:10
asking them about this stuff because
18:13
they don't know it all they don't know
18:15
at all there are some doctors that go by
18:17
the book or they are just trying to sell
18:20
the these you know medications to to get
18:25
perks and things like that it's kind of
18:27
like you have to be your own Advocate
18:30
you have to research yourself because
18:32
here it is in this scenario it's like if
18:35
he didn't do that research on his own
18:37
and like kind of take that extra step
18:40
and try to figure things out on his own
18:42
he would have been just like some of
18:43
those men that that ended up dead
18:46
because it's like you know you got to
18:48
kind of ask more questions and care more
18:50
about your health and not just listen to
18:53
what a health care provider or whatever
18:55
is telling you all the time yeah there
18:58
was one guy and I I didn't write his
19:00
name down in the notes did all the
19:02
research looked him up his name was
19:06
Charlie I can't remember his last name
19:09
now I'll try and put up a picture of him
19:12
but he was one of the um last survivors
19:16
of the Tuskegee
19:19
experiment and the reason why I
19:22
remembered him is because they they did
19:24
a a report about him and he
19:29
wore a hat at all times because again
19:32
when you get syphus you if it's not
19:34
treated or treated quickly you start to
19:37
get lesions and they they kind of
19:38
represented that in the um in the movie
19:42
where these guys had like marks on their
19:45
face he had marks on his
19:50
scalp and so he used to wear a hat to
19:53
hide
19:54
it but he was and which president was it
19:58
I don't remember if it was no no no no
20:01
no no cuz this was in like the '90s
20:03
shortly before he passed but he was
20:07
given some kind of medal okay by the
20:10
president
20:11
for um his his involvement and survival
20:16
because black people are rewarded for
20:18
surviving um he was given a reward for
20:22
that but that man suffered through all
20:26
of that and you know I think he died in
20:30
I want to say he passed away in
20:33
2009 darn I wish I had notes on it but
20:35
I'll try and put that up at the
20:37
end all in all as far as historical
20:42
content I feel like this was pretty
20:45
accurate even though it's a
20:46
fictionalized movie I think it was
20:49
pretty accurate if you're not aware of
20:52
the Tuskegee experiment I definitely say
20:56
watch it go down the rabbit hole get
20:59
online do the research um and once again
21:04
sit your kids down to watch it you know
21:08
I think the news just broke today that
21:10
apparently at the federal level Black
21:12
History Month is being cancelled
21:15
so look don't let it be canceled in your
21:18
house celebrate educate make sure you
21:22
know about stuff like this because as we
21:24
can see history is starting to repeat
21:26
itself in a very backwards way so that
21:30
being said hope you enjoyed this review
21:33
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22:19
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22:21
hey we like comments on the old stuff so
22:23
feel free but definitely let us know
22:26
what you thought of this movie and and
22:29
um what are we doing I don't think we've
22:30
decided on the next movie we haven't
22:32
decided on the next movie but there are
22:35
some Runner UPS I know the next two that
22:39
we're looking at is um the piano lesson
22:43
and fences those are like the top two
22:46
options for the next Go Round right and
22:49
so we'll keep you posted on that there
22:52
will be no show next week but the first
22:55
week of
22:56
February we're going all in we're
22:58
celebrating black history mon over here
23:00
we are we don't care who don't like
23:03
we're celebrating
23:05
ourselves anyway thank you so much for
23:07
joining us and until next week we'll see
23:10
you later bye bye