Fabu: Fight for better health care hits home

Fabu  —  11/01/2008 6:22 am

November is the month my mother died from a treatable cancer. Autumn reminds me of growing old and how the lives of our elders blaze gloriously and beautifully before the rest of winter.

I tried so many times to get my mother to come to Wisconsin for treatment because of the University of Wisconsin Hospital's excellent reputation in treating cancer and because I live in Madison and speak the language of white Wisconsinites. I never learned well to speak the language of white Tennesseans, a language all too often infused with hundreds of years of racism, sexism and class prejudice. There are definite languages that African-Americans speak when interacting with the majority culture and the languages change, depending upon the situation and the type of white folks.

Even though I traveled to Memphis again and again for her treatments, I feared for my mother's cancer care there. I feared because it is a proven fact that statistically African-Americans in these United States get substandard medical treatment on a consistent basis, especially in the South. I am like the biblical Job in this matter, because all that I feared came to pass. When the doctors in Memphis could do no more, only then would my mother come to UW Hospital and it was too late. Her bladder cancer had metastasized and invaded other parts of her body.

I carefully listened to Barack Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination, especially when he talked about listening to his cancer-stricken mother on the telephone fighting with an HMO about her care. His words took me straight back to being on the phone some times in Memphis, other times calling from Madison, talking to Mom's HMO and to her doctors explaining that her pain pills were neither strong enough nor in the quantity she needed to keep her from hurting horribly.

Mornings in Memphis, I would be awaken by my mother's pain -- many know the feeling in the pit of your stomach when someone you love is moaning with pain.

When I was in Madison, calling Memphis because my sister said that the newly prescribed pain pills were not even touching Mom's pain and she could get no response from the doctor's office, I too was on the telephone fighting like Obama's mother for good medical care.

I want a president who has experienced some of the "lows" in life that I have, who remembers and cares enough to put it in his acceptance speech. I want a president who will never forget the feeling in the pit of his stomach when someone he loves is moaning with pain, and shares that feeling with the nation. To all of the political pundits in this election, such a personal experience would scarcely be enough to base a vote on, and I certainly have examined platforms and read a copious amount of information on both candidates. While I don't agree with every Barack Obama position, I do believe in his personal integrity as a human being and his intelligence and skill as a politician. For one thing, his perspective on medical treatment in the country will always include what he witnessed happening to his dying mother. She was white and received substandard health care for financial reasons. His personal perspective on health care will be good for the citizens in our country.

My mother did not live to see Barack Obama run for president and be a part of this historical event. As well, her only son, my younger brother, died before his 40th birthday. Tony, as an African-American man, also died before knowing that it is possible for a man with African origins to be nominated by a major party for president of the United States.

They can't cast their two votes for Barack Obama on Tuesday, Nov. 4, so when I cast my vote, I will be thinking about my two beloved family members. I will be thinking about Mom because she would have been so proud of Barack Obama and, in the best African-American tradition, she would have considered him her son too. I will be thinking about my brother Tony because we would have had great discussions about Obama. More than anything, I will be proud that I am representing my family and this country well by casting my vote for Barack Obama.

Fabu is a writer and educator and Madison's poet laureate. She writes a monthly column for The Capital Times. 

Fabu  —  11/01/2008 6:22 am