Hey my lovely Readers! Well, this blog is going to be a little different, so bare with me while I vent (just a little…maybe). Yesterday, a fellow Warrior, Brittani Burrage, shared a video that really disturbed me. I will definitely post the video here, so those of you that haven’t seen it, may do so. Now, before I go any further, let me first say: everyone is entitled to their own opinion, this just so happens to be MINE!! The video is of a little clip from the ending of the show: Key & Peele; for those of you who don’t know, that’s a comedy show. In the clip, one of the men (I don’t remember which is Key, and which is Peele) makes a joke about, how he’s glad to be mixed because he knows, somewhere in the world, there’s a black dude sitting at home with a little d**k and Sickle Cell. Where do I begin on the many things I find wrong, with this little comedy, “joke”… My first and biggest problem with this little comedy piece is: the only time we EVER hear anything about Sickle Cell Disease, is when it’s being joked about. Not only is it being joked about, but all the “jokes” about SCD are negative! If you’re going to mention SCD, why not do it in a positive light?? Like in the movie with Liam Neeson: A Walk Among the Tombstones. That’s the one, and only, movie where I’ve seen SCD portrayed the right way. Negativity to me, generates more negativity; so when you joke about something as serious as SCD, or ANY disease, in a negative way, all you’re doing is making people think of other people with that particular disease as less than, or not normal. I’m just like everyone else, why should I be made to feel like I should be quarantined, or something, just because I’m living with SCD?? The other problem I have with this is: we’re dying every single day, my living with Sickle Cell, isn’t a joke. The things we Warriors have to go through on a daily basis aren’t funny. Why is it that whenever you hear about Cancer, you hear about how brave the people are and how we need to raise awareness and money for research to find a cure? The answer: THAT’S WHAT YOU SHOULD HEAR!! They are brave, and courageous, and fighters, and guess what…so are people living with Sickle Cell Disease; but because ignorant people decide to “joke” about, and portray my sickness in a negative light, that’s what a lot of people feel about SCD, and I’m tired of it! I really don’t even want to go into the fact that, people still, in 2015..think of SCD as an African American disease. I have news for you my friend, since you’ve apparently been living under a rock for years, it’s not! I know people in the Sickle Cell community, who are so tired of this stereotype, because they are NOT African American, but have the disease. I know there are some people who won’t agree with this blog, including some of my fellow Sickle Cell Warriors; and that’s completely fine, like I said: this is just my opinion. I do know that some Sickler’s feel like well, at least they’re talking about SCD, and bringing awareness to the disease; my thoughts on that is, if you’re going to bring awareness to a disease, do it without causing hurt, and in my opinion, shame/embarrassment to people with the disease. Imagine, if the same show had done a great comedy skit about someone living with Sickle Cell…instead the writers chose to be followers, and were negative like everyone else. Who knows what type of shame, or sadness, that could have brought on maybe some young person living with SCD, or anyone with Sickle Cell…I guess they don’t think about things like that, or care. Okay Readers, I just wanted to share my thoughts on this, because it was really weighing heavily on my mind. Thanks for reading, maybe someone who has negative feelings toward people with Sickle Cell Disease, will read this and have a change of heart. Later!
