14 The Hampton Roads Messenger


Volume 7 Number 6


Newlyweds Searching for Bone Marrow Donor


BY VIJI SUNDARAM OAKLAND, Calif. – Just


when things were looking up for journalist Kevin Weston -- he had just been offered a prestigious Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford University and he and his partner, Lateefah Simon, had less than a year earlier become parents of a baby girl – last August, he was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of blood cancer. The disease had compromised his immune system and became compounded by an infection to his throat.


San Francisco City Hall Feb. 11 and The Quad, 525 Fourth Street, Oakland (Feb. 23).


Why the reluctance among African Americans to register?


Bowens pointed to the historical


distrust among African Americans of the medical system, thanks in part to the notorious Tuskegee syphilis experiments from 1932-1972 conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural black men.


AADP’s Executive Director Carol Kevin Weston and his family Doctors gave Weston, 44, two


weeks to live. Since being diagnosed, Weston


has endured a month-long stay in the ICU, five emergency surgeries and multiple hospitalizations. Some time during his ICU stay, he married Simon, a nationally recognized civil rights leader.


Weston is now back home, but


still in medical treatment. The radiation and chemotherapy treatment he is undergoing is helping him some, but he needs a bone marrow transplant in order to survive, and he needs it within two months. [Bone marrow produces blood cells.]


Marrow matches are ethnically


based and depend on one’s genetic makeup. Weston is African American and his most likely match will also be African American. Those who are not Caucasians are more likely to die of leukemia or other blood cancers because there is a shortage of ethnic minority donors on the national registry, noted Perry Bowens, recruitment manager of the northwestern district of the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).


About 70 percent of the potential


10 million donors now registered in the national registry are Caucasian.


Just under a third of listed donors are members of ethnic minorities -- 7 percent of them African Americans, 7 percent Asians, 10 percent Hispanics and the rest of Native American, Pacific Islander or other races.


What is making it even more


difficult to find a match for Weston is that he has a rare form of blood cancer, noted Bowens, during a bone marrow drive organized on Jan. 21 at the African American Museum and Library in Oakland, Calif.


Cassie Marshall, 26, was among


those who had dropped in to register at the museum.


“I know there are a very few


African Americans in the registry, that’s why I’m here,” Marshall said, adding: “Besides, Kevin is a family friend.”


Bone marrow donor program


organizers are casting their net wide, in the hope of recruiting as many people from ethnic communities as possible. Two other drives were held Monday, one in San Jose and the other in San Francisco, both organized by the Asian American Donor Program (AADP).


Others drives are planned at


the Third Baptist Church at 1399 McAllister Street, San Francisco, at


WALKING IN LIBERTY By Rev. Dr. Gregory Headen


Our Faith I know you must


be glad that the elec- tion is over. I know I am. We can rest from the bombardment of ads and political mes- sages. The President gets another four years to lead and to govern. He will face


with some immediate challenges in the next two months as we move toward the so called “fiscal cliff”. If his contender had won, he too would have faced these chal- lenges. The President won by maintain- ing a strong coalition of Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Women, Straight and Gay vot- ers. All of these groups will expect their President to honor and heed their desires. But there is something all of us must do. We will have to pray for the President and the Congress. It is so important that they work together and move beyond the grid- lock. America is changing rather quickly. A Pastor has to wonder what will be his/ her role in the changing society. We still say that we are “One nation under God”, but what does that mean? Which God are we under? Does He require anything of us? Are His commands still relevant for us or are they obsolete? Does freedom


and liberty mean that we have the right to ignore God’s commandments? Are we building this nation on a rock, or are we building it on sand? This question may be for Washington, but it is also for each of us where we live. It is for us in our churches and other associations. What are we building our lives upon? If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do (Psalm 11:3)? The issues on state ballots during this election have been speaking volumes about our society. We found on ballots issues like Gay mar- riage, legalization of Marijuana, a provi- sion to require that condoms be used in the Porn industry in California, etc. All of this indicates how America is changing. All of these may not have passed, but it does say something that they were on the ballots. As Americans, we tend to want more and more privileges and opportuni- ties. There is another side to privilege, and it is called responsibility. Privilege apart from responsibility is an illusion. Enjoying the benefits without helping to shoulder up the costs is to be shunned. This comes down to what each of us will do right where we are as we seek to take responsibility for our families, churches, our institutions, and ourselves. Are we in the fight, or are we just riding along?


Gillespie said that African Americans are reluctant to register because “they don’t trust needles.” Many think donating bone marrow involves injecting a number of needles into the back of the pelvis. That’s not usually the case any more. About 80 percent of the collection is from peripheral blood stem cells.


Weston and Simon have launched S. Korean President FROM PAGE 2


nuclear test. The main party newspaper, Rodong Sinnmun, declared Saturday the sanctions left North Korea “with no other options.”


Unlike past tests, in which


Pyongyang sought to use its nuclear threat as leverage in negotiations, this time appears different, and more serious. Of greatest concern is what some see as an untested leader and the unstable power structure that has yet to converge around him, following the death of his father, Kim Jong il, in 2011. (The younger Kim took power in an unprecedented third generation transfer following his father’s death.) With his foreign policy yet to be made public and his young age (he is 29), some worry that the younger Kim may be more of a risk taker than either his father or grandfather, state founder Kim Il sung.


That he would risk further isolating


his already impoverished country with another nuclear test is proof of this.


Much depends on the reaction


of the United States. When North Korea conducted its first test in 1994, the response from Washington was immediate and led to talk of open conflict and war. Now China is playing an important role in mediating the issue, but it remains unclear what direction the “crisis” will move.


When North Korea conducted its


first nuclear test, both Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il enjoyed strong party and public support. In comparison, Kim Jong-un’s leadership remains fragile at best. Under such a situation, North Korea’s political fault lines remain unpredictable and that Park’s ability to manage the crisis will be immediately tested.


February 2013


a national effort to register at least 1,000 African Americans to find a match for him and other African Americans in similar situations.


"My story is just one of many,"


said Weston. "There are thousands of African-Americans and people of color around the country who desperately need a bone marrow transplant but can't find a match.


“My wife and I started this


campaign to do what we can to raise awareness about this urgent issue and to register as many people as possible."


Registering takes just a few


minutes, and involves a pre-screening and swab sample of the inside of the cheek.


People can also go online to www.


aadp.org and request a home kit be sent to them. For more information about Weston and Simon's story and their campaign, please visit: Kevinandlatee- fah.com.


Park’s domestic support base can


be an obstacle in this. The incoming administration inherited this crisis thanks in large part to the conservative policies pursued by Park’s predecessor, outgoing president Lee Myung bak, whose hard line approach to Pyongyang led to a deterioration of inter-Korean relations. Many of Park’s supporters are in the same camp as those who elected Lee five years ago.


If North Korea goes ahead with


its test, conservative calls for a strong response will grow in the South, and that could have an impact on Park’s still evolving North Korea policy, prompting her to be less risk averse. A strong response from Park to further isolate the North will threaten security on the peninsula and across the region. With national security a priority, any moves on the part of Pyongyang to antagonize the South could draw a series of escalating responses from Park, who will want to present a tough stance for her base. This is a concern.


If President-elect Park wants to


minimize the risk around the “nuclear crisis,” her “management” of relations with Pyongyang will be critical. This will start with conversations between the two Koreas, and support from neighboring countries. Such steps will create an atmosphere conducive to dialogue and a resolution of tensions.


A key pledge during her campaign


promised to build what she termed the “Korean Peninsula Trust Process.” That pledge now runs the risk of a succumbing to political realties. Park cannot allow South Korean policy on the North to be dictated by the interests of Washington or Beijing, or allow leaders in Japan an excuse to rearm. Park’s management skills will soon be put to the test.


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