Last week a study was released in the journal Science showing that the damage done by feelings of exclusion and isolation create brain activity akin to that caused by physical pain. The study was conducted by encasing a subject in an MRI measuring brain activity. The person in MRI was told they were playing a video game with two other people. The other players didn’t exist but the person in the MRI was none the wiser. As the game progressed the phantom players ignored the subject in the MRI, whose brain scan began to exhibit findings of what looked like physical pain.

My feelings about the study results were ambivalent. I have experienced levels of anger, denial, fear, humiliation and self-doubt that would not have occurred if I were not black. I was glad to see a study confirm what I have observed and felt my entire life, that emotional pain is just as damaging as physical pain. As children we were told that sticks and stones can break our bones but names will never harm us. No one has ever argued with the sticks and stones part of the equation, but it is time to say that name-calling and other forms of exclusion do just as much damage.

I must also say I resent that our experience is dismissed until there is some scientific evidence to confirm what we have always known. When we say that our rates of high blood pressure are linked to stress we immediately hear cries of that over used and meaningless phrase, political correctness. Political correctness is ruining science we are warned. We are asked for hard evidence and ordered to prove our assertions or shut up.

I am reminded of the story of the Lemba people of South Africa. The Lemba told anyone who would listen that they were Jewish and that their ancestors hailed from a place called Sena. The Lemba obey kosher dietary laws, have Semitic-sounding clan names and abide by religious and other rules consistent with followers of Judaism.

Not surprisingly, the Lemba’s assertions of Jewishness were never taken seriously. It was assumed that exposure to missionaries and bible stories inspired them to concoct a fable of Jewish ancestry. They were considered anthropological curiosities until their story was confirmed through DNA testing which proved their descent from Yemeni Jews. They then became the subject of documentaries and newspaper articles proclaiming what the Lemba had said all along. And yes, there is a region in Yemen called Sena.

I was thinking about the pain study and the Lemba and other black people being dismissed out of hand when I read the October 12th issue of the New York Times magazine. The article, Enough to Make You Sick? detailed higher levels of a wide variety of illnesses exhibited by blacks living in urban areas. The author does an exhaustive job of cataloguing health problems in poor urban areas. However, someone should have pointed out to her that “nylon skull caps” are called du-rags. I apologize for being picky about an otherwise good article.

I have often said that statistics involving black people are always depressing. We die at younger ages, have lower incomes, SAT scores, and rates of home ownership. We are more likely to be the victims of crime and yet are jailed more often. This article was no exception to that rule. The portrayal of health problems among residents of neighborhoods in Yonkers, New York was heart rending. Children with high rates of asthma and young adults with high blood pressure, diabetes and other ailments are all living debilitated lives circumscribed by their bad health.

The scientific explanation is as follows: Negative emotions cause an increase in the production of stress hormones. Stress hormones prepare the body for fight or flight emergencies by speeding up heart rates and blood sugar. Constant exposure to stress weakens the immune system and damages various body functions.

Even if you have never heard of stress hormones, you know intuitively that unhappiness makes you less healthy. We feel the physical sensations of embarrassment, fear and anger without the confirmation of an MRI reading. In short, we always knew that racism and the mistreatment that comes with it make us sick.

The article talked about environmental racism and the possible role that air pollution and even roaches can play in causing higher rates of asthma. But is there something else? Does living in a depressed neighborhood, while also fearing crime, and facing constant reminders of society's contempt, cause ill health? The article says yes, but I think that conclusion is a no-brainer. Several subjects of the story moved from their neighborhoods to cleaner, safer, quieter settings and experienced immediate improvement in their quality of lives. Children who had asthma no longer showed symptoms. Adults became healthier and more hopeful than they had ever been in their lives.

The study, which shows that alienation is not just emotionally but physically painful, does have a bright spot. Subjects of the experiment who were better able to verbalize their distress suffered lower levels of pain. Once again we see that speaking the truth is empowering. The recognition that we are not crazy, that the circumstances of our lives are not solely our own doing, and the very basic recognition that we are in fact being treated badly all work together to alleviate our suffering.

We should also be bold in asserting what our intuition tells us. We should not be intimidated into dismissing our thoughts and feelings about the way this society treats us. It might help also if every once and a while someone would take our word for granted. If we say we are Jewish, believe us. If we say that our neighborhoods are deadly, believe us. If we say we are descended from Thomas Jefferson, just believe us. Everyone will be healthier and happier.

Ken Bridges

1949 – 2002

Last October the nation was in the grip of the sniper attacks taking place in the Washington, D.C. area. Of course I was interested in this story, but it had all become a blur of sensationalized news reports on 24-hour cable stations. Despite all that is going on in the world they tend to cover the same dull stories over and over again in the same dull manner. Needless to say they are thrown into hyperactive overdrive when real news comes their way.

I recalled hearing about the shooting of a Philadelphia businessman who had become the eighth victim but I didn’t really pay attention. I was avoiding the serial killer “experts,” psychics, and bad reporters who were constantly on the air. At the time I still watched the Today show and tuned in to see an interview in progress with two very well dressed, articulate black men who were not entertainers or athletes. They were speaking of someone named Ken, a Philadelphian who was a graduate of the prestigious Wharton School of Business. They were speaking of him in the past tense.

A friend of mine says that only eight black people ever left the ghetto and four of them are related. I knew it was likely that the man they spoke of was someone I knew, Ken Bridges, who had an MBA from Wharton and lived in Philadelphia. Indeed it was the same person and he had been killed by the then unknown sniper, at the time described as a white man in a white panel truck. The suspects turned out to be two black men in a blue car. I was more prescient than I knew when I decided to ignore the serial killer experts.

Ken Bridges was a husband and the father of six children. He was a co-founder of the Matah Network, an organization devoted to black business empowerment. May he rest in peace and may his dream of Matah live on after him.

Margaret Kinberley’s Freedom Rider column appears  weekly in .  Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City.  She can be reached via e-Mail at [email protected]. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley's writings at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/

October 23, 2003
Issue 61

is published every Thursday.