I think this issue is not an issue about sensitivities.  This is an issue
about health and well-being of infants and mothers.  There was a recent study
out (and I will try and find it).  It correlated the high rate of black
infant mortality and morbidity in the USA to the fact that black infants are
not breastfed.  This issue is not about the past and slavery.  This is about
now and saving lives.  I think David Satcher needs a copy of that research.

I am sorry about the past but there is nothing we can do about the past.  But
we can do something about the present.   I live in a small town in Florida.
Over the years with the WIC Program and because of living in a small town, I
have met many African American women.  The women my age (50) breastfed their
infants and homebirthed them, too.  Poverty and discrimination meant little
or no access to health care.  Breastfeeding has been associated with poverty
and what one has to do because of poverty.  Infant formula is associated with
upward mobility.  This is of course changing because more and more wealthy
and well-educated women are breastfeeding.  I certainly feel sorrow for the
past, but I sometimes think it is used to create guilt which ends further
discussion. (and discussion on this issue is vital)

David Satcher, MD, needs to see the statistics, as do all African American
people.  You see those statistics and I think your mind has to change about
the importance of breastfeeding.  This is not about sensitivities.  It is
about health.  Are the African American people rejecting health for their
infants?  I don't think so. But if we keep talking about sensitivities, then
of course we dismiss the real issues.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC

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