PHILADELPHIA—On Saturday, January 12, 2013, Jade Nelson and her two-week-old son, Baby Dillen Nelson, walked through the doors of Pennsylvania Hospital in downtown Philadelphia to awaiting relatives and friends who had fought the system, saved a life, and won a serious victory for the African community.
This victory is a glaring example of what African people can accomplish when organized.
Once the family brought the plight of Baby Dillen to the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM), organized struggle was engaged to force Pennsylvania Hospital to cease the unnecessary morphine "treatments" and to grant his mother, Jade Nelson, her parental rights she is accorded by law.
InPDUM immediately enlisted the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace, and Reparations' (BIBC’s) Medical Group and applied intense organized struggle with Pennsylvania Hospital.
For ten consecutive days, the Baby Dillen Movement, under the leadership of InPDUM and BIBC, fought against the forced around-the-clock morphine injections and the armed guards separating Baby Dillen from the family that loved him and wanted to protect and be with him.
Baby Dillen's story is one that is all-too-familiar within the oppressed and exploited African communities here in the U.S. and worldwide.
To combat these issues, we gathered our resources in an effort to send a message to Pennsylvania Hospital and like institutions that African people are not lab-rats or science projects and that Baby Dillen would not be used as such.
We are the ones who have the best interests of our children at heart, not Pennsylvania Hospital.
Jade and Baby Dillen had been living in prison-like conditions at the hospital since December 30, 2012 for merely having the audacity to ask for a second opinion and the arrogance of Dr. Gerdes and other Pennsylvania Hospital officials.
These colonial officials didn't believe they had an obligation to explain anything to a working class African woman and were offended when asked to do so.
Throughout the week, InPDUM led the Free Baby Dillen Movement, set up Facebook pages, had around-the-clock call-ins to hospital officials and wrote a total of seven articles that were posted on several internet sites, in addition to flyers explaining the case.
Then on Friday, January 11, a "Free Baby Dillen" demonstration and rally was held outside Pennsylvania Hospital with chants of "Free Baby Dillen," "Hands off Baby Dillen, stop the drugging, stop the killing," "Crack cocaine and morphine, same war, same thing," and "Free Baby Dillen, stop the war on the African community."
It was a long ten days that took lots of emotional and physical energy, but the organized movement is up to the task and will to do this over and over again until African people are free from U.S. domestic colonialism.
This was a struggle that reinforced us and encourages us to fight on and win many, many more victories.
Even as Baby Dillen is free to be with Jade, Pennsylvania Hospital has yet to comment on the deplorable conditions they forced on Dillen and Jade.
They never explained why it was necessary to use armed security guards to prevent free access to Dillen by his family or why they refused to provide the toxicology test results that would justify their criminal actions.
They obviously take their lead from the U.S. government, which has never apologized for enslaving, kidnapping and terrorizing Africans.
Even with an African president of the U.S., Barrack Hussein Obama, the government refuses to apologize or acknowledge that they are guilty of these crimes and that REPARATIONS are due African people just as Pennsylvania Hospital should pay reparations to the Nelson family.
The unstated and uncontested policy of the hospital is that if an expectant mother has sickle-cell anemia and is legally being administered the opiate morphine for pain control, then the infant upon birth is to be treated—even if the mother is not addicted to the drug.
This is not a medical or healthcare problem here.
This is a political problem where colonial white power institutions such as Pennsylvania Hospital can treat Africans any way they so choose with impunity.
Even the treatment of sickle-cell anemia with morphine as being standard U.S. medical practice, is only done so because sickle-cell anemia is considered a "black" disease.
Hospitals in the U.S. are part-and-parcel of a U.S. capitalist-colonialist healthcare system that relies on the never-ending imposition of drugs on African people to generate profit for the pharmaceutical and banking industries.
We see the results of organized African resistance.
That is why we must build and participate in the activities and programs of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement and the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations.
The reward is freedom and power over our own lives.
If you are in Philadelphia, you should attend the African Community Convention on Sunday, February 17 at the Uhuru Solidarity Center, located at 3733 Lancaster Avenue.
Baby Dillen's aunt, Salima Cunningham, who was instrumental in making this struggle, will be a featured speaker at the convention.
Beyond February 17, InPDUM is calling on the entire African community from Philadelphia, throughout the U.S. and around the world to attend the upcoming InPDUM International Convention, scheduled for March 23 and 24 in St. Petersburg, Florida.
One of the main goals of the convention is to build the International Community Control of Healthcare Committee.
LONG LIVE BABY DILLEN!
LONG LIVE THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE OF AFRICAN PEOPLE!
