" The first draft is just you telling yourself the story." -Terry Pratchett |
Pieces To My Research Puzzle Hello again this is blog #12 and I’ll be discussing my pro and struggles with my research paper. My research paper is supposed to reflect on the zeitgeist (a spirit of a time captured) of America. I chose a topic that was supposed to focus on the fentanyl crisis in the city of Baltimore, Md. and how it affects the African community. I was successful in finding many resources that were reliable such as The Baltimore Sun, (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse Maryland Opioids Summary, and a few more in which I will link in my further discussion. At first I came upon this documentary by the Washington Post called “Addicted and left behind: the opioid epidemic killing African Americans.” In this short documentary Washington, D. C. residents of the community Sam Rogers and Renee Howell fear their lives are in danger because their next high may be their last. The video goes as far as showing them experiencing the ultimate high off heroin. The problem is most addicts believe they’re buying heroin, but its heroin laced with fentanyl. Fentanyl is a deadly drug even though this drug was first created in America by legal pharmaceutical companies. It is being abused by many Americans. It was reported to the National Drug Threat Assessment that “fentanyl was responsible for more than 700 deaths in the U.S between late 2013 and early 2015. Although these number are disturbing the media shines the spotlight on the white suburban communities. Leading to many to say that it’s a crisis with fentanyl but that’s far from the truth the African American communities are dealing with the crisis as well. In the suburbs there are many resources and easier access to the pill forms of fentanyl. When I first started doing my research it was based on Baltimore but the more, I found other resources Baltimore was just the beginning of a bigger story. A story race did matter even amongst a drug crisis such as fentanyl. To find that there was bias even among drug abuse shocked me more than anything, so I decided to dig a little more where I found actual evidence. It was said in an article by Gaby Galvin staff writer of U.S. News & World Report “While affecting people across race and ethnicity, the opioids crisis gripping the nation has been concentrated largely among low income whites, and has bee labeled a problem primarily of public health, not of criminal justice.” The picture just became even bigger so not only was there a group of people being treated differently because of their skin color, but people were even being turned away and left to deal with pain because they were a different race. There were actual medical professionals that treated their patients due to the color of their skin and it was also mention that white poor people were more likely to get prescription more likely then their counterparts meaning black patients. I’m still working and trying to put all the pieces together for my research paper. My challenges are narrowing down the important information even though I feel its all very important. I must decide what is important and more likely to help me with my proving argument that African Americans were over looked when it came to the opioid crisis and how bias this country was when it came to two different races and deciding amongst themselves who were more important when it came to rescue from the fentanyl crisis.
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Shayla MontgomeryHi I'm Shayla I'm a wife, mother, and student. I currently work full-time while going to school part-time to obtain an degree i nursing. Archives
December 2019
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