Letters and African-American Criticism
1170 words by kguerin
African-American criticism is a useful tool for Biblical scholars because it helps recognize the importance, portrayal, and misinterpretations of Africa and Africans according to biblical authors. This form of criticism is used by all scholars, not just African-Americans. Unfortunately, there are very few African-Americans who are interested in pursuing a career in Theology. Dr. Homan stated this may be due to the lack of money or interest since traditionally the focus of theological studies is not placed on African-Americans and their civilizations. According to bibledudes.com, biblical authors wrote about the north-eastern coast of Africa (Egypt, Ethiopia, etc.) where the people were very wealthy and powerful. In addition, these people did not differentiate themselves according to race but rather identified themselves according to their ethnicity and nationality. The race and skin color issues that are prevalent today were clearly not in effect in the biblical era. Scholars have used all of this information to better understand the continent of Africa and the people who inhabited it at that time.
I chose to write this letter to the following individuals:
Louisiana State Representative Austin Badon
5555 Bullard Ave., Suite101
New Orleans, LA 70128
Mayor Ray Nagin
1300 Perdido St.,
New Orleans, LA 70112
President-Elect Barack Obama.
PO Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Kirbie Guerin. I am a Chemistry Pre-Pharmacy student at Xavier University. I am also a proud life-long resident of New Orleans, LA who is excited about the progress and improvements of the city since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. I am however deeply concerned about the decline of our citizens’ health that has been progressing over the years. I am currently working on a class project in which I was to address and help improve one of the world’s largest problems. Therefore I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of our city and nation’s health regarding the increased rate of diabetes, particularly amongst the African-American community.
Diabetes has been steadily increasing over the past few years. According to the Diabetes Association, in a matter of two years (2005-2007) diabetes has increased 13.5%! These alarming rates can be attributed to many preventable risk factors such as obesity, poor diet, and lack of exercise and healthcare. Of course the majority of these factors ultimately lie in the hands of each individual; however I firmly believe that an intervention should take place immediately. Diabetes leads to a plethora of additional health problems and increased costs. Unfortunately, amputations, blindness, strokes and renal disease are just a few of the additional adverse effects that are often associated with diabetes. In addition, it has been estimated that related costs are $100 billion annually!
I am aware that steps have been taken towards improving health in our city and nation. For example, many cities, including New Orleans, have implemented a plan to improve children’s health within the school systems. Vending machines are only available before and after school, and have also been restocked to include healthier options. This is a great start! I believe that it can be further enhanced by enforcing the seriousness of living a healthy life in physical education classes. In addition, more strenuous activities should be included in these classes. An alarming statistic shows that obesity and diabetes is steadily increasing in children while physical activities are steadily decreasing.
I have decided to host a diabetes awareness event of my own to jumpstart this movement! I will gather physicians and dieticians to speak about prevention and maintenance methods which will include diet and exercise information. I firmly believe that overall health would improve if more people simply understood the cause and effects of diabetes (and many of the other prevalent diseases that affect our society today). Education has always been the key to improvement in any facet of life, so let’s do our best to educate the public so that we can improve health everywhere for everyone!
Thank you so much for taking time to read my letter and consider my proposition! I thoroughly appreciate and commend you on all of your hard work and efforts to improve the community to make the world a better place. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Kirbie Guerin
I also wrote a separate letter:
New Orleans Department of Health Director: Dr. Kevin Stephens
1300 Perdido St., Room 8E18
New Orleans, LA 70112
Dear Dr. Stephens,
My name is Kirbie Guerin. I am a Chemistry Pre-Pharmacy student at Xavier University. I am currently working on a class project in which I was to address and help improve one of the world’s largest problems. Therefore I am writing to you as a concerned citizen of our city’s health regarding the increased rate of diabetes, particularly amongst the African-American community.
I am aware that steps have been taken towards improving health in our city. For example the city of New Orleans has implemented a plan to improve children’s health within the school systems. Vending machines are only available before and after school, and have also been restocked to include healthier options. This is a great start! But I believe that we can do more to improve our citizens’ health.
I have therefore decided to host a diabetes awareness event of my own to jumpstart this movement and would love and appreciate your expertise and assistance in doing so. I would like to invite you to be a guest speaker at this event, but of course any of your time or information would be extremely helpful. My plan is to gather physicians and dieticians to speak about prevention and maintenance methods which will include diet and exercise information. I firmly believe that overall health would improve if more people simply understood the cause and effects of diabetes (and many of the other prevalent diseases that affect our society today). Education has always been the key to improvement in any facet of life, so let’s do our best to educate the public so that we can improve health everywhere for everyone!
Thank you so much for taking time to read my letter and consider my proposition! I thoroughly appreciate and commend you on all of your hard work and efforts to improve the community to make New Orleans a better place. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Kirbie Guerin
I thought that these four individuals were best suited to address this problem because both individually and collectively these men can do things to make a difference via health improvement in our community. Austin Badon and Ray Nagin are Louisiana state officials who have an overall concern for the citizens of our city and state. President-elect Barack Obama obviously wants the best for everyone and is interested in cutting costs and improving health (amongst many other things) as much as possible. Dr. Kevin Stephens is an extremely intelligent man who is dedicated to improving our city’s health. Hopefully they will take my concern seriously and make valid attempts at solving this problem.