Eric Duncan's apartment, where he stayed last week.
https://newsela-test-files-f331e.s3.amazonaws.com
SUMMERY: In the article, it states that many Texans are blaming Liberians for the first Ebola case to be diagnosed in the United States. Caroline Whoaloe, a registered nurse, and fellow Liberians have received endless amounts of whispers and taunts saying, "Go back to Liberia". On Wednesday night, Whoaloe and and several Liberian pastors and community leaders appeared to spread the word: Please don't blame Liberians. Several Liberian workers have been fired and told to leave the US, Caroline stood up for them and said, "This is not a Liberian problem this is a world problem". The community has reached out to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Dallas area over and over and they have not responded. The threats and judgments being made are causing Liberians who are possibly infected to resist coming forward, in order to dodge embarrassment. Caroline Whoaloe along with others from the Liberian community, continue to stand up and defend themselves in the fight against Ebola.
ANALYSIS: I disagree with the way Texans are treating Liberians, because it really isn't their fault at all. Just because Duncan, a Liberian, was infected with the disease does not mean that every single Liberian has it, and it is unfair that people are thinking that way. As it says in the article, "Every major disease... known to man starts somewhere, but it doesn't stay in one place," explains Jimmy Sando, a Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport worker. Just like how you can't blame any one nation for the diseases HIV and AIDS, which have spread everywhere, it is extremely unfair to place blame on the single nation of Liberia for spreading the horrible virus. I have so much respect for Caroline Wholoe for standing up to Texans, who used Liberia as their scapegoat in this situation, where Ebola isn't just one nation's problem, but it is a world problem. I believe that people should continue to stand up for Liberians, and teach Texans to stop watching and placing blame, but rather help and do something about it.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Do you think it is fair to blame Liberia for the spread of Ebola?
2. What do you believe we should do to help this situation?
3. Why do you think CDC is non-responsive towards Liberia's community?
I agree that people in Texas have no right to make threats or blame Liberians for Ebola. Just because the disease came from Liberia doesn't mean that people who are Liberian some how spread the disease. I think people in Texas are angry, scared, and confused. I think to make themselves feel better they are blaming the Liberians.
ReplyDeleteI think it's fair to blame them because if they didn't come to the U.S. many U.S. citizens wouldn't be suffering, I believe we should solve this not by ourselves, but with the help of European countries because are nation is in debt, and we cant do everything for the world, other countries need to step up. The CDC is non-responsive because they already have enough on their plate, and don't want to deal with more and more problems.
ReplyDelete1. no, I do not think it was fair to blame Liberia for the spread of Ebola because it is not their fault, They dont want Ebola either.This is not a Liberian problem, this is a world problem. Liberan doctorshave been fired and told to leave the US. Just because Ducan, One liberan had Ebola doesnt mean everyone does.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is very wrong to put all Liberians in the category of Ebola. Americans have been scapegoating all kinds of people since we began in 1776, and it is wrong to do so. We need to find a way to look away from all possible groups to blame for this situation and work on the cure.
ReplyDeleteI think that CDC is non responsive towards Liberia's community because a lot of them believe that all LIberians are infected with the disease. Just because a person is Liberian, doesn't mean they have ebola. Texas shouldn't blame everybody from Liberia when only a small portion of the country's population actually has the virus.
ReplyDeleteNo I do not think it is fair to blame Liberia for this virus that has been slowly spreading. This is a problem the whole world faces and it is not Liberia's fault just because the virus originated there. Instead of blaming innocent countries, I think we all need to work together to come up with a cure so this virus can be put to an end.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is not fair to blame the Liberians for the spread of Ebola. I believe this because it's not their fault that Ebola has come to the United States. They should not be blaming the Liberians, but should be trying to work on a cure, or making sure that other people do not have Ebola in the United States other than try to get the Liberians to go home, when they obviously had no take in the spread of Ebola.
ReplyDeleteIt is absolutely not fair to to specifically blame Liberians for the spread of Ebola in the US. There are many cases where the people bringing Ebola to the US are in fact Americans. Also, in Africa, Liberia is not the only country that is majorly effected by Ebola. Countries such as Sierra Leonne are greatly effected by the virus as well. I think that Americans believing it is fair to blame Liberia are just looking for someone to blame for our problems, even if it is illogical, instead of working together to find a solution.
ReplyDeleteIt is a complete injustice to blame one community for the disease they have been cursed with. It's like the British discriminating against Americans for our accent. Texans should not discriminate against Libeareans because of a disease they have a chance of contracting.
ReplyDelete