Transcript

We were treated unfairly. To some extent, like guinea pigs. The damage done by the Tuskegee Study is much deeper than the wounds any of us may have suffered. It speaks to our faith in government and the ability of medical science to serve as a force for good.

It's understandable, the mistrust that many Black people have because of what happened in Tuskegee. The tragic syphilis study—I heard about it just like the rest of the nation did, in the summer of 1972 when I was running for mayor of Tuskegee.

I made a statement, and I took this as my platform: Elect me mayor of Tuskegee, Alabama, and never, never again will we allow the federal government, the state government or any other governmental body to come into Tuskegee, Alabama, and take advantage of our people. That was my platform, and I meant it.

What was so mean and cruel about this study is the fact that the federal government discovered that penicillin would indeed cure syphilis. Yet the federal government would not administer the penicillin to a group of 600 Black men, because they wanted the men to stay untreated in the study until they died, so they could complete the autopsy. Now how cold, your government doing something like that. But there is no reason, in 2021, for any American to say that "I'm not going to take the vaccine because of what happened in Tuskegee."

In this day and time, Black scientists, Black doctors are involved in the development of the vaccine. They are involved in helping to shape the public policy which makes it possible for this vaccination program to be administered to the American people. 

That's why I wanted everyone to see me taking the shot. I wanted my friends, who doubted, to see that I was not afraid to take the shot.

Miss Dyann Robinson may have had some reservations, but she made a decision to take it. 

Miss Johnnie Harrison, a young lady who's 84 years young, retired teacher, had some reservations, but she took it.

Virginia Peterson, a descendant of Louis Adams, the man who brought Booker T. Washington here to Tuskegee.

Orrin Goring, who's originally from Trinidad but lives here in Tuskegee, Alabama, grew up in New York. Not only did he decide, but some of his buddies, he's tried to convince them to take it.

Alton Mitchell, who works for the local Tuskegee News, has decided to certainly take it.

We are proud, proud people. Tuskegee, Alabama, is actually loaded with history. We're proud of our history. John Lewis talked about good trouble. Fighting racism, fighting hunger, fighting inadequate healthcare, fighting COVID. It's a war, and you have to fight it just like you would fight any other war. I'm willing to go to jail; I'm willing to die for it; I'm willing to struggle for it because it is right. The struggle goes on.