November 12, 2015

 

By Charlene Muhammad 

Contributing Writer 

A diverse coalition of safe vaccine advocates rallied at Venice Beach on November 8 to call attention to the dangers of mercury in vaccines and raise awareness about threats to parents’ rights.

 

The group, ranging in beliefs and nationalities, gathered to protest what they said are forced vaccinations of school-aged children.  Under a new California law, SB277 (sponsored by Democratic Sens. Richard Pan of Sacramento and Ben Allen of Santa Monica) school children except those with serious health problems must receive mandated vaccinations. 

 

The law, which goes into effect July 1, 2016, removes the personal belief vaccine exemption for children attending daycare and public and private schools.

 

During the rally, Wendy Silvers, founder of the Million Mamas Movement, which is dedicated to empowering mothers, building healthy families and communities, and creating a culture of peace, appealed to parents to learn about the issue, get involved, and join the movement. 

 

Members of the coalition distributed flyers to help raise awareness about federal whistleblower CDC Senior Scientist Dr. William Thompson, who in a written statement last August alleged he and colleagues were ordered by the CDC to destroy evidence showing links between the MMR vaccine and autism in Black boys.  Had the CDC come clean, more than 200,000 Black boys could have been saved from contracting the disease, activists argue.

 

“Do you know anybody who’s got a learning disability?  How about ADD, ADHD?  How about tics (repetitive, nonfunctional movements or sounds that cannot always be controlled) … How about the Black and Brown boys under three-years-old that received the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine and exhibit signs of autism,” Silvers asked the forming boardwalk audience.

 

“We are here today to share information because what we want is for everybody to be informed.  It’s about education. Education equals transformation. Education is power,” she said.

 

State Senators Richard Pan and Ben Allen and Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalaz have said they introduced the bill in an effort to keep all children safe. More specifically, the law removes personal belief exemptions for public school mandates that children be up to date for 10 specified vaccines, including measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), by the time they are enrolled in daycare, preschool, or K-12 education.

 

“I have always had my suspicions with vaccinations concerning this government because of the documented evidence against Native American and African American people concerning harmful vaccines and illnesses linked to the people who controlled the medicine that is distributed to the people,” said Keenan Chapman, a L.A.-based artist, who canvassed the Venice Beach boardwalk to spread the news about vaccines.

 

He first heard about Dr. Thompson at a meeting hosted by the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Mosque No. 27 leading up to Justice or Else! the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March, he said.

 

“It was very powerful, resourceful, and confirming to what I had already believed. It was very important to see the amount of support from some of our political powers such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr speak up in regards to the effects in particular on African American boys. I was instantly inspired to get the word out,” Chapman said.

 

Like many just finding out Dr. Thompson’s claims, he said he’s upset to learn the numbers about how many Black boys in particular were targeted.  “I think it is sickening, it is evidence of true hate, and deserves to be confronted to the highest degrees of law. The people should be given the answers they deserve along with the respected parental rights to vaccinate their children or not,” Chapman argued.

 

He addd, “I am against what it stands for as a Black man, and as someone who someday wants to have children of his own, I refuse to allow this system to control my parental rights.”

 

Last month, when demonstrators from across the country descended on the CDC on Oct. 23 to demand transparency about allegations of injuries caused by unsafe vaccines, right among them many were startled to learn just how heavily Blacks have been impacted by the issue.

 

Organizers of CDC Truth and Transparency rallies which continued through Oct. 25 called the action to also demand that Congress investigates the connections between use of mumps, measles, rubella vaccines to autism, immune system failures and even death.

 

Co-organizers, including Student Minister Tony Muhammad, Western Region representative of the Nation of Islam and Michelle Maher Ford, founder of the Vaccine Injury Awareness League (V-IAL) said they knew the problem was huge, but to see the families up front and personal was a travesty.

 

Ford, who’s researched vaccines and their side effects for more than 11 years now, said she came upon information that simply could not be ignored.  She made numerous attempts to alert Black leaders, but no one would listen, until friends led her to Muhammad, who led her to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan.  Outraged, he made the issue part of the Justice or Else! platform on October 10, 2015.

 

In addition, Muhammad is planning to embark on a national tour to increase awareness about the problem, as well as solutions.

 

“You are seeing the scales being removed from the people’s eyes.  People of all colors deserve to know the truth,” he said.

 

“This enemy is killing everybody, but he miscalculated the power and the majesty and the teachings of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan coming through Michelle Ford, founder of the Vaccine Injury Awareness League.”

 

Khadijah Muhammad, who is raising her six-year-old grandson Khalil, who has autism, said the CDC Truth weekend events were a God-send.

 

Her grandson stopped walking and talking around one year old to 18 months, she said.  She learned he had autism when he was three.

 

According to Khadijah Muhammad, her daughter had been given a drug to assist with her pregnancy. During the nine months of pregnancy, she was hospitalized eight times with various complications.  Her daughter was traumatized, and really, couldn’t cope, she shared.

 

Paula Willard traveled from McKinney, Tex. to represent the seven vaccine-injured children in her family, including her own son.

 

She had him vaccinated until he was six, but stopped after learning about potential problems according to Dr Thompson.

 

“I was outraged. I couldn’t believe it was happening.  I felt like I was in a science fiction as a matter of fact,” she said.

Category: Health