Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 7-10-20

Column Letter To The Editor
Man Surviving Stage 4 Prostate Cancer
As told by another sur- vivor, 81-years-old
As a long-time friend, photographer, and reader of the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin I am writing to ex- press that I’m a five and a half year(s) Prostate Can- cer Survivor.
Just over five years ago, 2014-2015 school year, I was given a prognosis of Stage 4 Prostate Cancer and sent home to get my af- fairs in order (less then 5 months). I had just for- mally retired from Hills- borough County Public Schools.
I was surprised, and shocked by this prognosis, but I went home talking to God. I got home, parked, and took a walk to my back yard. I was asking myself a series of questions. I just kept asking. Suddenly my cell phone rang and on the other end was a teacher/friend in whom I hadn’t spoken to in over a year. I shared with her what my doctor expressed, and she said, “I need you to speak with my Dad...” I agreed.
My friend shared her fa- ther’s number and that he was waiting for my call. I called this gentleman (age 81) and he shared that he is a 42-year Prostate Cancer Survivor. His Dad had died of Prostate Cancer back in the 1950s.
He was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer at the age of 39 and was sent home to get his affairs in order. His wife kicked him out of his home, which left him to go home to be with his Mom. When he got to his Mom’s home, he told her why he was home.
He said, “My Mom looked at me, got up from the dining room table, reached under the sink, and took out a “bean pot.” She walked over to the back door and told me to take this pot and fill it with the wild Palmetto Berries growing in the field behind the house. I didn’t know what she meant, but I guessed she was trying to gather her thoughts about my prognosis and sent me out to just do something.
“After I got into the kitchen, she was sitting at the table dicing up the
tomatoes and shaking pep- per on them. She pushed a plate of dice tomatoes to me, topped with one pal- metto berry.
“My Mom had me eat- ing one Palmetto Berry and a small plate of tomatoes twice each day. I did this for six months and I felt great.
“It wasn’t long before Mom found Saw Palmetto tablets in the Pharmacy so that took care of the berries when they were out of season. Later V-8 juice became a store- front thing and that took care of the tomatoes which were out of season.
“Next, Mom found Sele- nium in pill form and had me taking that with Saw Palmetto tablets, and V-8 juice in a shot glass, twice a day.
“I stayed with my Mom for over a year, and my body never felt so good. I was as healthy as a horse.”
“I was dying, so what did I have to lose. I drove to Walgreens and purchased a bottle of Selenium and Saw Palmetto. I drove over to Winn-Dixie and pur- chased two bottles of V-8 vegetable juice, and I drove to the health food store and purchased some Ly- copene - a potent antioxi- dant that protects against free radical damage and helps support normal, healthy prostate and heart functions.
It was six months later when I went back to my Doctor’s Office, and boy was he surprised to see me. He wanted to know every- thing, after he examined me. He also brought in three other doctors who asked 20 questions, which they all wanted to know “What are you doing?”
Over the past five years, I saw them twice each year, and they discovered my Prostate was shrinking, and functioning properly. My fifth-year anniversary was August, 2019. I’m still feeding my Prostate all that it desires, and I feel wonderful. Also, I’m still teaching, just in case any- one wanted to know.
MICHEAL P. FLOYD, JR., Ed.S., Ed.D., Ph. D. Academic Instructor Earth/Space Science Instructor
Can We Talk?
Now that most of the perpetrators of the murders of Briana Taylor,
Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd have been arrested, I want to talk about something dear to my heart. I, in no way, am attempting to deflect the focus from po- lice brutality and miscon- duct, but we have to talk about Black-on-Black vio- lence and death, and since we are protesting and marching, I would like to see somebody march for at least once day for the Blacks other Blacks have killed since the deaths of Briana, Ah- maud, and George.
Around 1948, my cousin Irma, a beautiful chocolate brown young twenty-four- year old woman, with a spirit as beautiful as she was, was stabbed more than one hun- dred times by another Black woman on a Philadelphia street.
She crawled to and was found dead on the door step of her neighbor when no one else in the block responded to her screams for help. At
my young age, I was angry and confused as to why no one would open their door to try to help her and even more angry at the man in the love triangle over whom the woman had assaulted Irma.
I still remember the sad- ness and the screams at the funeral, and the joy and smiles when Irma’s attacker was arrested. I remember the disappointment when my family found out the woman wouldn’t have to spend much time in jail.
So, I want someone to march for Irma and the Blacks who have been killed by other Blacks since the deaths of Briana, Ah- maud, and George. I want somebody to march for the young Black men here in Tampa who have been killed by other Blacks since March of this year. Since we are protesting and marching, I would like to see someone marching for at least one day for the six thousand Blacks killed by other Blacks in 2015. I want to see somebody march for the victims of
Black domestic violence who have died since the begin- ning of the year.
We need to talk about the fact that ninety three percent of Black homicide victims are killed by other Blacks. Then we need to discuss the fact that Blacks commit violent crimes seven or more times than the rate that whites do. Moreover, we need to talk about the fact that Black crime is rampant in the country’s largest cities and counties in America.
Yes, I know I am hanging our dirty laundry for every- one to see. But it does need to be washed. The most telling statistic is that house- holds with incomes below the federal poverty threshold are twice as likely to commit violent crime as people in high income households, re- gardless of ethnicity. Since the rate of Black poverty is much higher than that for whites, then that means the rate of violent crime is higher. Now that I have hung our dirty laundry, we as a people need to sit down and figure out how we can help Blacks receive stress and anger management training and higher wage jobs.
These are two things that we as a people must do WHILE we are taking care of police brutality and miscon- duct. BOTH issues matter.
PAGE 6-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2020