There can be no more assumption that anthrax is only effecting the government buildings in Washington. Howard University, a historically black college and university, tested positive for trace amounts contamination from the deadly bacteria.
When the anthrax epidemic began, people were scared. When they realized that only governmental facilities were being affected, people began to ignore.
We can no longer ignore something like this because the epidemic has spread to a major black institution.
Eight mail facilities on the campus underwent precautionary testing Tuesday. The mailrooms were scheduled to be cleaned Tuesday and the testing will be ongoing for the next 72 hours. The rest of the campus has remained open and federal officials told the Howard that the contamination posed no health threat to the university community.
According to university spokeswoman Sheila Harvey, one of 54 environmental samples at the university tested positive last weekend. None of the 300 mail-handling workers at Howard was believed to be at risk. They all had been on preventive antibiotics since October 21st.
Smart move. Usually, blacks are criticized for not using common sense in critical situations. You cannot make that claim there.
If the people at Howard University had not been using antibiotics, you better believe that the media and the public would’ve had something to say.
Howard University receives mail from Washington’s Brentwood Road mail-sorting facility. Surprisingly, this facility closed because anthrax contamination from a letter was sent to the Capitol Hill office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Four of the employees from the Brentwood mailing facility have been exposed to inhalation anthrax, two have died. Why would you put federal workers, the general public and over 13,000 college students at risk? They could have eliminated a lot of risk by either sending the mail to another mail facility or held mail that was not urgent.
How can you tell if the mail is urgent? If’s its not a bill then don’t send it! Most people do have e-mail these days so personal letters can be sent through computer.
Blacks have kinda pushed the anthrax epidemic aside as something that is only affecting government officials.
Well, now you have to include thousands of black students aspiring to make their moves in this world. There are no more excuses to say that it does not affect you because it does.
-Antione Davis for the Editorial Board