SJ 16 — Unethical use of Black bodies by medical institutions; acknowledging with profound regret.

SESSION INTRODUCEDENROLLED 24103131D I SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO.

16 OfferedE JanuaryAcknowledging 10,with 2024 N Prefiled January 5, 2024 T AckCommonwealth.th profound regret the unethical use of Black bodies by medical institutions inRthein ––––––––––the Patrons––Boysko,N Bagby,Commonwealth. Ebbin, Favola, Hashmi, Pekarsky, Perry and Salim;

Delegates:R Agreed to by the Senate, January 31, 2024 O Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 28, 2024 L human dignity extends beyond life and to the grave;

Oaround Convirs-Fowler,the Henson,world Jones,and Keys-Gamarra,through Laufer,all LeVereof Bolling,human Lopez,history, Maldonado,L RasouD,cultures Shinhave andengaged Wattsin ––––––––––funeral Urituals Referredthat tohonor Committeethe ondead Rulesand Cbring ––––––––––comfort human dignity extends beyond life and to the grave;living;

aroundand E WHEREAS, in the worldUnited andStates, throughthe allsanctity of the human history,body culturesis haveacknowledged engagedunder inlaw funeraland ritualsrespected, such that honorconsent is required in order for a person's organs to be donated after death or for aD perWHEREAS, the deaduniversal practice of laying loved ones to rest in accordance with tradition and bringpersonal comfortwishes has been shamefully disregarded and denied to Black citizens throughout the living;Commonwealth's history;

and WHEREAS, inmedical thepractitioners Unitedat States, the sanctityMedical College of theVirginia human(MCV) body is acknowledged under law and respected, such that consent is required in orderthe for1800s, aunable person's organs to beway donatedof afteremploying deathgrave orrobbers forto adig person'sup bodyrecently toburied bebodies givenin toBlack science;cemeteries;

andandnd WHEREAS,surgery theby universalS practiceWHEREAS, of laying loved ones to rest in accordance1994, withthe traditionEast andMarshall personalStreet wishesWell haswas beendiscovered shamefullyin disregardedRichmond andduring deniedexcavation to1 Blackahead citizensof throughoutnew theconstruction Commonwealth'sat history;MCV;

andthe legallysite obtaincontained cadavers,human areremains knownthat tohad havebeen acquiredused remainsand fordiscarded instructionE inby anatomythe medical school, and surgeryan byexamination wayand analysis revealed that the remains of employingat graveleast robbers53 toR diganalysis upalso recentlyrevealed buriedthat bodiesmost inof Blackthe cemeteries;individuals were African or of African descent;

andandte; 1 WHEREAS, in 1994, the East Marshall Street Well was discovered in Richmond during excavation6 ahead of new construction at MCV;

the siteWHEREAS, containedin human1968 remainswhen thatBruce hadTucker, beena usedBlack andlaborer, discardedwas byadmitted theto medicalMCV school,with anda ansevere examinationhead andinjury, analysisdoctors revealed that the remains of at least 53 individuals, nine of whom were children under the agehospital ofdetermined 14,that hadhe beenwould disposednot ofsurvive; at the site;

the analysismedical alsoteam revealedat that most of the individualshospital, wereled Africanby orDr. of African descent;

and WHEREAS, in 1968 when Bruce Tucker, a Black laborer, was admitted to MCV with a severe head led by Dr.

David Hume, made history by performing the first human-to-humanspital,human-to-human heartBruce transplantTucker inor Virginiahis andfamily; in the American South;

theyandd didin so without the knowledgeAmerican orSouth; consent of Bruce Tucker or his family;

andthey did so without the knowledge or consent of WHEREAS, Bruce Tucker's heart was transplanted to a white businessman, Joseph Klett, who died :one week later;

33the onefamily weekof later;Bruce Tucker was unaware of the transplant until an undertaker who had prepared his body told them that Bruce Tucker's heart and kidneys had been removed;

theand familyrepeatedly ofdenied BruceBlack Tuckerindividuals was unaware of the transplantright untilto anchoose undertakerthe whoultimate haddisposition 34of preparedtheir hisown bodybodies toldand them that Bruceof Tucker'sthe heartbodies andof kidneystheir hadloved beenones; removed;

and / 35 WHEREAS, medical institutions in the Commonwealth, the American South, and the nation have 36 repeatedly denied Black individuals the right to choose the ultimate disposition of their own bodies and thaWHEREAS, the violation of Black bodies, in life and in death, is a recurring atrocity in American history and the history of the Commonwealth, occurring in various forms over centuries of history that have included slavery, racial terror lynchings, mass incarceration, medical experimentation, and disparate andandWHEREAS, inadequatethe provisionmost ofabject healthapology care;for past wrongs cannot right them;

and WHEREAS, the most abject apology for past wrongs cannot right them;

and, be itofound regret the unethical use of Black bodies by medical institutions in RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the Executive Director of the Virginia State Conference NAACP and the Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, requesting that they further disseminate copies of this resolutionAssembly toof theirVirginia respectivein constituentsthis matter.ituents so that they may be apprised of the sense of the General Assembly of Virginia in this matter.