Stayed On Freedom by Dan Berger

Author:Dan Berger [Berger, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 2023-01-24T00:00:00+00:00

While Mike helped mete out retaliation behind bars, Gwen rushed sixteen-month-old Aishah to the hospital. She wouldn’t stop crying, especially when she tried to stand. X-rays revealed that Aishah had a broken leg and a severe case of rickets. Her leg bones were bowed and porous. Gwen’s family had already given her grief for being vegetarian throughout pregnancy and now during parenthood. She knew they would blame her for this. She already blamed herself.

The doctors at the children’s hospital wanted to put Aishah on an experimental drug to cure the rickets. Gwen was dubious. With medical personnel threatening to call Child Protective Services, Gwen scooped up Aishah and left the hospital. Soon after, she broke down crying at a health food store. My daughter can’t walk and the hospital wants to experiment on her and I don’t know what to do, she sobbed when another customer asked after her. Have you heard of homeopathy? the other woman inquired. Gwen had not. The countercultural and natural foods movements of the era had begun to resuscitate the alternative medical practice that dates back to the 1700s and uses plants and minerals to stimulate the body’s healing powers. With a bit of research, she located a homeopathic doctor in Philadelphia.

Walking into the office, she was nervous. It was in a white neighborhood, and the other clients were all white too. No one was friendly. Mother, what is the problem with this child? asked the doctor, an octogenarian with a thick German accent. She explained, including the hospital’s prescribed course of action. Mother, we can take care of this very easily. That spooked Gwen—the hospital had given a severe diagnosis. But he affirmed her instincts. He quickly popped some white tablets in Aishah’s mouth and turned to a stunned Gwen. Mother, this child’s appetite is going to increase rapidly. Delirious but hopeful, she left his office. Within days, Aishah’s appetite doubled and she began to heal rapidly. Besides getting Aishah’s cast removed, Gwen wouldn’t return to Western medicine. The homeopathy doctor became Aishah’s pediatrician.

As she breathed a sigh of relief at Aishah’s recovery, Gwen got an unexpected phone call from her former landlords. The couple, a Black man and a Chinese woman, were headed to Tanzania to work with the Peace Corps. They invited Gwen to move into the three-story Victorian home adjoining Gwen and Mike’s old apartment. What am I going to do with a whole twelve-room house and a baby? Gwen asked. Well, can’t you get someone else to join you? they offered. It was a novel idea. Gwen set out making her own freedom house.

Located at 3700 Spring Garden Street, the house soon became an all-Black commune. Cooking and cleaning were collectivized, everyone had a shift—even if some of the men needed to learn how. Everyone in the house was involved in some kind of political or cultural project, which brought them into contact with similar efforts elsewhere in the city. Gwen came to think of their house as a sister to a similar commune in the Germantown neighborhood, the Kazana Family.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.