Ron Lacks - Henrietta Lacks the Untold Story

Text Erika Winston

Design Adeline Media and Grade Design

Copyright Ron Lacks

ISBN 978-1-6596381-7-2

First print January 2020

Contents

My Reason Why

O n April 18, 2017, I woke up and went about my morning routine, just as I do every single day. I took a shower, put on some clothes, and checked on my mother, who Ive been caring for since her stroke eight years ago. Baltimores WJZ is my news station of choice in the morning, so I turned it on to see what Gayle King and crew were going to be talking about on CBS This Morning . I had no clue that my family would be the topic discussion that morning.

My name is Ron Lacks. I am the oldest grandson of Henrietta Lacks, a beautiful and strong woman whose cells have become one of the most important cell lines in the history of medicine. My grandmothers story gained public attention in 2010 with the publication of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Oprah Winfrey bought the rights to the book, and soon after we received our first contract from HBO. Ill go into more detail about that later, but in April 2017, the HBO movie was about to come out. So, it wasnt a complete shock to see Oprah and Gayle discussing my family on that morning. But something about that interview touched my heart deeply, pushing me to write this book.

The beginning of the segment didnt bother me much. I already knew what they were going to say. It had been seven years since the book came out, so I was used to hearing people talk badly about my family. I didnt like it, but I heard it so much that I had built up a shield to it. I knew I would hear the same lies about the poor ignorant Lacks family and how Rebecca Skloot came along and made our lives better. All a bunch of bullshit. But then the conversation took a turn that I wasnt expecting.

First, I listened to this actress go on and on about Rebecca Sklootthe woman who exploited my family for her own gain, leaving us torn and dishonestly portrayed for the entire world to see. The actress called her a force of nature and incredibly smart but incredibly determined. She said that when Rebecca Skloot has her mind on something, she will get it. I agree with every one of those statements, but not in the way that woman meant any of them. In my opinion, the only thing Rebecca Skloot was determined to do was use our familys pain to sell her books and get rich. I believe her mind was on making money, and she did not stop manipulating my family members until she got what she wanted. Rebecca Skloots actions pulled my family apart and it made me mad to watch this actress gush over her like some messiah come to save the poor black people.

Then came the comment that really moved me into action. Speaking about my Aunt Deborah (we call her Dale), Gayle King says with a laugh, Deborah was a little crazy. What in the hell did she just say? Did she just call my aunt crazy? I could hardly even listen to anything after that. I just kept hearing her words over and over in my head. She called my aunt crazy on national television, sitting there laughing at my flesh and blood. A woman I had grown up with. A member of my family and someone I cared deeply about. This wasnt some stranger or even some fictional character on a movie screen. It was my auntmy deceased aunt who could no longer speak up for herselfand they were disrespecting her memory in front of the entire world.

My aunt passed away before the book was completed, so she never got the chance to speak out about it. She never got the chance to challenge the story told by Rebecca Skloot or the way that she and her family were portrayed. Instead, that so-called journalist took my aunts death as an opportunity to insert herself into my familys story and make it her own. My Aunt Dale was an intelligent woman and entrepreneur. Yes, she dealt with the pain of losing her mother and her sister, but that didnt mean she was crazy, and it damn sure didnt mean that she deserved to be ridiculed and joked about on a morning news show. Dale was not crazy. She was a woman who wanted to know the truth about her mother and expose the ill treatment she received during her illness. That wasnt crazy. It was determination.

I was mad as hell after seeing that segment. I went to the phone and called my wife, Hope, at work. I told her about the ridiculousness I had just watched and how they had the nerve to call Dale crazy on TV. My wife wasnt surprised though. She reminded me that it was the same thing wed been dealing with for the past seven years. Thats when I decided this book needed to be written. I needed to reclaim my familys story and my grandmothers legacy. I needed to let the world know what my family truly looked like and what my grandparents did to create a good life for their family. We were not some poor, uneducated, black family in need of pity or saving. We were a proud black family with strong roots and a legacy worth preservingtruthfully.

Weve spent years listening to this lady take our story and make it her own. Our family has been split apart by promises of fame, notoriety, and talked into signing away the rights of our own story, only to line the pockets of Rebecca Skloot. My grandmother is studied in college classrooms across the country but belittled in the pages of that book.

It was time to take back our legacy and this book is my way of doing it.

***

My grandmother was married to David Lacks, but we all called him Day. Lawrence Lacks is their oldest son and my father. They also had four other children: Lucille Elsie Lacks (deceased); David Lacks, Jr., who we all call Sonny; my Aunt Dale; and their youngest Joe Lacks, who later changed his name to Zakiriyya Bari Abdul Rahman. I call him Abdul.

My grandparents worked extremely hard to provide a good life for their children. They instilled a sense of pride and unity in the family that I always appreciated and never thought would go away. I grew up in a home filled with aunts, uncles, and cousins. We celebrated together and supported one another through challenges and tragedies. Even as an adult, my summers were filled with family cookouts and my winters with holiday gatherings.

My grandfather was a hardworking man, so my father took on a lot of the responsibility as head of the household from a very early age. Everyone respected my father as a leader in my family. Whether they needed to borrow a few dollars or get some good advice, my aunts, uncles, and cousins always came to my father for help. He was smart and hardworking, and we all trusted him to guide the family in the right directionuntil Rebecca Skloot came along. She and her book took a close-knit family and split us at the seams.

As family members began to see the appeal of my grandmothers story, they fell to the false promises of notoriety. I feel like they sold their stories, memories, and family for a few thousand dollars and free medical care. We went from family get togethers to arguments or not speaking at all. Cousins that I was used to seeing on a regular basis didnt even want to take my calls. Children born outside of family marriages and distant cousins who barely ever came around suddenly declared themselves Lacks family representatives. I never imagined that our family would be split up like this. Its sad what people will do for a little bit of money.

From the very beginning of Rebecca Skloots book, non-fiction went out the window and fiction jumped in. In that first scene, she took it upon herself to describe my grandmothers actions in that bathroom, even though she had no way of verifying what she did or didnt do in there. Nobody knew what happened in that bathroom but Henrietta Lacks. Do you think my grandmother would have wanted her legacy to start with someone making assumptions about her most private moments of pain, fear, and suffering to the whole world? To make a profit, Rebecca Skloot took it upon herself to become Henrietta Lacks voice in an intimate moment that may not have even occurred, which makes it fiction!