For generations, black Americans have been among the loudest voices to reject government. Contrary to the popular beliefs of today’s woke society, blacks have shared similar sentiments with conservative and libertarian ideologies about the dangers of excessive government that never seems to make anything better for anyone, especially minorities.

So it is odd to me that much of the black population today would put their trust in the likes of one Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, and current chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden. Dr. Fauci is, indeed, a government employee who exists to carry out the functions of national agencies like the NIH. But somehow, much of black America isn’t getting the memo that hanging on to Dr. Fauci’s every word is to put one’s trust in the very government they claim to despise.

The progressives in the black community talk much about “systemic racism” being the very foundation of our government. But if this were true, then why would we allow anyone to carefully craft messages to target the African American community, begging them to take the COVID-19 vaccine? President Biden recently announced his “Shots at the Shop” campaign, as government officials turn to black-owned barbershops and salons to help distribute vaccines to black populations. While some shop owners are in on the mission, others — like one barber from Western Pennsylvania — says he’d rather let his patrons choose for themselves. He says his reasons are “personal,” and in the America I know, his reasoning is perfectly valid.

But are many black Americans practicing this same reasoning? Sadly, many are continuing to drink the media’s punch on the topic, as black celebrities flood our news feeds and flat screens with what I feel is a form of medical propaganda. I’ve long since felt this way about the virus since the pandemic emerged on American shores, and nothing the media or the government has stated has changed my mind. Because for me and my family, I didn’t need the vaccine “research” or the town hall discussions with black leaders, or videos of adverse reactions, or even the infamous Fauci emails to know that we wouldn’t be volunteering for the jab.

All black Americans needed to do to see their future is to look back at the past — one that’s riddled with medical malpractice. This would include the Tuskegee Experiment, the most egregious case of medical racism that left black families ravished by syphilis. And all of this happened under government oversight without the participants knowing about it or being treated for it.

In one of the Fauci emails to a colleague, Dr. Fauci recommended the infamous hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), a medication that President Donald Trump argued is effective at treating COVID-19. Upon Trump’s mention of HCQ during a press conference, mainstream media and medical entities — including the American Medical Association — rallied against the idea, while clinicians were advised to avoid prescribing the drug to COVID patients. These institutions eventually did an about face, easing up on their HCQ hysteria. But did discouraging the drug potentially cost American lives? And if it’s true that black Americans have the highest risk of death from COVID, then what message are we sending about black lives? And did media spin scare black folks away from potentially effective treatment?

I’m convinced that there’s an even worse pandemic that desperately needs a cure. It’s called acute blind trust and black Americans are at the highest risk of it. Symptoms include a strong adherence to anything mandated by the federal government without a second thought. This blindness is often onset by other black progressive leaders and celebrities who echo government messaging with no payoff. The issue is chronic and must be treated immediately, first by removing trust in man and restoring trust in God, second by turning off mainstream media, and third by always taking a dose of reality that the government shouldn’t have control over your life or Liberty.