Author: Pius Kamau
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Even elite cops can use better training | Pius Kamau
The ICU nurse did not rise and give up her seat to the powerful surgeon on arrival. The result was, furious and frothing at the mouth, he grabbed her long hair and even as she cried out, he pulled her up off her seat. That moment crystallized the doctor’s belief that he was a superior…
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COLUMN: To protect future generations | Pius Kamau
The inception of this column was a conversation I had with a good friend who’s a carrier of a genetic mutation responsible for a number of cancers that have afflicted him. I present three genetic hereditary conditions here that form signposts that reflect my relationships and concerns, hoping too, to spark others’ curiosity, to learn…
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Rural America is not a foreign country | Pius Kamau
After many years, I still remember the day I first met him. I had just repaired a ruptured aneurysm and was bathed in a degree of uncharacteristic elation. My patient had survived and was doing well in the ICU where I stood at the foot of his bed, a smile on my face, like a…
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COLUMN: Paving the way for needed cancer research | Kamau
Recently Colorado University’s Cancer Center received a $20 Million philanthropic investment from Katy O. and Paul M. Rady to advance esophageal gastric cancer research, clinical trials, screening, surveillance and care. It is great news for CU. Researchers will work freed from financial concerns for a while. The impetus of this investment is the memory of…
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COLUMN: We must unite — to save our sons | KAMAU
Long before Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, ages 18 and 17, massacred schoolmates at Columbine High school in 1999, I had been thinking about violence committed by boys at the cusp of manhood. I thought then and still think that since it’s a global issue, the United Nations could play an active role resolving global…
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COLUMN: Tap into our elders’ wealth of knowledge
The saying, a mind is a terrible thing to waste, has been used as a slogan by the United Negro College Fund since 1972, referring to attempts to remedy Black children’s state of educational opportunities, or lack thereof, that results from poverty. Education is the best and the easiest of gateways to the middle class;…
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We must rein in our thirst for water | Pius Kamau
Like in all modern U.S. metropolises, cities in Denver’s suburbs are divided by their inhabitants’ wealth. But wherever we live in Colorado, we have one thing in common. Like the rest of the West, Colorado is an arid state that is actually drying up by the year. Increasingly, water is becoming a prohibitively precious commodity.…
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COLUMN: A rational immigration policy is possible
Some people were drawn to Trump’s politics because to them he was the first person to bring up talk of immigration. As an immigrant I think of American immigration policies all the time. Candidate Donald Trump’s vitriol towards immigrants in general and Mexicans in particular was quite a shock to me. If we could wave…
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COLUMN: An African election Americans can admire
After last August’s Kenyan election results were contested I feared that violence would erupt as it had on several election cycles before. And then my memory played a trick on me — Jan. 6 in D.C. bubbled up in my brain. A comparison between the two elections lay juxtaposed in my mind as I prayed…
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COLUMN: Knowledge, love trump hate, ignorance
A large number of America’s violent attacks and murders result from perpetrators’ anger and ignorance. Given the rising frequency of violent attacks and killings over the last couple of decades, one can infer that their ignorance is intensifying the anger and resentment of a certain demographic of our fellow countrymen. A simple and telling example…