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’She’s the most important person in the world and her family living in poverty. If our mother so important to science, why can’t we get health insurance?’
This quotation from Chapter 21 comes from Lawrence’s first meeting with Skloot in 2000, and explains one of the primary sources of anger and frustration for the Lacks family over what happened to Henrietta. Throughout the book, Skloot notes the myriad cures and treatments discovered thanks to Hela cells, as well as the numerous health conditions and diseases the Lacks family suffers from, in part because of the poverty they live in. This contrast demonstrates that while Henrietta Lacks benefitted science, science has not benefited the Lacks family, either with financial reparations or with the cures they’ve made possible. In addition, this quotation demonstrates a reason why Lawrence doesn’t participate often in Skloot’s book. He has seen no benefit from HeLa cells and therefore has no reason to help with a book about them, especially a book that he has no control over and cannot receive direct compensation from.
