Zakariyya's Profound Anger and Ethical Grievances

Key Insight

Zakariyya, Henrietta Lacks' youngest son, expresses extreme anger regarding his mother's cells. He asserts that doctors 'stole' her cells and 'profitized' off them for 25 years, misleading the family by claiming they were 'donated'. This act is viewed as a deep violation and disrespect, akin to being labeled a 'sucker'. He holds George Gey responsible for these actions and for misidentifying his mother as 'Helen Lane', stating that he hopes Gey 'burn in hell' and even threatened violence if Gey were alive. Zakariyya believes the medical establishment's actions, including 'cloning people behind their backs', were 'dead wrong' and 'one of the most violating parts' of the entire situation, likening it to a profound invasion of privacy.

He emphasizes the significant disparity between the global benefits derived from his mother's cells and the continued poverty of his family. He notes that while her cells 'did all this and that to help people', they brought 'no good' for his mother or her descendants; neither he nor his sister can afford necessary medical care. Zakariyya perceives his own birth as a 'miracle', occurring four months before his mother's sickness 'broke down on her', which he attributes to divine intervention. He corrects a magazine article that incorrectly identified his brother Sonny as the youngest, affirming his own status. This ongoing personal hardship, contrasted with the perceived wealth generated by the cells, fuels his conviction that 'all those damn people didn't deserve her help'.

Zakariyya connects his inherent 'meanness' and a lifelong need to 'fight' to his earliest existence, believing he 'had to start fighting before I was even a person' to prevent cancer cells from 'growing all over me while I was inside my mother'. This deep-seated anger is also directed at his father for concealing his mother's burial place, wishing similar ignorance for his father's own grave. He strongly resents anyone mispronouncing his name, 'Zuh-CAR-ee-uh', or calling him 'Joe', an instance of which resulted in him assaulting someone who called him by that name during Thanksgiving.