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Joycelyn Elders Biography

Joycelyn Elders

Minnie Joycelyn Elders (born Minnie Lee Jones; August 13, 1933) is an American pediatrician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the first African American appointed as Surgeon General of the United States. Elders is best known for her frank discussion of her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization and distributing contraception in schools. She was forced to resign in December 1994 amidst controversy as a result of her views. She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

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Joycelyn Elders Quotes

I support a total ban on handgun ownership for anyone under eighteen. Uzis should be absolutely banned from entering this country. Automatic weapons of any kind should not be for sale in America. For that matter, toy Uzis should not be available for kids, either. There would be a minimum seven-day waiting period between applying for a gun permit and obtaining a gun.

Applying, Country, Gun, Handgun, Kids, Waiting

Condoms will break, but I can assure you that vows of abstinence will break more easily than condoms.

Abstinence, Break, Condom, Condoms, Vow

We've tried ignorance for a thousand years. It's time we try education.

Education, Ignorance, Tried, Trying, Years

Homicide, often involving guns, is a disease that is the leading cause of death for young black men, and the second-leading cause of death for all people aged fifteen to twenty-four. That makes it the leading health issue, particularly when guns are used in combination with drugs and alcohol. And the statistics show that is most often the case.

Disease, Fifteen, Gun, Homicide, Issues, Men

We can begin to address the issue of guns by teaching our young people how to deal with situations in nonviolent ways. Someone said to me the other day, "What our adolescents need is not so much health care, but healthy caring," and I agree. Parents and churches need to provide that. Curricula in our schools [need to] provide that.

Address, Caring, Curricula, School, Teaching

I've pretty much always used my positions as a bully pulpit. What that means is strongly advocating for the things I feel are really important. Gun violence, to me, is the highest-priority public-health issue, and I have to make sure Congress is aware of it, the American people are aware of it, the president is aware of it, and that we all begin together to develop policies to exterminate the disease - the epidemic, really - of gun violence.

Aware, Develop, Epidemic, Gun, Issues, Mean

As long as I was in Washington I never met anybody that I thought was good enough, who knew enough, or who loved enough to make sexual decisions for anybody else.

Long, Decision, Good Enough, Loved, Decisions, Met

I've heard Eric Clapner,. . . I think it was a wonderful thing that Eric Clapner the musician did. . . So I think that's the wonderful part about it, but listen - I like Eric Clapner!

Heard, Humorous, Like, Part, Stupid, Thinking

I don't know how anybody can say that who looks at what's happening to our young people and what's happening to our country, all because of guns. The NRA is putting themselves in a position where people will no longer trust them. They've been trusted in the past, but now their credibility is on the line.

Country, Gun, Know, Line, Longer, Past

Who is the NRA anyway? They are usually middle-income people who only think of themselves, who want to have no government, really, except self-rule by themselves. I think that little cracks are starting to emerge in the NRA armor.

Thinking, Government, Self, Think, Cracks, Nra

[On masturbation:] I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught.

Thinking, Taught, Sexuality, Masturbation, Perhaps

You can't educate a child who isn't healthy, and you can't keep a child healthy who isn't educated.

Child, Children, Educated, Healthy, Keep

Given a choice between hearing my daughter say "I'm pregnant" or "I used a condom", most mothers would get up in the middle of the night and buy them herself.

Daughter, Given, Mother, Say, Used, Witty

You can't keep an ignorant population healthy.

Healthy, Ignorant, Keep, Population

. . . black women have always found that in the social order of things we're the least likely to be believed--by anyone.

African American, Black, Order, Social, Things

How do you get rid of the trash? It's out there in society, it's going on every day. You can educate children an awful lot easier than you can get rid of the trash.

Awful, Children, Day, Easier, Society

My biggest challenge is to educate the American people, to make access to health care available for all, and to make sure that prevention plays a big part in health care. In the case of guns, prevention means we prevent homicides and devastating, expensive gun injuries by preventing those who shouldn't have guns from getting their hands on guns.

Access, Care, Gun, Hands, Mean, Prevention

Nobody with a criminal record would ever be allowed to buy a gun. All assault weapons would be banned, completely. And everybody who still possesses a gun license would receive mandatory education and training by professionals on how to handle a gun. After all, I can't drive my car until I pass a test proving I know how to handle a car.

Assault Weapons, Buy, Car, Gun, Weapons

As a Christian, as an individual, as a doctor, I am absolutely opposed to the death penalty.

Christian, Death Penalty, Doctors, Individual, Opposed

I feel that we can't educate children who are not healthy, and we can't keep them healthy if they're not educated. There has to be a marriage between health and education. You can't learn if your mind is full of unhealthy images from daily life and confusion about right and wrong.

Children, Confusion, Healthy, Images, Unhealthy

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