It Is All About ‘Eugenics’

My friend, J has always said America’s racial caste system, America’s ongoing song and dance elevating Europeans above all other ethnic groups is rooted in eugenics. He and I connected on this concept because I had attended some conferences which featured panels on what is known as “Eugenics.” Eugenics, J always said to me, explains it all.

I did not have any doubts. I was just less educated on eugenics. Yet, I made it a point to learn a little about eugenics. I read on the topic and attended more conferences when I could do so.

Here is a simple definition of eugenics, according to Wikipedia, and its sources:

“a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population, historically by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or promoting those judged to be superior. In recent years, the term has seen a revival in bioethical discussions on the usage of new technologies such as CRISPR and genetic screening, with a heated debate on whether these technologies should be called eugenics or not.”

One of the sources used here is Sir Francis Galton, the individual who coined the term, “eugenics.” Galton is described as a “polymath.” His writings on eugenics remain highly influential. He believed deeply that society could be improved through selective breeding. The applications of these theories are inherently wicked.

Eugenics resulted in all sorts of evils in American society eventually and in the world. Europeans found the theory useful for their desire to dominate other societies and peoples based on a social construct — race.

Castration of African American men, sterilization of women of color, miscegenation laws, racial segregation laws, genocidal policies and practices, and the continued perpetuation of white supremacy in all aspects of America are part of history now.

One U.S. Supreme Court case in 1927, Buck v. Bell, an 8–1 decision, resulted in thousands of sterilizations of poor, disabled, and women of color. In the case, Carrie Buck, a young woman, who had been raped and impregnated by a relative, tried to fight the laws of Virginia to sterilize her. Ms. Buck lost the case.

The Supreme Court Ruling That Led To 70,000 Forced Sterilizations
In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, by a vote of 8 to 1, to uphold a state’s right to forcibly sterilize a person…
www.npr.org

One of the most storied justices of the Court, Oliver Wendell Holmes, wrote the opinion that is rooted in white nationalism that it was constitutional for Virginia to pass such a law.

The Buck decision was mostly the thoughts and desires of the white ruling class at the time and those who voted them into power. Three years before the Buck decision, the U.S. passed an immigration law designed to keep persons of color out of the United States. This entire period was the triumph of eugenics in America. This scientific racism was not the creation of some racists attacking Black people under the cover of night. It was the work of the privileged white class, the intellectuals and powerbrokers who shaped society.

Many years before these racist and inhumane policies were advanced,the writer and lay theologian, G.K. Chesterton tried to put the breaks on eugenics before it wreaked the public havoc that it has had over the last century and more. Chesterton’s 1922 book takes eugenics apart for what it is — evil and inhumane science. Some have called it “scientific racism.”

Chesterton, to his credit, says that eugenics is “evil” and that it “ought to be destroyed.” Chesterton discredited eugenics and attempted to expose it though his book suggested that would not happen. He also accurately described the real eugenists in a society:

He is not a doctor; though he employs doctors to work up a case for Eugenics, just as he employs doctors to correct the errors of his dinner. He is not a lawyer, though unfortunately often a magistrate. He is not an author or a journalist; though he not infrequently owns a newspaper. He is not a soldier, though he may have a commission in the yeomanry; nor is he generally a gentleman, though often a nobleman. His wealth now commonly comes from a large staff of employed persons who scurry about in big buildings while he is playing golf. (Chesterton)

His point here is the real racists and white supremacists in a society are the professionals, the leaders, and those with wealth and influence. It is often the habit in America to focus on those who are engaged in racist acts or statements who are not from such a class. This is part of the evil as well.

While most of us focus almost exclusively upon the deaths of Black men like Ahmaud Arbery, profiled and murdered by three white men, we are lax if we were to overlook the intellectuals and powerbrokers who laid the scientific foundation for these murders and continue to do so.

Eugenics explains it all. It is the true sickness in America and much of the world.

Right now, in America, we are again in a moment of eugenics intensity. As in the 1920s when the racist immigration law was passed and when Carrie Buck was allowed to be sterilized legally by the U.S. Supreme Court, this is our climate again.

Keep “the Other” out.

Close the borders.

Resist integration.

Strip African Americans and Latinx Americans of their human and civil rights.

History repeats itself. America has yet to face its demons and exorcise them from our lives.

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This post was previously published on WRITERSANDEDITORSOFCOLOR.COM and is republished with permission.

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White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism

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Why I Don’t Want to Talk About Race

What We Talk About When We Talk About Men

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