Race & Membership Conference Call Reflection

January 9, 2009

1. the reading brought to mind several readings I've done before around race-related experiments (the tuskegee experiment, the smallpox infested blankets given to native americans). I am also reminded of the studies of Gunnar Myrdal and the origins of birth control in America.

2. It also makes me wonder why it is that they feel that eugenics movement is gone and why there is no connection to genetic testing, cloning, stem cell research, etc. To me, it seems to me that what's happening now is an extension of that work in some ways. Granted, the expressed intention of the studies now are not racially motivated...it can't be, but I'm still concerned about what can be done with new technologies and genetic engineering.

3. I can't help but wonder also when/at what point the eugenics movement clashed with the nature vs. nurture ideology. At what point did environment and learned behavior begin to become prominent in psychology and sociology of race?

4. I, too, thought of DuBois' ideas, but was drawn to thinking of Cheikh Anta Diop's two cradle theory and the fact that much of eugenicist's theories/assumptions seem to confirm much of what he outlines as the worldview of the Northern (european) Cradle.
http://www.jalumi.com/class/csu/Two_Cradle_Theory.htm

5. what has always been a personal battle for me, as an african american, is what I see around me daily in terms of negative patterns of violence, substance abuse and destructive lifestyles. I'm troubled by "white flight", but equally troubled when Af-Am residents bring down the quality of a neighborhood through negative lifestyle patterns. I'm disturbed by forced sterilization, but am consistently annoyed by unwanted pregancies, youth having kids and getting welfare,etc. Does this mean that I am a eugenicist?




Sonjanita L. Moore, NBCT, M.A., M.Ed
Facing History Program Associate
Phone: 312/345-3202 - Fax: 312/726-3713
Alternate Email: sonja.facinghistory@gmail.com

"We can't always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." -FDR