Category Archives: Eugenics

The Kelly Adirondack Center at Union College has been holding a series of virtual conversations on social justice issues in the Adirondack Park. It culminated Thursday with a discussion on The Color of COVID in the Park: an assessment of vaccine hesitancy among residents of color in the region.

The Kelly Adirondack Center at Union College is renowned for its Adirondack Research Center, which includes historical and scientific data on the Park.

Adirondack Diversity Initiative Director Dr. Nicole Hylton Patterson serves on the New York state Equity Vaccine Task Force and the North Country Health Equity Task Force. She has taught courses on experimentation and exploitation of People of Color and finds current vaccine hesitancy can be traced back to historical medical experimentation and eugenics.

Some significant moments in history were medical exploitation on Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities and well as low income people were very very prevalent and extreme," Hylton Patterson said. "And this has led to and is a large basis for vaccine hesitancy within these communities. All of those ideas about the human body have come out of the pseudoscience of phrenology, eugenics and those ideas become systemic racism when theyre incorporated and turned into policies and laws. And these policies and laws often impact who gets the vaccine, where vaccine is distributed, how vaccine access is communicated etc. And that is what the Health Equity Task Force in the North Country is here to deal with.

Sierra Club past president Aaron Mair notes that the early environmental movement which led to the protection of the Adirondacks is intertwined with the eugenics movement and still impacts how some populations approach the COVID vaccine.

A lot of the modern eugenics movement is anchored in with the naturalist field," Mair said. "We saw one of the consequences when denoting and classifying people, flora and fauna in terms of superior and inferior species. So it is interesting that something as important as the naturalist field and natural movement and the environmental movement in its early 19th and early 20th century antecedents was a core pillar in what would become the classification the pseudoscientific classification of race and racial purity which has led and still drives a lot of the conversations today.

Another factor leading to hesitancy is the political diversity across the region. Dr. Hylton Patterson says voting patterns appear to correlate with unwillingness to get the vaccine.

Theres no solid data but if youre looking anecdotally or at rhetoric I believe it would be fair to say that those on the far right politically are less willing to take the vaccine," said Hylton Patterson.

Dr. Hylton Patterson is working with seven vaccine hubs and the North Country Vaccine Equity Task Force. The goal include ensuring widespread equity, developing a regional plan, and creating a task force to pay special attention to BIPOC and low-income residents of the region. Dr. Patterson outlined their outreach to vulnerable populations, also including the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Amish, and migrant farmworkers.

My job is to focus on these communities," Hylton Patterson said. "To build relationships. To identify gatekeepers who can then work with the different vaccine hubs to make sure that our approaches are culturally sensitive and are effective at reaching the North Country. Because we know that the North Countrys population is largely rural, largely white, large pockets of poverty, dense poverty. So we have lots of challenges.

See the rest here:

Kelly Adirondack Center Discussion Focuses On Reasons For BIPOC Vaccine Hesitancy In The Adirondacks - WAMC

By George Magakis

Rick Santorum said that there was nothing here to speak of when Europeans arrived on the continent. He said that we birthed a nation, meaning white people, preferably English.

When Europeans arrived on the continent for the first time in the 15th Century, there were 60 million indigenous peoples with rich cultures that have influenced American culture. At the same time, there were 55 million people in Europe. Where did all of these 60 million go? Genocide over the centuries by white colonists & the people who birthed a nation.

Santorums statements are part of the rights attempts to present a white sanitized version of American history. In the 1960s, William F. Buckley in his debate with James Baldwin about racism argued that it was necessary to lie about American history and focus on its exceptionalism and ideals. Nothing would be gained from looking at the ugliness in American history. This was needed to be done for future generations, for the kids. White kids that is.

As a result, myth making has been integral on the right. The genocide of indigenous peoples is downplayed. Andrew Jacksons expulsion of indigenous peoples from the eastern states in the 1830s is hardly ever mentioned. Commentators like Bill OReilly have argued that slaves were treated well. Others on the right claim that the Civil War was not about slavery, but attacks on southern culture by an industrialized north.

White violence against blacks by the KKK & other southerners, the epidemic of lynching , false imprisonment of Back people, segregation, and Jim Crow laws that existed into the late 20th Century are glossed over on the right. Lindsey Graham has argued that there is no systemic racism in America, because we elected a Black president. He fails to mention that Obama never got a majority of the white votes. No wonder Republicans want to suppress minority votes.

Draconian immigration laws that forbade Chinese from coming here and becoming citizens is swept under the rug even though the ones that were allowed here built the railroads. This country was built on the sweat and labor of slaves and imported labor. Cotton was king in the first half of the 19th Century. Slaves were worked 12-14 hours a day, often beaten, families were broken up, and wives and daughters of slaves were casually raped by white masters.

Slaves were treated as units of labor and mortgaged to buy more slaves. Northerners and Europeans were heavily invested in cotton industry, which was dominant at the time. In the early 20th Century, the eugenics movement became popular and many undesirables were sterilized. And there were the infamous medical experiments on Black people in Tuskegee in 1931.

During WWII, Japanese Americans were interned during the war & their property often stolen by white people. As a result of all this whitewashing of history, many white people have no understanding of what Black Lives Matter is really about for example.

Santorum and others of his ilk want to sweep this ugly history under the rug and talk about American greatness & exceptionalism. The audience that Santorum speaks to do not know much about American history, have little interest in delving deeper, and applaud people like Santorum, because he makes them feel good about themselves in living a lie.

George Magakis Jr. writes from Norristown, Pa.

Follow this link:

Rick Santorum furthers the rights lies about American history | Opinion - pennlive.com

Science is an ever-refining process using long-standing procedures to find truth.

Scientism is a philosophical belief used by macro evolutionists, materialists and atheists (interchangeable terms) to impose the concept that science and belief in an intelligent designer are separated by a chasm impossible to bridge.

Since the later 1800s and the 20th century, the new atheist scientists of all disciplines have tried to replace the belief of most of the earlier scientific revolution geniuses in the Judeo-Christian God hypothesis with a system despising a designing intelligence. They demand that all questions must and can only be answered by natural means (American Association for the Advancement of Science, Feb. 16, 2006).

Science is now becoming a set of politicized, dogmatic principles that cannot be questioned or evaluated, i.e. human-caused climate change, macro evolution and COVID-19. They claim ownership of science. But is it so?

Examples of first publication: Sir Isaac Newton described gravity in his Principia Mathematica (1686) or the photo Earthrise from Apollo 8 on Dec. 24, 1968, and Blue Marble from Apollo 17 on Dec. 7, 1972.

Job 26:7 describes the Earth rotating and orbiting the sun, suspended by nothing (gravity), 2,300 years before Newton and 2,800 years before the Apollos.

The first secular writing of the water cycle of the Earth was by Bernard Palissy in 1580. Job 36:27, 37:11, and Ecclesiastes 1:7 describe water molecules as vapor being uplifted by air currents and then condensing as rain, and returning to the sea. The water cycle is still incompletely understood.

In the 1920s, a Japanese meteorologist, Wasaburo Oishi, using special balloons, detected the jet stream around Mount Fuji.

Ecclesiastes 1:4 The wind whirleth about continually.

Ecclesiastes 11: 5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mothers womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things.

Modern atmospheric physics research observed that energy (light) from the sun controls the wind systems of the Earth.

Astrophysicists determined that stars of the Constellation Pleiades (the Seven Sisters), are gravitationally bound together, while the stars of Orion are drifting apart.

An engineering discovery is that electrical currents can transmit radio and TV signals at lightning speed.

Job 38:35 knew that concept.

In the 12th century, the philosopher Moses Maimonides deduced from Genesis that 10 dimensions exist. This has been corroborated by modern physicists.

A warfare argument by materialists was developed in the late 19th century period of historical revisionism. A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom by Andrew D. White (1896) appeared after Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species in 1859.

For years, the subtitle On the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, has been omitted from Darwins title.

This concept of favored races was the basis of the eugenics movement to rid humanity of undesirables and those deemed unfit to live. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, was an eugenics movement pioneer.

In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court in an 8-1 decision upheld a Virginia law allowing the forced sterilization of people to promote the health of the patient and the welfare of society. Worldwide forced sterilizations of the unfit and the planned extermination of races in the 1930s and 1940s occurred.

With the continuing widespread acceptance of no accountability for our free will actions to someone greater than us, that planned result happened. Romans 2:11, Mark 12:31, John 13:34, and others speak of loving others above yourself, with everyone being favored in Jesus teachings.

Is it realistic to believe that the 3.6 billion letter-long (3.6 giga-basepairs) human DNA code and the variations of that code in plants and animals repeatedly occurred by chance? If Darwinists wish to believe life exists without initial design, they must believe information originally created itself. The most advanced computer codes, which require a human intelligence to design, are as a baby crawling compared to the DNA code.

An honest man, armed with all the knowledge available to us now, could only state that ... the origin of life appears at the moment to be almost a miracle, so many are the conditions which would have to be satisfied to get it going. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, 1981.

Is it reasonable that the following occurred by chance: The 574 amino acid building blocks of the hemoglobin molecule designed to carry oxygen, sequenced and folded in precise order? The random occurrence of the 50-plus fine-tuning requirements from the cosmological to the sub-atomic? The thousands of proteins in the plant and animal kingdoms? Digitized information and error-correcting properties of DNA?

These are only partial, synchronous requirements for life. To believe in such repeated, successful randomness is a leap of faith in chance, and is a new faith religion.

The two biggest questions at the intersection of science and faith are the origin of the universe and the origin of life. Macro evolutionists believe in the impossible mathematical odds of all of the above happening by chance. Even given 13.8 billion years of the universe, there is not enough time. Evolutionist Richard Dawkins states: The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.

I observe the same properties and conclude they are exactly what to expect of a transcendent intelligence that has acted periodically and purposefully, with new information. I probably cant convince them, but can leave them with no excuse.

Suggested sources for information are: The Bible, The Language of God, Francis S. Collins, director, Human Genome Project; Return of the God Hypothesis and Signature in the Cell, Stephen C. Meyer; The Cost, Russell Miller; Canceled Science, Eric Hedin: Purpose and Desire, J. Scott Turner; Cosmic Codes, Chuck Missler; Science and the Mind of the Maker, Melissa Cain Travis; The Miracle of the Cell, Michael Denton; and Foresight, Marcos Eberlin.

View post:

Commentary: What is possible to believe and what is not - Lewiston Morning Tribune

Bethenia Owens-Adair overcame a wave of hardships early in her life to earn a medical degree and become one of Oregons first practicing women doctors. She was a heroine of the states womens-rights movement as well, with one newspaper in 1906 calling her a central figure in the making of Oregon history.

In the years that followed that effusive praise, she would extend her influence into public-health policymaking.

Thats where her legacy takes a dark turn.

Owens-Adair, who died in 1926 at 86, led the charge for a state sterilization law, based on her belief in eugenics, a scientific theory about heredity that is now considered racially biased and unethical.

She produced a widely distributed campaign pamphlet that heralded her as Author of The Famous HUMAN STERILIZATION BILL of Oregon.

Dr. Bethenia Owens-Adair.

Owens-Adair called human sterilization simply a remedy for degeneracy. Heredity, to my belief, is the directing force of all life. The purity of this source makes for good; impurity makes for evil.

The well-known doctor, whose life The Oregon Journal insisted was a tale of heroic courage, admitted that she faced many rebukes for her views on eugenics. She said, without acknowledging any irony, that these scoldings came from men who called on her to embrace intellectual modesty as something every woman should wear.

But she would not keep quiet on such an important issue, she declared.

More than eighteen hundred years ago we were told that The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children, aye, even to the third and fourth generation, she wrote, quoting the Bible. Had we but heeded that warning, and studied the solution of the problem, we should not today require the use of jails, penitentiaries and insane asylums.

Theodore Roosevelt, seen here during his Rough Rider days, held some beliefs that tracked with eugenics thought.

Owens-Adair trumpeted the thousands of scientific men and women in the field devoting their earnest and faithful lives to the great work of elevating and purifying the race.

And there were indeed thousands.

Eugenics had been born in the late 1800s from a sloppy reading of the work of pioneering evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin, The New Yorker magazine has pointed out. It became a prevalent sloppiness.

President Theodore Roosevelt, industrialist John D. Rockefeller Jr., Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger and many other prominent early 20th-century Americans embraced aspects of eugenics -- as did, later, the Nazi regime in Germany.

Society has no business to permit degenerates to reproduce, Roosevelt once stated.

Dr. Owens-Adair was a prolific eugenics pamphleteer.

Eugenics had the makings of science, but it truly thrived in the political realm. The natural expression of traits could be used to justify colonialism, segregation, even low wages. It explained, some proponents said, why wealthy white Americans were successful and recent immigrants remained poor.

In the early 1900s, more than two dozen U.S. states saw significant eugenics-driven legislation. A 1927 U.S. Supreme Court decision, written by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., upheld a states right to prevent the manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.

Oregon, thanks to Owens-Adairs efforts, was one of the leaders in this push. After some setbacks, due to the states referendum system and the courts, a sterilization law passed the legislature in 1917. The bills title: To Prevent Procreation of Certain Classes in Oregon.

During the next 60 years, the state would force sterilization on more than 2,600 Oregonians.

The policy targeted the feebleminded -- with diagnoses sometimes achieved through faulty intelligence tests and the identification of supposed symptoms such as an overactive sex drive and drug addiction. Sterilizations were performed on the mentally ill, convicted criminals, people suffering from epilepsy, orphans and others.

The Oregon law established a Board of Eugenics -- comprised of the superintendents of the state correctional and psychiatric institutions, along with state Board of Health members -- which oversaw the process that could end with a person being sterilized.

After World War II, eugenics fell into disrepute -- and periodic encomiums to the late Dr. Owens-Adair began to leave out the work for which she had been best known.

In 1950, when The Oregonian produced a photo essay celebrating the foremost women in Oregon history, the caption for Owens-Adairs image said only that she learned ABCs over washboard, went on to teaching, medical degree, local fame as temperance, suffrage leader.

The birth-control proponent Margaret Sanger.

Oregons state policy that had been inspired by her now-controversial beliefs quietly continued, however.

In 1967, the Board of Eugenics was renamed the Board of Social Protection. With the name change came professionalization and expansion of the board, and as a result there were some snarls with state hospital administrators who wanted us to sort of rubber-stamp their list of people to be sterilized, longtime board member Jean Schreiber said in a 1980 interview.

Schreiber added:

Before, the superintendents of the institutions just met and agreed among themselves. The prisoners often did not even know the proceedings were taking place. For some, sterilization was a condition of release or parole, or was even used as a punitive measure for acting out.

Now, those who faced sterilization would come before the board to answer questions and offer their views on the procedure. Most of the prisoners and patients who agreed to be sterilized gave the same reason: they wanted to go home.

The increased oversight -- and changing societal attitudes -- ultimately led to a dramatic drop in state sterilization requests. The board didnt meet for more than four years in the 1970s, until a lawsuit forced it to take up a case. The last state sterilization took place in 1981; the panel disbanded two years later.

In 2002, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber publicly apologized for Oregons defunct eugenics-related practices, declaring that this official expression of remorse was the right thing to do, the just thing to do.

-- Douglas Perry

dperry@oregonian.com

@douglasmperry

View original post here:

Eugenics beliefs led to 60 years of forced sterilizations in Oregon; Social Protection board finally disbande - OregonLive

We look behind the troubling origin of the century-old photos in the exhibit (Re)Generations: Challenging Scientific Racism at Bishop Museum.

1/5

Mathais and Lucy Hamauku Akona with their four youngest children (counterclockwise from top): Elfreida, 5 (held by her father); Lawrence (Awa), 12; Dorothy, 6; and Louise, 14; in 1921 in Kloa, Kauai. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

Mathais and Lucy Hamauku Akona with their four youngest children (counterclockwise from top): Elfreida, 5 (held by her father); Lawrence (Awa), 12; Dorothy, 6; and Louise, 14; in 1921 in Kloa, Kauai. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

2/5

Lucy Hamauku Akona, the great-great grandmother of Sharnelle and Marleah Renti Cruz. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

Lucy Hamauku Akona, the great-great grandmother of Sharnelle and Marleah Renti Cruz. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

3/5

Annemarie Paikais great-great-great grandfather, David Hoolapa. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

Annemarie Paikais great-great-great grandfather, David Hoolapa. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

4/5

David Hoolapa's son, Lameka Hoolapa. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

David Hoolapa's son, Lameka Hoolapa. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

5/5

Lamekas second wife, Martha Kuwale Kaneao (Kele), wearing what appears to be a brooch with a likeness of Princess Kaiulani. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

Lamekas second wife, Martha Kuwale Kaneao (Kele), wearing what appears to be a brooch with a likeness of Princess Kaiulani. Photographed by Louis R. Sullivan, Bishop Museum Archives.

When Annemarie Aweau Paikai looks into the eyes of her kpuna in their photographs, she feels a deep connection. But its complicated by the troubling reason that these treasured century-old portraits even exist.

Just to see their faces so huge, to be able to look at them, its really powerful, Paikai says, as she stares at the 3-foot-tall prints of her ancestors hanging on the wall at Bishop Museums J.M. Long Gallery. Photos are just so meaningful.

Thats her great-great-grandfather, Lameka Hoolapa, with a clear, compelling gaze and a wiry mustache; and his father, David Hoolapa, his white beard grazing the collar of his buttoned shirtboth farmersphotographed on a single day in Kona. They peer out from the black-and-white images taken by anthropologist Louis Sullivan for Bishop Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. Now both are part of a striking new exhibit titled (Re)Generations: Challenging Scientific Racism in Hawaii at Bishop Museum that explores a 100-year-old collection of photos and plaster busts.

Sullivan traveled the Islands between 1920 and 1925, enlisting the help of community and school leaders to introduce him to primarily Native Hawaiian families so he could take their photographs. Bishop Museum tasked him with probing the origins of the Hawaiian race as part of the Bayard Dominick Expedition, even while knowing Sullivan was a proponent of eugenics, which advocates selective breeding of humans to improve the genetic composition. Eugenics gained its most infamous backers in Nazi Germanys systemic persecution and killing of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.

SEE ALSO:Will These 4 Hawaiian Traditions Disappear Forever? Meet the Teachers Who Are Fighting to Keep Them Alive

Annemarie Aweau Paikai, descendant and academic librarian. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

Paikai, 33, works as an academic librarian at Leeward Community College. She knows a lot about historic suppression of indigenous people here and across the globe. But this time she feels the impact personally as she looks at the photos of her ancestors on the gallery wall. As far as she knows, theyre the only two photographs that exist of the pair. Its incredibly sobering to know that my familys photos were involved in a study in any way associated with the gross misconceptions of eugenics.

The exhibit focuses on the larger-than-life portraits of five ohana from Oahu and the Big Island. Here, the serious historical imagesSullivan discouraged smilingare joined by modern family photos, full of joy, with descriptions of their lives and the promise of chapters yet to be written by generations to follow. Still, the exhibit presents an unflinching account of its roots in scientific racism.

Jillian Swift joined the museum as curator of archaeology in March 2019 when the discussion was already underway to base an exhibit on the 952 images in the Sullivan collection. The museum had shared the photos publicly for decadeseven touring the Neighbor Islands in the 1980s to spread the word to people tracing their family historieswithout discussing their origins.

SEE ALSO:The History of Hawaii From Our Files: One Warriors Journey to Save the Hawaiian Language

But it didnt take too much digging to recognize that there is this really problematic context around the photographs and the research that led to the photographs being created and this now-discredited, very racist idea, Swift says. [Sullivan] was interested in hybridization, so he was not necessarily a proponent of racial purity per se, but eugenics from the angle of how do we mix and match to create the super person.

Sullivan noted the racial/ethnic backgrounds of those he met, their ages, locations, measurements and other physical characteristics, and their names, sometimes misspelled. The museum researched and added a timeline to this dehumanizing effort to classify people by such characteristics.

The museum also recognized that the Sullivan collection had evolved into a resource for people looking into Hawaiis pasta trove of photographs of hundreds of people caught on a day in their lives, created at a time when photos were pretty rare. The exhibit was able to come together now, Swift says, because of the help of the descendants who have been able to visit it and have been able to add their own stories and memories and histories and experiences with the collection that we now can share those things.

Sharnelle and Marleah Renti Cruz first saw their great-grandparents photos reprinted on a banner at a family reunion but at the time they were focused on connecting with their extended ohana and didnt think about how the photos came to be.

From left, Sharnelle and Marleah Renti Cruz get their first look at the exhibit. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

The twin sisters, 29, trace their family roots to Kloa, Kauai. They grew up in Kekaha but eventually moved to Oahu for school and both earned degrees in library science from UH Mnoa last year. They found the photos had come from Bishop Museum, so they used a university assignment as an opportunity to learn more. When they saw the black-and-white portraits of great-grandparents Mathais and Lucy Hamauku Akona, something bothered them. You know, these photographs sort of look like mug shots, Sharnelle recalls saying to her sister.

Finding out about the eugenics study raised more questions. Did they know what was happening? Marleah wonders. What language did they ask them in, because our great-great-grandparents spoke Hawaiian. What happened to all the information that they got from this study? Did they receive compensation?

Swift says that the exhibits timing felt more poignant, prepared during the pandemic as the nation reeled over the murder of George Floyd and the widespread protests of systemic violence against Black Americans that followed. All of the research that weve done, all the stories that weve collected, everything that we have from this is now going to be entered into the archives connected to these photographs, Swift says.

SEE ALSO:The History of Hawaii From Our Files: A Young Familys Attitudes About Growing Up Half-Japanese After World War II

The twin sisters welcome the chance to contribute. They know that Mathais Akona worked for the county as well as for McBryde Plantation, that Lucy Akona was with the Red Cross. We really want to convey that there is more about our kpuna that are not conveyed in these photographs, how they were well-connected in their community, Sharnelle says. We found out that they were a part of different Hawaiian benevolent societies; our great-grandmother was a part of the Queen Kaahumanu society, our great-grandfather was a member of the RoyalOrder of Kamehameha. The family connection inspired the twins to look into joining the Kaahumanu society as well. Sharnelle now works as an archive specialist for the Hula Preservation Society. Both hope the exhibit encourages people to learn more about their ancestors. And, says Marleah, it also empowers us to call out these kinds of situations.

In the Sullivan photos, the sisters see an uncanny family resemblance across the generations. We looked at our great-great-grandfather and then we look at our uncle and its really striking, the resemblance that they have, Marleah says.

Swift co-curated the exhibit with museum archive collections manager Leah Caldeira and Keolu Fox, a genome scientist and assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego. Fox, who is Native Hawaiian, marveled that the exhibit delves into topics that hed never imagined would be explored during his many childhood visits to the museum. Were repatriating peoples identities, he says. And Swift says Fox illuminated how a modern trendthe use of DNA kits that use our genetic makeup to categorize uscould lead to future exploitation. We talk about genetic research and DNA analysis as sort of the new frontier of how we study human variation today, its advantages and disadvantages, Swift says. In the exhibit, the point is made with humor: Part of the display includes a fictional DNA company with dubious motives called Bio Colonialism Trust, complete with inviting graphics, a mottoTrust Us to Tell You Who You Areand a fake collection kit labeled as a satirical exhibit prop.

Bishop Museum archaeologist Jillian Swift, who co-curated the exhibit. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

This is actually just the start of a conversation and of being more open of thinking harder about how we serve our Native Hawaiian communities. Jillian Swift

Swift says the curators highlighted families who knew about the photos and wanted to participate. There are three busts in the exhibit, all identified but whose descendants could not be reached. They are plaster casts of students from Kamehameha Schools, which at the time shared a campus with the museum. Swift hopes even more families will come forward: This is actually just the start of a conversation and of being more open of thinking harder about how we serve our Native Hawaiian communities, how we repair those relationships.

Paikai credits the museum with being honest. Museums have caused a lot of harm for a lot of communities that arent white, often leaving indigenous people out of the narrative or representing them in problematic ways, she says.

SEE ALSO:4 We Tried: We Search for the Best Ways to Learn Hawaiian Online for Free

Paikai talked with me in a courtyard just steps away from where the museum team worked to complete the display. At the museum gates, her and her great-great-grandfathers faces appear on the banner that welcomes visitors to the campus. Although she says seeing her oversized image feels surreal, Paikai views the powerful exhibit as an opportunity to reclaim some of what was lost by Hawaiians forced to suppress hula, cultural practices and even the Hawaiian language.

While shes closely connected to her Native Hawaiian ancestry, Paikai was born and raised in California after better economic opportunities there prompted her father to leave the Islands long ago. She moved to Hilo at 18 to major in Hawaiian studies and plans to remain here in the Islands to raise her own family. She and her husband provided a family portrait to include in the exhibit and shes excited to think that one day generations yet to come may return to the museum to find out more about them.

I dont know how to explain it other than its just this sense within yourself that this is where I belong, Paikai says. This has been a quest for me to find my family, to find out more about who we are.

Visit the exhibit through Oct. 24 in a new timed admission procedure that began March 1.

Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice St., (808) 847-3511, 9 a.m.5 p.m. daily, bishopmuseum.org

The team at Bishop Museum puts the finishing touches on the new exhibit shortly before it opened Feb. 20. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

Bishop Museum offers online help for those looking for information in the Sullivan collection of photos as well as many other resources. bishopmuseum.org/library-and-archives

If you already know what you want, have specific collections questions, need access or want to order reproductions, email archives@bishopmuseum.org

The Sullivan collection can also be accessed online as part of the extensive collections and records available through the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs Papakilo Database. papakilodatabase.com

Continued here:

Native Hawaiian Families Connect with their Ancestors as Bishop Museum Confronts a Controversial Part of its - HONOLULU Magazine

Imagine a society of only women. This is the premise of playwright Paco Jos Madden's Herlandia, a loose adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1915 novel about the adventures of a group of male explorers who stumble upon an isolated society composed entirely of women. The play produced by B3 Theater, which concentrates on new and underperformed works, opens Friday, May 21st.

"One of the key differences between Herland and Herlandia is that I make one of the explorers a woman disguised as a man," says Madden. "Vanessa, the character in question, becomes a stand-in for Gilman, who in life felt constrained by society's expectations for women." Gilman was a noted author, lecturer, and advocate for women's rights in the early twentieth century. She also wrote The Yellow Wallpaper, a classic of feminist literature.

When the explorers arrive at this "woman's world," they encounter a place based on principles of cooperation and caring for one another. Gilman strongly believed in living for others and wrote that life should be "collective, common, or it isn't life at all," which makes the play particularly relevant today, especially regarding the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires collective action.

"It's great to work on a play that combines the historical with the contemporary," says director Ilana Lydia. "The play examines what the world should be, rather than what it is."

Gilman led a tumultuous life. She was placed under the care of physician Silas Wier Mitchel after suffering from what we today call postpartum depression. Mitchel's "rest cure" for women involved weeks of isolation, bed rest, and electrotherapy. "This comes though in the play when Vanessa has a mental breakdown and struggles with what it means to be a woman," says Madden.

The author or Herland also held strong ethnic and racial prejudices, a belief in Anglo-Saxon supremacy, and embraced eugenics as the solution to the "Negro problem." "Though I admire what Gilman did for women and society, I also recognize her bigoted convictions," continues Madden. "The Herlandian society I imagined is filled with people of different races, sexualities, and abilities and has no hierarchical order."

The crisis in the play is brought about by one of the male explorers who Vanessa characterizes as "a brute." Terry has traditional notions on the role of men and women and is offended that women would dare challenge male authority. He decides to launch a rebellion.

"In our present age, we are uniquely positioned to evaluate the legitimacy of long established convictions concerning race and gender as our world becomes increasingly divided and increasingly diverse. Whose voices are heard and whose stories are told are fraught questions," says Juliet Rachel Wilkins who plays the gender switching Vanessa. "Herlandia, and particularly our modern retelling, seeks answers to how we can move forward together as a society, even when we seem more fractured than ever."

Herlandia has been adapted to a Zoom environment and will include a "guide" and live chat. "The play is part theater, part exhibit, and part guided tour," says Cherylandria Banks who plays The Guide.

The cast includes Jesse Abrahams as Vandyck, Cherylandria Banks as The Guide, Will Blankenmeier as Terry, Valerie German as Alima, Erin Natseway as Ellador, Angelica Saario as Cellis, Lorraine Taylor as Great Mother, and Juliet Rachel Wilkins as Vanessa/Jeff. The stage manager is Kayla Caviedes.

Costumes are by Eliana Burns, hair and makeup by Sabrina Rose Bivens, lights and props by Ric Alpers, set/virtual background by JPaoul C Clemente, and sound by Chris Piraino.

Performances of Herlandia are May 21st through May 30 (Fridays and Saturdays @ 8:00 p.m. and Sundays @ 4 p.m.) via Zoom. For more information and tickets, go to https://www.onthestage.com/show/b3-theater/herlandia-by-paco-jose-madden-41803

Read more:

MADDEN'S HERLANDIA to be Presented by B3 Theater - Broadway World

The 11th Annual Zcalo Book Prize Lecture

Moderated by Toms Jimnez, Professor of Sociology at Stanford University and author of The Other Side of Assimilation: How Immigrants are Changing American Life

The year 1924 was a watershed in American immigration. A victory for the eugenics movement, the Johnson-Reed Act established race-based quotas that succeeded in limiting the entry of Jews and Catholics from Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as strengthening restrictions already in place barring the entry of Asians and Africans. It would take an extraordinary political window following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to overhaul the quota system through the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1965. By giving preference to family reunification and skilled workers, the legislation changed the demographics of the country, making it less European and less white. At the same time, it imposed the first numerical cap on Western Hemisphere immigration, making the U.S. less accessible for people coming from Mexico and other Latin American countries.

What lessons can we draw from these two historic shifts in American immigration? Has the United States ever been the nation of immigrants that it purports to be? And in our polarized times, can we fashion a new national identity that embraces immigrants and their families?

New York Times national editor Jia Lynn Yang, winner of the 11th annual Zcalo Public Square Book Prize for her debut book, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle Over American Immigration, 1924-1965, visits Zcalo to discuss how immigration laws have changed the American population, our communities, and the countrys sense of itself.

Angelica Esquivel, winner of the 10th Annual Zcalo Poetry Prize, will deliver a reading of her poem, La Mujer, prior to lecture. Read more about Esquivel and her winning poem here.

The 2021 Zcalo Book and Poetry Prizes are generously sponsored by Tim Disney.

Go here to read the rest:

Does America Really Want to Be a Nation of Immigrants? - The Eastsider LA

To the editor:

What kills the most Blacks in America? Besides what we hear in the news from the Black Lives Matter protest movement, examine what some other Blacks are saying before big tech silences them for having differing views.

Robert Woodson Sr., Black civil right activist and founder of the Woodson Center, stated the number one killer of Black people is not the police its abortion. Others agree with him, stating its not gang-violence, gun violence, heart attack, stroke, HIV, high blood pressure, or diabetes. Its abortion and Black women are targeted 3-5 times more than white women. Why?

One-third of all abortions occur in the Black community. According to CDC, 13.4% of the entire U.S. population is Black, yet 36.9% of all abortions are Black. The protectingblacklifeorg census states that 79% of surgical abortion clinics are located within walking distance of African American or Hispanic/Latino neighborhoods. Why?

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is one of 149 national affiliates of the gigantic International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) which works in 19 nations on every continent. It joins the United Nations Population Fund and the Population Council founded and supported by eugenicists.

Planned Parenthood is the largest U.S. abortion provider. Their 2019 annual report stated 345,672 abortions were done. Consider other facts 96.1% of pregnant PP clients get abortions, 1.2% (4,279) get adoption referrals, and 2.7% get prenatal care. In 2019, then PP President Leana Wen, explained that abortion was PP core mission.

Story continues below video

It is no longer hidden that Margaret Sanger, the founder of the birth control movement in America, that later became Planned Parenthood, adhered to the deeply inhuman and exploitative theory of eugenics and its deep ties to racism. Critics today say the organization continues to perpetuate her legacy by supporting the programs she inaugurated. PP has terminated by abortion at least 62 million males and females, 22 million of which were Black. An entire generation of Americans of all ethnicities gone. in an 2019 radio interview by Dr. George Grant with Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King jJ. and Priests for Life, Dr King stated, Thats a baby in the womb who should have human rights, and I believe if my uncle were here today, he would have to agree that abortion is a crime against humanity.

Question: In the fight for social justice why is there silence about the violence of abortion done to all babies and their mothers?

Lastly, CDC reports 143 infants have been left to die after being born alive from botched abortions. The Born Alive Survivors Protection Act, which simply requires life saving medical care be given to infants who survive abortions, failed to pass in the Feb. 2021 Democratic run Senate. Unconscionable.

Valerie Byrnes

Providence

See more here:

Abortion the No. 1 killer of Blacks in America - The Herald Journal

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Family Research Council released today an issue analysis,"Prenatal Nondiscrimination Acts: Why They Are Essential." Prenatal Nondiscrimination Acts (PRENDAs) seek to prevent abortion being used as a tool of eugenics. These laws prohibit anyone from knowingly aborting an unborn child solely on the basis of his or her sex or disability. FRC's new issue analysis explains how these laws address the long shared history of abortion and eugenics in America; which states have passed legislation to ensure unborn children are not aborted on account of their race, sex, or disability; and the challenges these laws have faced in court.

Sixteen states have enacted some form of a PRENDA law, and more are in the pipeline. Yesterday, the North Carolina House Health committee approved such a bill, H 453, and last week Arizona's Governor Ducey signed SB 1457 into law, banning abortion based on genetics. Recently, the federal U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld Ohio's Down syndrome abortion ban.

Katherine Beck Johnson, FRC's Research Fellow for Legal and Policy Studies and one of the authors of the issue brief, made the following comments:

"Weapplaud states working to protect the most vulnerable through PRENDAs. These laws remind society that each and every child has inherent dignity. They end the atrocious act of targeting the littlest members of our society and put us one step closer to ending Roe v. Wade.

"Reality is quickly settling in that the Biden administration is the most pro-abortion administration in history. However, it's greatly encouraging that we are seeing a wave of pro-life momentum on the state level in response to President Biden's radical abortion agenda.

"These laws powerfully undercut the rationale for Roe v. Wade, as they hold promise to end the viability standard set forth in Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In May 2019, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a lengthy opinion in Box v. Planned Parenthood, in which he cited abortion's eugenic roots and its continued eugenic potential. This opinion has emboldened even more states and lower courts to protect the unborn from discriminatory abortions," concluded Johnson.

To download the issue brief, visit: https://frc.org/prenda

SOURCE Family Research Council

http://www.frc.org

Continue reading here:

FRC Celebrates Growing Momentum for Protection of the Unborn from Discrimination on the Basis of Race, Sex, or Disability - PRNewswire

House Bill 4 53. The corporate greed, Representative McGarrell ralph Bradford baker in our hospital 4 53 of intervene Thailand to protect against discrimination of human life, johnson not cleaning lady from carter. It represented. Michael raft is recognized to debate the bill and the House will come to order. Thank you Mr speaker and thank you members. Um I just want to thank my primary co sponsors. Representative Kristen baker, Representative Art and Representative Bradford. And I would truly appreciate their leadership in this. Um, I am gonna be brief and leave time for questions. But I just want to say how honored I am to be on this bill because I do believe that all babies born and unborn have intrinsic dignity and worth and should be protected from the practice of eugenic abortion. Eugenics is defined as the practice of arranging reproduction within a human population. To increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable eugenics has been used in attempts to systematically erase entire populations of human beings due to inherit characteristics such as ethnicity, race and, yes, disability. It's a tragedy that one that continues today. Tiny babies with Down syndrome are denied their right to life due to an extra chromosome. The U. S. Supreme Court has been zealous in in in vindicating the rights of people who are even potentially subjected to raise sex and disability discrimination. In fact, the inherent right against discrimination on the basis of race, sex and genetic abnormality is protected by federal and state laws. And I was shocked to find out over 70 of these precious babies to get a prenatal diagnosis of down syndrome. Never, never get a chance at life. Our state has a compelling interest to protect these Children from discriminatory eugenic abortion. What the bill does, It amends the statutes and it prohibits abortion unless a physician knows that the woman is not seeking this abortion because of any of the following the actual or presumed race or racial makeup of the unborn child. The sex of the unborn child is already, it's already in our statute. The presence are presumed presence of Down syndrome. Section 1B would actually um add whether the race sex or presence of in presumption of down syndrome and the on board child has been detective And um the doctor would have to report on that as he does. Or she does if there is um an abortion that's after 16 weeks gestation Science tells us that positive tests from a non invasive prenatal screening tests can be wrong. Almost 50 of the time, according to a recent study by New England Journal of Medicine. And mothers D. N. A. Can even alter these results. Life and death decisions are made on these results. We are missing so many miracles as my colleague, Representative Bradford says, these are not individuals with special needs. These are individuals with special abilities. nine states have already prohibited abortions motivated by a child's disability. Every single child bears the unmistakable imprint of our creator and is worthy of protection and support. I'll be happy to answer any questions but mr Speaker, could we get the other primaries to say a few words first? What purpose does the gentleman from? Mecklenburg represented? Bradford? Rise to speak on the bill. Gentlemen has the floor. Thank you. Mr Speaker members of the House. Um My comments will be probably repetitive for those of you that were in the committees that this bill has traveled, but for the others, I think it's worth noting that a few weeks ago uh the sixth U. S. Circuit Court Court of Appeals actually reversed a prior decision regarding a piece of legislation in the state of Ohio. Um that's uh basically similar to the piece of legislation were speaking about today. And the court released a statement on the ruling and they basically said that um that they thought Ohio's interest in passing the law as I would respectfully submit to use the same here for us in north Carolina. Was to protect the Down syndrome community from the stigma that it suffers from the practice of Down syndrome selective abortions. And it went on further to say to protect women who suspect Down syndrome from coerced abortions and to protect the medical community from an unethical doctors they wrote. So a few comments, my interest in this bill is unique to most certainly the Down syndrome community. Next Tuesday, I will have my fourth employee here is a legislator of an individual Down syndrome. His name is Matthew, you will see him with me, hopefully a lot of the time. Um, I have come to know individuals with Down syndrome as uh, not having disabilities but having very special abilities, which is what represent McElrath was speaking about and these are very capable, competent individuals who are ready and willing to work in our society. And this bill, I understand abortion is a very heated and partisan topic. This bill is very narrowly tailored to the issue of allowing a termination of a pregnancy strictly because of these three items and Down syndrome being one of them. And to me, the idea of terminating uh birth of a baby that never had a chance just because it has Down syndrome. And that would assume that all the screenings were positive and inaccurate, which isn't always the case by the way. Um, to me, just as heartbreaking because these individuals have so much to give our society. Um, I understand abortion is legal in our country, and so outside of the confines of these three items were not waiting into that. Um, you know, that said, um, I would just further submit to all of you that, um, this issue, I I get a lot of emails about it already from both sides and it's impassioned, and I would just encourage all of us to maintain the decorum that I know we can have here today. Um, but I support the bill, um, wholeheartedly because people like Matthew deserve to live, they deserve to have a chance. Um, and um, and I found it noteworthy that one of the disability advocacy groups came out against the bill and I I welcome all perspectives. I always have, I think that's what makes us good lawmakers when we can put ourselves in the other shoes on the other side or the other party or the other perspective. And I think the day we lose sight of that, we probably should get out of these seats. Um and and my only counter to their um notion that someone that this takes away from the real issue which is fighting for those with disabilities. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. I think we can fight for people who are alive who have disabilities, and I think we can be the voice for the babies who have been diagnosed with a disability Down syndrome before they ever have a shot at life. And that is why I'm on this bill. So I encourage you to consider it and vote your conscience. Huh? Thank you. For what purpose does the Lady from weight represented Von Hafen rise to speak on the bill. Lady has the four. Thank you Mr Speaker members. This bill does not address the needs of people needs of people with Down syndrome, nor does it really intend to end racial discrimination in north Carolina. Instead, this bill would prevent someone from obtaining an abortion if their doctor supposes or speculates that the reason behind their decision is because of the fetus race or diagnosis of Down syndrome disability rights. North Carolina opposes restrictions on the bodily autonomy of any person, especially in the name of supporting people with disabilities, forcing someone to carry a pregnancy to term against their will. Does absolutely nothing to address discrimination. This bill masquerades as policies supportive of members of the disability community, But actually, but instead of actually providing support for people who are differently abled, like ensuring adequate funding for Medicaid innovation waivers slots which currently has a 15,000 person wait list. The bill exploits abortion stigma and the general public's lack of knowledge in both abortion and pregnancy. It uses inflammatory and manipulative language to further erode pregnant people's bodily autonomy and our medical system. It creates more stigma and shame or on abortion care. And it targets people seeking abortion and the people providing abortion as unworthy of support or compassion. If we were truly authentic and our concern for people with disabilities, we would not co op the mantle of disability rights, but would instead focus on the true priorities of people with disabilities and their families, including ensuring access to healthcare, education, employment and economic security, as well as the ability to parent with dignity. People with disabilities, including those with Down syndrome have fought for decades against laws restricting their bodily autonomy, their right to do what they choose, go where they want, make their own decisions and be who they want to be. We can and should accomplish all of those things without restricting anyone's right to make decisions about their own bodies. I hope you will take this into consideration and join me in voting no on this bill. What purpose does the lady from Wilson represented, Cooper Suggs rise To speak on the bill. Mr. Speaker Lady has a four. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this bill is built on the premise that women of color, particularly black women seek abortions. On the basis are the per soon race of the fetus. This is false. Oppressive narrative that women of color cannot be trusted to make our own decisions guarding reproductive out reproductive rights. It also forces people of color to justify their decision to have an abortion to their doctor. This bill is part of a national effort to drive an inflammatory, misleading narrative about women who obtain abortions and the doctors who provide them. The rhetoric surrounding this bill is disrespectful and disingenuous. This law would do nothing to address the very real structural racism that that black and brown parents and Children face every day. To make matters worse, the sponsors have invoked the term eugenics in their justification for this bill. The use of this term. This debate is incredibly offensive and inappropriate. The eugenics movement was and and is about reproductive coercion. Not only would this bill, not in the practice of eugenics, but it is in reality an extension of this form of oppression. This bill is keeping us from doing the real work to end race discrimination in north Carolina. The sponsors of this bill, are neither working to address the maternal health disparities that black women face. No. Are they working to improve the quality of the life of black Children while we waste time and taxpayer resources in an effort to control people's bodies and futures. Bills like the mom never act. Medicaid expansion and the healthy pregnancy act don't get the attention and votes that they deserve. I ask all of you to vote red on this bill. Thank you. What purpose jumper from Catawba represented Adams rise. Speak on the bill. Gentleman has the floor. This is eugenics. That's what it is. But just what you said and what I want you to do. I'd like to ask you to do this. Look up War against the week. Look on Amazon. It's a book. Edwin Black wrote it in 2012. It's about the eugenics movement at the turn of the century in the United States. It will set your hair on fire what we did. It was the science of the time that we would help, we would help you Darwin's theory along by using science to call the unfit from our society in north Carolina. The eugenics movement began in the early 19 thirties. Actually was established. The Eugenics Board was established in 1932 ruled unconstitutional. Reformed in 1933 and it continued on until 1973. That practice in north Carolina was after the eugenics movement, which was a global movement had discovered what Hitler was doing in Germany and they had cooled off. They had subsided, but not in north Carolina. We picked it up and we used it in north Carolina for 40 years. I can't I can't tell you how horrifying it is to hear the thought of calling the Unborn because they don't suit our desires. I hope youll look that book up because Edwin Black wrote the book War Against the Week because he wrote a previous book, which was IBM and the holocaust. And when he was doing the research for that book in europe, he kept finding periodical periodicals about eugenics movement in the United States. But he couldn't find those periodicals in the United States. There were in europe, he started doing deeper research and what he found was that the whole thing had been buried. It's part of our history, we just don't know anything about. And he was shocked what he found and you'll be shocked at what you read that he wrote. What purpose does the gentleman from both represent? Kidwell Rice? Speak on a bill. Gentleman has the floor. Thank you Mr Speaker. When we take into consideration, Children who are terminated in pregnancy due to Down syndrome or really any other reason uh, what I ask you to remember if if you are a God fearing God believing person is to look at many different versions of the bible where they all say the same thing before I formed you in the womb. I knew you before you were born. I set you apart. God created each and every one of us and put us in the wound. It continues to tell me in the bible that he knew who I would be before I was ever formed in the wound, each and every one of us. If you're not a God believing person, that's not gonna help us any here today. Because you feel that that child in the wound is not worth that much more than a deer out in the field that I go hunting for in the fall. Because you're willing to terminate that child when we do it due to Down syndrome many times. That's a misdiagnosis many, many times I've heard over and over in the 20 plus years that I have personally worked with crisis pregnancy centers where the woman was told that her child had Down syndrome. Sometimes they were right many times they were wrong. My own sister was told when she was pregnant with her daughter, that the child would not survive and it might even kill her, that she should have an abortion as soon as possible, that she had an ectopic pregnancy. Elizabeth Woolard. Today is 35 years old. Born, today is 35 years old, born perfectly healthy and the doctor said, you should have an abortion. Abortion is one of the plights of this world. We kill so many people every day and do it with so much impunity doesn't matter. It's just a chunk of flesh. Every child is worth everything. I hear so many times. If it saves one life, it's worth it. Why doesn't this apply when it comes to abortion? If it saves one life, it's worth it. The person who may have cured Covid within weeks may well have been aborted Somewhere in the last 50 years. The person to cure cancer, The person to do so many other things may have been summarily tossed in the trash because maybe they had down syndrome or maybe they weren't the sex, the right sex or it just wasn't a convenient time. Oftentimes you hear about the mother or the family, they can ill afford this child Right now, it's not the right time. It wasn't planned, they're not married. They have no means of support. Ladies and gentlemen, if we use that measure, jesus christ could have been terminated in an abortion because it wasn't the right time. They weren't married. That's a horrible thing. What we do, it is a sin. It is a blight on our society. I asked you to vote green on this bill for the purpose of the uh lady from weight represent Badcock Grass To debate the bill. He has four. Thank you mr speaker. Um, it's very disturbing to me when I hear my physician colleagues called coercive and so that's going to be the main focus of my comments today about the bill, really about the chilling effect that this bill would have on the absolutely have on the patient physician relationship. My words from my own self really can improve on those of north Carolina physicians who have dedicated their professional lives to the care of women and women during pregnancy. So I'm going to read comments from a letter that was written on behalf of the north Carolina Abyan O B G. Y. In society. Their concerns are shared by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the north Carolina Medical Society. And I quote while we appreciate the genuine concern many legislators may have about protecting Children with Down syndrome. Our experience as clinicians is that women and families facing the difficult decisions that can come with a prenatal down syndrome diagnosis require a great deal of counseling and support from their health care providers, families, clergy and many other members of their community. Unfortunately, house Bill 453 would prevent women from having open and honest conversations with their doctor about their challenges and medical complications. It could prevent doctors from being able to share critical information that can help women and their families make reproductive health decisions with the privacy and the dignity they deserve based on our clinical experience. We believe government restrictions and mandates like those included in this bill will undoubtedly make the process of these patients and their families experience considerably more difficult. In addition, it would make providing the best and most appropriate care to these women much more complicated, if not impossible, as healthcare providers. This legislation would severely impact our ability to provide the standard of care for patients who would be subject to this bill. They go on to state. Furthermore. In our view, the restrictions and House Bill 4 53 I presume that the decisions women with a prenatal down syndrome diagnosis face are straightforward and uncomplicated. In fact, Down syndrome often occurs with other complications that can impact a woman's health care decisions. The reality is that each mother and family facing these difficult decisions is different and the decisions they have for continuing or ending a pregnancy after a fatal diagnosis is detected are myriad and they conclude by saying Regarding the prohibitions on race selection and house Bill 4 53, we are not aware of any patient who ended a pregnancy on the basis of race. Rather, the decisions women make regarding their pregnancies are based on a wide range of personal experiences, beliefs, and health care choices, imposing restrictions based on one or two specific criteria will simply make what are already complex decisions even more difficult for many of our patients to navigate. It's very upsetting and dangerous for us as a group of 100 and 20 and r 50 colleagues across the hall to think that we can interject ourselves into the exam room between physicians and patients and make decisions for them that only they are capable of making given their personal circumstances. I urge you both as a legislator, As a family nurse practitioner, as a mother of two to vote no on this bill. Thank you. What purpose does the lady from Colbert's represented baker rice To speak to the bill? I'm glad he has the four. Thank you MR speaker and thank you members. Um, I want to go back to um, the comment about eugenics um, from my friend and representative cooper Suggs. The definition of eugenics comes from greek and it has come into being. So, the use of this word for this discussion is highly appropriate eugenics as defined as a set of beliefs and practices intended to improve the genetic quality of a population. So once again, this terminology is extremely important to this discussion and this bill is very limited to particular issues. This is not a bill on abortion in general, and I want to make that clear. This is about non discrimination. And as a physician and child psychiatrist, I have spent my career dedicated to advocating for the most vulnerable and I believe that we as a society are going to be judged on how well we protect those who may not or cannot speak up for themselves. And I would like to think that none of us here would deny the right to life to someone based on their sex, their gender or their disability. And so I thank you for your consideration and urge you to vote yes on this bill. For what purpose does the lady from johnson represented White Rice To speak to the bill? Please. Lady has the four. Thank you. I am I am in support of this bill, because the greatest physician of all said for thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy ways. My substance was not here hit from the when I was made in secret and curiously walked, wrought in the lowest parts of the earth that I asked to see my substance, yet being unp perfect. And in that book, all my members were written, which is in continuous where fashion. When the ship, there was one of them. I am a health professional. I have been. Um, I avoided uh, in the days when abortions were first developed in our country legally, um, I was asked to coach and educate women on that option. As a person of faith. I chose not to do that. My job was threatened and I continued to oppose and did not do that For those who feel that that is okay. That is their personal decision. I do not try to put my faith on anyone else, but when you are in the womb and you have a diagnosis and you are not able to defend yourself, that is what this bill to me is about. It is our position and my position to defend those Children, those infants that are in the womb and cannot fight for themselves. Thank you for what purpose does The gentleman from union represented our price to speak to the bill, Johnson has four House Bill 4 53 I wanted to sponsor because I believe in the principles of what this bill stands for. This bill prevents modern day eugenics that eliminates people before birth because of their race or disability from Down syndrome, overwhelming numbers of north Carolina citizens oppose abortion because the child will be born with Down syndrome, and that's the majority held across all demographics. The definition is given in the American Medical Association's journal Ethics and one of their articles says this eugenics defined here as practices and policies designed to promote the reproduction of people with desired attributes and thus avert the reproduction of people with undesirable attributes. For example, people with disabilities. The idea that the world and the people in it would be better off if everyone were born healthy that is without defect is the essential principle of eugenics, translated literally as well. Born from playing player Hood's own article um quoted and subject called Singer and eugenics, they define eugenics as eugenics is a theory of improving hereditary qualities by socially controlling human reproduction. With Margaret Sanger, North Carolina has sustained and horrible history in participating in eugenics. Why should we allow north Carolina to continue discriminatory eugenics that eliminates Children before birth because of race sex or Down syndrome? Haven't we learned how terrible it is for the state to participate or even allow modern day eugenics to eliminate people before birth because of their race and disability from Down syndrome. Reprehensible eugenics does not stop at the forced sterilization of women, but must also extend to the abortion of Children because they have down syndrome or of a certain race. We're here discussing this issue today because of the amazing advances we've had in recent years in the area of prenatal genetic testing. Because of these technological advances. It is possible through very simple blood test to tell the sex of a baby and whether the they might have Down syndrome. We must decide whether we should allow these results to be used in a way that's discriminatory to literally eliminate people on the basis of their sex, their race or disability. We do not want to be that kind of society that not only discriminates but disposes of Children because of the way they are created North Carolina citizens don't want to be that kind of society either. In fact, it was actually the youngest respondents in the recent poll, the millennials and Gen Z. S, who were the most likely to oppose the discriminatory down syndrome abortions. Even a majority of people who identified as pro choice were against Down syndrome abortions. And this time we are so divided as a society on so many other issues. We are in agreement on this because we all know it's wrong. We know discrimination is wrong. We know you can't use this technology to discriminate in this truly horrendous way. House Bill 4 53 prohibits the doctor from performing an abortion if the doctor knows that the woman's reason is that she does not want a child with Down syndrome. As what's discussed. There were several reasons for this at the interrelated, but I did want to speak to one particular one about the course of nations of this. It's indisputable that a number of medical professionals have advocated for Down syndrome abortions, As it states in the recent 6th circuit decision. Academic literature confirms such practices within the United States Medical Community, including examples of health professionals who gave family inaccurate and overly negative information, perceive obliquely intended to coerce a woman into a decision to terminate her pregnancy. If the foetus is diagnosed with Down syndrome, that's in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, I will tell you that this issue his interest incredibly important because Down syndrome is a variable condition. The prognosis of people with the condition remains unclear. And this Journal of the American Medical Association Journal of accent, goes on to say this means that if a pregnant woman receives a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, quote, she is unlikely to receive information about the level of physical and cognitive impairment. A child would have diagnostic test even at their most accurate for conditions like Down syndrome. Only tell pregnant women if the fetus is does or does not have the specific chromosome marker, they do not tell women about the severity or the breath of impairments that may follow one fetus with a diagnosis of Down syndrome could not survive pregnancy, while another child born with with the condition could graduate from college. It is this complexity and variability interesting, which means that some people, including health professionals, can hold ambiguous views and express various anxieties about prenatal screening and testing for Down syndrome with some citing this uncertainty when claiming that screening could perhaps be considered eugenic practices end, quote ladies and gentlemen, we can't escape the fact that when the a woman's choice to abort her child because they know the child has Down syndrome or suspected to have down strom Rome, it eliminates the child in a discriminatory way. Our laws on discrimination prevent that. I ask for your support on passing this bill. What purposely from weight represented Badcock rights to debate the bill a second time. Glad He has four. Thank you. I just cannot sit here and here. My physician colleagues called coercive to be told that they make judgments about their patients and their patients healthcare decisions when that is not their job and that is not their calling. I want to share with you some additional comments from the letter that was sent to all of us from physicians who do this for a living. This bill would discourage patients from communicating fully with us about their health care needs and priorities. A physician's role is to provide the information or patients need to make informed decisions, not whether you like that information, not whether you even wish to say it, but because that patient deserves it. Those were my words. A prenatal fetal diagnosis can have a range of effects, and it is important for families to have all questions answered to the extent possible, not just the ones the doctor wishes to answer, not just the ones the patient may think to ask, but all questions should be answered. Doctors have the responsibility to provide information. Women need to make informed decisions, including all the options available to her family, then support her and what she decides is best for herself based on her values, creed, belief system and assessment of the best course for her family. HB453 would require physicians as providers to attempt to discern the basis for our patients health care choices to determine whether those decisions are consistent with the provisions of this legislation and to determine whether we as healthcare providers should or can recommend a particular course of treatment. And in closing, I would just like to say that even though some of the folks who have spoken today have said this issue is not about a abortion in its total in its totality, it's only about these certain things when you start going in and nipping and tucking about the right of a woman to have a safe and legal procedure, which is what abortion is. You are going to the heart of the matter of abortion. Thank you. What purpose the gentleman from national isn't Galya address to debate the bill. Gentlemen has before. Thank you. Mr. Speaker. Ladies and gentlemen of the House when I was first elected got a handwritten note from someone that was formerly in the General Assembly has also served as secretary of Commerce. And he said, man, congratulations on your election. One of the best things about being in the General Assembly of the People you're gonna meet, you're gonna meet some of the finest people. There'll be life long friends. He was right. People I caucused with the people that I talked with already considered them lifelong friends. And then he said the worst part of being in General Assembly is it every once in a while you're going to have that conscious vote. You're gonna have that vote that you're gonna have to vote for. And you know, the bill stinks. But your conscience won't let you vote. No, that's the bill I'm looking at right now. I'm looking at this bill. That's just a bad bill. But my conscience as a pastor won't let me vote against it. But it's a bad bill. First of all, it is the height of insensitivity to label it eugenics, the the doctrine that nazis used to justify slaughtering jews. And you want to label a bill that eugenics, the very practice that's used not to keep women, not to abort babies, but the practice that's used to keep african american women from even having Children. Your solution to poverty sterilization. Oh, and by the way, I think this is the same legislature that suddenly is talking about history, the history of eugenics, the history of what we've done in north Carolina, the history that has happened relative to race in our country. And yet the same legislature says, oh, let us not dare teach kids that history. What hypocrisy. What a height of insensitivity to people of color. That this brings us back to the human Betterment League at that moment. You remember that my history buffs the human Betterment League where black people were called morons, where poor people were told they were not worthy of being able to be a parent. This bill is bad first of all because of the titling of it. Eugenics, life is precious. Every single person in this chamber I believe believes life is precious. An abortion is tragic. And I don't think there's anyone on this chamber floor that doesn't think abortion is tragic. What must a woman be struggling with to go through that moment of choice to be able to end of life? And it seems like no matter how long we're here every session, the dashboard is gonna light up like a christmas tree at christmas time with new legislation. That's not really about good legislation. It's about power. It's about politics. It's about manipulation. It's about division. And here we are. Another one of those bills as a pastor. I've held babies a month old while they took their last breath. I've counseled couples in the ICU while the doctor excavated their child and while they had to breathe for the child because they knew the child wasn't gonna breathe anymore. I've watched doctors who are heroic, who do everything possible that technology allows them to do to be able to keep a baby alive. And then every once in a while in the midst of that moment, the doctor has to look at those parents and say that maybe just maybe comfort and compassion is going to be best for your child. And the problem with these abortion bills, every single one of them is that we assume every situation is the same and every situation is not the same. So to be clear, this is not about life, this is not about racial equity. This is not about disability rights. This is a divide and conquer bill, that this is a bill of desperation. This is a bill that says the only chance we've got to hold on to power is to divide people after all, isn't that the playbook? Let's divide everybody pro life, pro choice. Let's divide everybody. Black and white. Let's divide everybody. Black lives. Blue lives. Let's divide everybody. Conservative, Liberal patriot, progressive. So here we are playing out the playbook labels divide us. And this is the irony of this bill. The irony of this bill is that most of the people who think this is a good bill wouldn't even wear a mask to protect people's lives. This is the irony of this bill. The irony of this bill is that most of the people who will vote for this bill, most of them I have no value representing the gentleman, will refrain from disparaging other members of this Assembly of the gentleman will yield before. Yes, Mr Speaker. Every time we protect life in the womb and failed to pass legislation that protects life in the world, then we are failing the life in the womb embedded in this bill. Somewhere is a baby. This baby somewhere is in this bill, and eventually this baby will leave the wound. And this baby, according to this bill, will wind up in the world. And when this baby winds up in the world, if it's a girl, guess what? She's gonna wind up living in a state that won't even pass an equal rights amendment, this baby that's embedded in this bill when she is finally born, When she finally winds up going to school, guess what? She's going to go to a segregated school, you know why? Because we have economic segregation in our public school systems. And then, as Speaker pointed out what purpose of gentleman from Wayne represented Bell Rice. Gentlemen, keep his remarks on the build at hand. Not hypothetically situations that Mr Mr Speaker, the builders about life if the baby's gonna live, they're going to have a life. So chair is going to rule on this. Now. This is um this is a bill having to do with ah when abortion abortion is allowed or not allowed. It doesn't have to do with other things the chairs, given the given the gentleman a good bit of leeway, but has to bring in about the bill, how to try to avoid other things. I know the gentleman's emotional about this, but let's try to bring it in about the bill, please. There is a link mr Speaker. There is a link between abortion and poverty. When this child is born, they're going to join the ranks of the one in five Children that are already living in poverty. I'm a whole life democrat. I value every life life in the womb, a child that is an immigrant person on death row, a pregnant woman, a veteran trying to get medication. Every member of the LGBTQ community. At what point do we say As a general assembly? We value every human life according to this bill, we see a black baby, that's a full human life. But when this black baby becomes a black man that's chased by a cop, it no longer has a full human life. This baby is gonna grow. Mr. Speaker point represented Gallion this the gentleman will retain his remarks to the to the issue at hand, or or the chair will take the floor from the gentleman's. Every human life deserves to be treated with dignity. What I would hope that we will find a way to legislate to protect the right of women to choose and the right of unborn fetuses. We need to do everything we can to offer real choices to women, adoption, financial support, better health care. My colleagues have quoted the bible, I'm somewhat trained to do that is God pro choice or pro life. Do that around me. Chapter 30. Place before you, life and death choose life. The reality of it is we should not be wondering if God is on our side, we should be seeking to be on God's side. Something is nothing is wrong. We're protecting unborn lives, but something is wrong with not fixing our healthcare system. Something is wrong with ignoring systemic racism. Something is wrong with denying economic empowerment to all families. So this is a bad bill and I hope eventually we can protect all lives for what purpose does the chair's got was gonna allow represented Michael raft, who's the bill's sponsor to speak as a final speaker. So chair does not intend to recognize anybody else unless I see a light right now. All right with that lady from carteret represent Macau after is recognized to speak on the bill a second time. Then we're gonna vote. Oh, sorry, huh? That's exhausting. I just want you to know that I love all of you. There is no racism in my heart are no search for power. I do this where people like Jaden Jane's a nine year old was that each of our committing meetings and yesterday in Judiciary one, she says while she listened to the debate on both sides and she wrote out a note which I would like to close with today to read to you and let you know this is what this is about. This is about these special Children who brings so much joy to their families, to the community, to their classmates. This is about giving them a chance to live to the 60 years. They can live to please listen to Jaden. My name is Jaden and I have Down syndrome and I know in my heart that I am God's child and I love my life. I'd like to tell people about what I can do. I could draw play piano and I can do all the things you can do. I like math, reading, spelling and grammar. I like swimming and my favorite stroke is first stroke. Thank you. This is what this is about. Question for the Houses. The passage of House Bill 4 53 on its second reading. Those in favor will vote, aye. Those opposed to vote no. The cork will open the vote. Representative movement on the floor Corker Lock Machine record the votes 67 having voted in the affirmative and 42 the negative. House Bill 4 53 passes at second reading without objection will be read a third time General Similar nor Climate Act. Question for the House passage of House Bill 4 53 on third reading. Those in favor will say hi, I suppose now. Yes. Abbott, House Bill 4 53 having passed third reading will be sent to the Senate.

Read the rest here:

House OKs bill to prevent abortion in cases of Down syndrome :: WRAL.com - WRAL.com