February 2, 2025 - 11:55
Similar to our discussion on Thursday about how theories of eugenics originated from statistics, Chapter 6 highlighted how other aspects of science were used to promote “ideal” traits. For example, they brought up the work of Gregor Mendel on genetics which helped argue that those with disabilities should not reproduce as they had defective hereditary traits. Mendel genetics are taught in introductory biology courses essentially everywhere, however we never learned about this unfortunate application of Mendel's work. Additionally, it was appalling to learn that there were more than 65 thousand forced sterilizations in the US by the 1960s and that the forced-sterilization laws in the US actually influenced Hitler’s plan to create national racial purity.
I was also shocked by the striking similarities between immigration laws in the “progressive” era to the present day. Chapter 6 discussed immigration laws that prevented anyone with “poor physique” from entering the country, which could be anything from “oddities of dress” to “talkativeness, witticism” to a homosexuality. Essentially, there could be any number of ways for an immigration guard to deny entrance to the US. This reminds me of Trump's belief that immigrants are rapists who bring crime and drugs to the United States. His obsession with building a border wall to keep out any immigrants from central and south america are rooted in nothing but racist beliefs. Additionally, back in 2023, Trump notoriously said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of this country,” which was noted to possess similar rhetoric to Hitler’s national purity ideas. This is quite frightening.
The vague “poor physique” term mentioned above illustrates that the idea of disability was used to discriminate against a whole range of people. For example, Edward Clarke warned that a woman would be permanently damaged and disabled from a college education. The reasoning was to prevent women from gaining “masculine ideas of independence.” Additionally, I was appalled by learning that people from 53 different indigenous tribes were sent to federal insane asylums where their hair was cut off and many were confined to straitjackets and metal wristlets. Ultimately, ableism, racism, and sexism were used in discriminatory practices to control populations of people. I was also interested in the differentiation between “successful cripples” and “begging type of cripples.” The proud veterans who may have been injured in war were seen as honorable, while immigrants with “poor physique” were not allowed to enter the country as they would not be able to perform work and would burden society. This resembles Trump’s belief that immigrants take advantage of the US government. This statement is false and immigrants often fuel essential parts of the US economy.