Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck - 28:17
written by building bridges radio
at Wednesday, September 14, 2016
“Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics,
and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck”
with
Adam Cohen, former member of the NY Times Editorial Board
One of America’s great miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court’s infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell ruling made government sterilization of “undesirable” citizens the law of the land. Bestselling author Adam Cohen tells the story in Imbeciles of
One of America’s great miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court’s infamous 1927 Buck v. Bell ruling made government sterilization of “undesirable” citizens the law of the land. Bestselling author Adam Cohen tells the story in Imbeciles of
one of the darkest moments in the American legal
tradition: the Supreme Court’s decision to champion eugenic sterilization for the greater
good of the country. In 1927, when the nation was caught up in eugenic fervor, the
justices allowed Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck,
a perfectly normal young woman, for being an “imbecile.” Adam Cohen sets the context for the forced
sterilization of Carrie Buck and thousands of others: a panic, fed by the pseudoscience
of eugenics, that so-called feebleminded people constituted a threat to public
safety and the nation’s gene pool. The book serves as a cautionary tale about
what may happen when those who have, or obtain, power use the institutions of
government and the law
to advance their own interests at the expense of those who
are poor, disadvantaged, or of different ‘hereditary’ stock.
Plus
Donald Trump's Fascist Week - The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Donald Trump comes under fire for unknowingly tweeting a Benito Mussolini quote, and he may have more in common with the fascism founder than he realizes.
Posts
