When I first read this book it was sophomore year of College, and it was assigned for one of the most enlightening courses offered - Prisons, Punishment, and Democracy. Recently I wanted to revisit the horrible truths revealed/explored in the texts assigned in the course. "Killing The Black Body" is certainly not a light read, but if you're looking for honest information about shocking political policies, Black history, the truth about the exploitation of Black women and the forced control of their reproduction check this book out. Perhaps the most shocking fact about this book is that a lot of the blatant reproductive genocide in the United States occurred in the 1990's. Clearly racism plays a role in part of our political policies and this is a great book to cite as evidence for it.
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And then there are the anti-choice campaigns asserting that "the most dangerous place for an African American is in the womb" and "black children are an endangered species." Hidden beneath the claim that black abortion is necessarily genocide is also the notion that black women lack the ability to make wise choices about their reproductive health and are too stupid to recognize when they are victims of coerced abortion. So we have racism--blatant and covert--playing a role in the subjugation of black women from both ends of the spectrum.
How can we simultaneously maximize the reproductive freedom of black women and minimize the influence of racist public health policies? It's going to be hard. Especially since both anti-choice and pro-choice rhetoric can be laced with racist assumptions.
@Anonymous: I recommend that you watch "Abortion Conspiracy Part 4" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djRDPRLqgok&feature=related) and "Abortion Conspiracy Part 5" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Abp8HqdueA&feature=related) on YouTube. The documentary series fully reveals the utter bullshit behind the controversial pro-life billboard campaigns. All you need to do is mix self-interested politicians with Bible-thumping racists, and you get ads like "black children are an endangered species."
Best quote from Loretta Ross in Part 5 (1:24): "it would be hard to convince me that white conservatives who haven't shown any particular interest in saving black babies to date, suddenly think that they are the leaders of the crusades from black babies."
LOVE HER!!!
Your Castaing? is fabulous(others too) Greta.I am happy you continue to sketch.
There is a really awesome post at Sociological Images about the "next possible leader" anti-abortion billboard campaign (as mentioned in the above comments).
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/04/08/racialized-abortion-campaigns-and-rethinking-choice/
"If pro-life groups want to stop abortion, they need to stop accusing black women of moral bankruptcy and start putting those billboards up across from the Capital Building. What black women need isn’t an ethics lesson, they need resources."
So good.
oops. meant to post that as anonymous. sorry :(
Evelyn, please leave me alone. I have blocked you from everything else, I don't want you to contact me. We have nothing to talk about.
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