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Disabled rights activists talk about "eugenics" in the present tense for the same reasons that antiracists talk about "white supremacy" in the present tense. Whether that feels confusing, alienating or insightful in an unsettling way depends on the larger conversation you're in. @Karl_Appuhn/1476730337711566848On twitter.com
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Like white supremacy, eugenics was once touted as a common sense policy and embraced across by a wide variety of political actors. Then both were publicly shunned, but continued to influence dominant political assumptions.Permalink On twitter.com
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Because of this public shunning, most people (even actual racists) treat being called a racist or a white supremacist as the worst possible insult. It's retrograde, declassé, fringe.Permalink On twitter.com
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Similarly, most imagine that eugenics was defeated with the Nazis, even though compulsory sterilization of racial minorities and disabled people continued for many decades after in the USA. ihpi.umich.edu/news/forced-sterilization-policies-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-disabilities-and-lasted-21stPermalink On twitter.com
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Where US Founding Fathers publicly espoused white superiority, now that's a marginal public position. But policies and covert prejudices that advantage whites are commonplace.Permalink On twitter.com
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Similarly, many fascists, conservatives, liberals, and socialists once embraced eugenics, but now the word is taboo. But again, policies and covert prejudices that disadvantage disabled people are commonplace.Permalink On twitter.com
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Is pro-white racism the same as white supremacy? It certainly once was, since before the shunning its advocates were openly white supremacists.Permalink On twitter.com
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Activists and academics use "white supremacy" to name pro-white systemic racism for a reason. And they do so despite the fact that people will be confused and taken aback. Why?Permalink On twitter.com
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Several reasons, better summarized at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy#Academic_use_of_the_term. (I've been involved in drafting this section on Wikipedia)…Permalink On twitter.com
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1. It names a system of discrimination rather than a form of prejudice. Thereby reminding the listener that structures of domination are at issue, rather than just feelings of superiority.Permalink On twitter.com
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2. The term is "provocative and brutal" as is the lived reality of racism. It describes a reality that is "nefarious, global, systemic, and constant" (in the words of Tim Davidson commenting on bell hooks' writing).Permalink On twitter.com
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Note that you can't get the latter feeling without making people feel uncomfortable.Permalink On twitter.com
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3. It forces people in the present to question the continuities between their actions, language, and attitudes and people in the past who they instinctively revile.Permalink On twitter.com
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Once you get past the "that can't be me" (which, it must be said, can delay comprehension) the "could it?" self-questioning can be very insightful.Permalink On twitter.com
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Like white supremacy, eugenics was highly politically influential. Its political legacy is not just one of an ugly past that was overcome, but of a broad attitude that shaped policies and attitudes that lasted.Permalink On twitter.com
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And just as there are overt white supremacists (including in the Trump White House) questioning whether non-white people belong in America, there are overt eugenicists (including in governor's offices) arguing we should let disabled people die.Permalink On twitter.com
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Naturally, the folks at the CDC see themselves in a direct opposition with those takes. Just as naturally, disabled people fighting for both their lives and the right to inhabit public spaces safely may not.Permalink On twitter.com
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If disability rights rhetoric makes public health officials look in the mirror and worry that they may be becoming what they despise, that could be incredibly transformative.Permalink On twitter.com
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This is not just a hypothetical thought. Case in point: ACT UP, Larry Kramer, and Anthony Fauci aep.lib.rochester.edu/node/49111 statnews.com/2020/05/28/larry-kramer-force-of-nature-fauci-others-remember-aids-activist/Permalink On twitter.com