Maya’s Reviews > Women, Race & Class > Status Update

…estimated that between 100,000 and 200,000 sterilizations had been funded that year by the federal government. During Hitler's Germany, incidentally, 250,000 sterilizations were carried out under the Nazis' Hereditary Health Law. Is it possible that the record of the Nazis, throughout the years of their reign, may have been almost equaled by U.S. government-funded sterilizations in the space of a single year?

Calling for the recruitment of Black ministers to lead local birth control committees.. "We do not want word to get out," wrote Margaret Sanger in a letter to a colleague,
..that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.

The struggle against racism must be an ongoing theme of the anti-rape movement, which must not only defend women of color, but the many victims of the racist manipulation of the rape charge as well…sexual violence constitutes one of the facets of a deep and ongoing crisis of capitalism… the threat of rape will continue to exist as long as the overall oppression of women remains an essential crutch for capitalism.

The myth of the black rapist of white women is the twin of the myth of the bad black woman—both designed to apologize for and facilitate the continued exploitation of black men and women.
Black women perceived this connection very clearly and were early in the forefront of the fight against lynching.

We made candles of tissue paper for the cake, covered the table as nicely as possible with paper napkins, and sang "Happy Birthday." We made speeches to her and she cried with surprise and happiness. The next day we received a note from her:

Dear Claudia, Betty and Elizabeth. I am very glad for what you did for me for my birthday. I really don't know how to thank you. Yesterday was one of the best years of my life.

She went on to pose a question to the audience of white club-women: Did they know that "a colored man once said that if he owned Hell and Texas, he would prefer to rent out Texas and live in Hell..."?

Then the girl said, "It is all right for you, Miss Anthony, to treat Negroes as equals, but I refuse to take dictation from a colored woman." "Indeed!" said Miss Anthony.
“Then," she said, "you needn't take any more dictation from me.”
so much sass

“…Look at King Alfred and see what a great man he was. He at one time did not know his a,b,c, but before his death he commanded armies and nations… he always looked forward and studied the harder. I think if the colored people study like King Alfred they will soon do away the evil of slavery. I can't see how the Americans can call this a land of freedom where so much slavery is.” – 16-year-old girl