As I have prayed recently, I have heard the Holy Spirit say, “It’s reconcile or reckoning,” and it has been a sobering word for my spirit. It has undoubtedly been a time of reckoning for many. The racist roots of organizations and systems are being exposed. But I have great hope.
When writing The Dream King, Will and I felt explicitly led to include the tragic story of Ota Benga—an African who was put on display in the Bronx Zoo in 1906. Mind you, that wasn’t during the time of slavery. That was at the beginning of the twentieth century when eugenics was thriving as the prevalent racist ideology. Benga was put in a cage along with apes in an effort to demonstrate that people of African descent were closer to monkeys than men.
This past week, the Bronx Zoo apologized for that tragic history. They also denounced the garbage-science that led to it, which was authored by their founder Madison Grant. It’s a time of reckoning.
Do you know who also applied and promoted the racist ideas of Madison Grant? Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, combined the eugenics ideology with sexual liberation. It’s not surprising that a century later, Planned Parenthood has located the majority of its locations in minority neighborhoods. Two weeks ago, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York removed Sanger’s name from their building—a small token of the reckoning that must now be amplified in the culture.
In 2019, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote 20 in-depth pages in his opinion on Box v. Planned Parenthood of KY and IN. In it, he detailed how abortion is the ultimate tool of the eugenics priority of eliminating the unfit. Who are the unfit, you may ask? Well, Sanger created the “Negro Project” as a means to eliminate the African American population—whom she described as “weeds.” As the only African American on the Supreme Court, Thomas’ insight is priceless:
“This law and other laws like it promote a State’s compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics.”
“But Sanger’s arguments about the eugenic value of birth control in securing ‘the elimination of the unfit,’ apply with even greater force to abortion, making it significantly more effective as a tool of eugenics.”
“This case highlights the fact that abortion is an act rife with the potential for eugenic manipulation. From the beginning, birth control and abortion were promoted as means of effectuating eugenics. Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was particularly open about the fact that birth control could be used for eugenic purposes. These arguments about the eugenic potential for birth control apply with even greater force to abortion, which can be used to target specific children with unwanted characteristics.”
When writing The Dream King, I felt the anguish of the Lord’s heart concerning what happened to Ota Benga in 1906. That’s why we included his photo in the book. I also feel the Lord’s current anguish over how that same ideology is still used against African Americans today and those deemed undesirable and unfit. We may have scraped the name “eugenics” off the ideology, but the priorities and goals are still at work today. We can scrape a founder’s name off a building, but is that really enough if the work continues?
