As someone who can recite the holding, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s harsh words 😔, but has forgotten many of the underlying facts, your focus on Carrie Buck as a person, even all these years later, is so valuable, and moving.
I’m so grateful to Paul Lombardo for unearthing so much about Carrie and her life, and managing to interview her before her death. I think about her when I watch La Operación and Bell of the Beast and see the deep sadness carried by victims of state violence. Thanks - as always - for reading. 🙏
One thing that does haunt me as a disabled person is that some people only find this case horrifying because she was not actually disabled. I appreciate your footnote that it still would not have been okay to sterilize her if she actually had an intellectual disability.
I completely agree and have more essays to write on this point. It’s part of why the case remains so important - that reproductive justice must be for everyone.
As someone who can recite the holding, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s harsh words 😔, but has forgotten many of the underlying facts, your focus on Carrie Buck as a person, even all these years later, is so valuable, and moving.
I’m so grateful to Paul Lombardo for unearthing so much about Carrie and her life, and managing to interview her before her death. I think about her when I watch La Operación and Bell of the Beast and see the deep sadness carried by victims of state violence. Thanks - as always - for reading. 🙏
One thing that does haunt me as a disabled person is that some people only find this case horrifying because she was not actually disabled. I appreciate your footnote that it still would not have been okay to sterilize her if she actually had an intellectual disability.
I completely agree and have more essays to write on this point. It’s part of why the case remains so important - that reproductive justice must be for everyone.