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. 🙏
The worst part of having a child with a disability is not the disability. It is the people that surmise they have no value, therefore we need to ensure their death. And that is what RFK jr is really advocating.
I’m sorry that our society teaches us to devalue the lives of people with impairments. As a younger person, I carried those views. As an ethicist, I’ve had to face those views, where they came from, and root them out of myself. Disability justice is now central to how I see the world. The fact it requires so much dedication to even see how bias is built into the lives around us shows what a threat human dignity is to those in power. 🙏
Its not lost on me of the recent case of the black mother who had 7-9? People in her labor room via zoom because she did not want a c-section and she had to plead her case, with no supporting attorney present for her, to the judge. Its still happening even today.
100%. Despite claiming to value freedom - especially liberty - America is built on ruling class controlling the bodies of others. Like in cases of forced procedures, these are in the name of “care” and require the participation and endorsement of healthcare providers. SMH
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. 🙏
The worst part of having a child with a disability is not the disability. It is the people that surmise they have no value, therefore we need to ensure their death. And that is what RFK jr is really advocating.
I’m sorry that our society teaches us to devalue the lives of people with impairments. As a younger person, I carried those views. As an ethicist, I’ve had to face those views, where they came from, and root them out of myself. Disability justice is now central to how I see the world. The fact it requires so much dedication to even see how bias is built into the lives around us shows what a threat human dignity is to those in power. 🙏
Even though I lived in Virginia for a long while, didn’t hear of this. Thanks for retelling the story and bearing witness.
Its not lost on me of the recent case of the black mother who had 7-9? People in her labor room via zoom because she did not want a c-section and she had to plead her case, with no supporting attorney present for her, to the judge. Its still happening even today.
100%. Despite claiming to value freedom - especially liberty - America is built on ruling class controlling the bodies of others. Like in cases of forced procedures, these are in the name of “care” and require the participation and endorsement of healthcare providers. SMH
This is madness. Thank you for sharing Matthew Cortland's article.
Matthew is one of the most brilliant people I know. Thank you for reading their work! 🙏
During the depression when fdr instituted all those programs to help the poor they deliberately withheld help for black Americans.