WEBVTT - IDKMYDE: Eugenics and Elaine Riddick

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<v Speaker 1>On today's episode. If I didn't know, maybe you didn't either.

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<v Speaker 1>Let's talk about something crazy you probably didn't hear enough

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<v Speaker 1>about in school, eugenics. Now, eugenics sounds like a fancy

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<v Speaker 1>science word, right, like, oh, that must be some tech

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<v Speaker 1>that Elon Musk is cooking up. But no, it was

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<v Speaker 1>a straight up evil plan to decide who was fit

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<v Speaker 1>to have babies and who wasn't. Spoiler alert, if you

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<v Speaker 1>were black, poor, or disabled, they decided you weren't fit.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know. Maybe you didn't know. I didn't know.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know. So back in the day, from like

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen twenty nine to nineteen seventy four, white folks was

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<v Speaker 1>out here playing god. They sterilized over sixty thousand people

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<v Speaker 1>in the United States forcibly, like imagine going to the

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<v Speaker 1>doctor and instead of fixing your cough, they're like, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you're never having kids. You're welcome. Out of the sixty thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>North Carolina alone sterilized over seventy six hundred people. And

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<v Speaker 1>North Carolina was super nuts because they let social workers,

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<v Speaker 1>not doctors, not judges, but social workers decide who should

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<v Speaker 1>get sterilized. I mean they sitting there with their notepads,

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<v Speaker 1>your poor check, your single check, you back talk to

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<v Speaker 1>your teacher in third grade. Yeah, sterilized. And they loved

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<v Speaker 1>throwing around this term called feeble minded, Like what even

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<v Speaker 1>is that? They called folks feeble minded for being poor

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<v Speaker 1>or for not finishing school. One of the most infamous

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<v Speaker 1>cases was a black girl named Elaine Riddick. She was

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen years old, got pregnant after being raped, and instead

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<v Speaker 1>of helping her, the state sterilized her. They called her

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<v Speaker 1>feeble minded. It was a legit diagnosis. Cisors just trying

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<v Speaker 1>to survive being black and poor in North Carolina. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>the kicker. They claimed they were helping society, like sterilizing

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<v Speaker 1>people would stop poverty or crime. Nah, fam it just

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<v Speaker 1>made them feel powerful while ruining people's lives. Families were destroyed,

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<v Speaker 1>the legacies were cut off, and survivors like Elaine Riddick

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<v Speaker 1>been fighting for justice ever since. And don't think this

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<v Speaker 1>is ancient history. Forced sterilizations are still happening prisons, immigrant

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<v Speaker 1>detention centers. Yeah, they didn't tried to find a wrap

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<v Speaker 1>around for it. Y'all ain't slick, So let's keep it real.

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<v Speaker 1>If you don't know your history, they'll run the same

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<v Speaker 1>playbook on us again. And let's all take a moment

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<v Speaker 1>to remember Elaine Riddick and all the people who were

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<v Speaker 1>brave enough to speak out because one thing's for show

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<v Speaker 1>and two things for certain Black folks might be resilient,

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<v Speaker 1>but we shouldn't have to bounce back from this. And

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<v Speaker 1>I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I didn't know.