Margaret Sanger and the Klan

[KingsGambit]

More specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...Floyd_protests

Some of these are more problematic than others (I don't think removing statues for Confederate generals is problematic in the first place; this is the United States, and we shouldn't honor people for taking up arms against it.) The removal of the Slave Auction Block is the kind of thing that is more like removing history (though to be fair, it was relocated to a museum, possibly for its safety).

To put my cards on the table, though, I'm leery of statues from a Christian perspective, though we've discussed this on here and I don't think anybody else agreed.

[rogue06]

A couple of years ago Planned Parenthood of Greater New York removed her name from their Manhattan clinic in response to her ties to and support of the eugenics movement.

“The removal of Margaret Sanger’s name from our building is both a necessary and overdue step to reckon with our legacy and acknowledge Planned Parenthood’s contributions to historical reproductive harm within communities of color,” Karen Seltzer, chair of the board at Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, said in a statement. “Margaret Sanger’s concerns and advocacy for reproductive health have been clearly documented, but so too has her racist legacy.

The New York chapter, which is one of the largest affiliates of Planned Parenthood, also announced it is working to change an honorary street sign that marks “Margaret Sanger Square” at Bleecker and Mott streets in Manhattan.

The efforts are the first of many “organizational shifts” to confront Sanger’s legacy and institutional racism more broadly, the chapter said in a statement. Last month, the chapter’s chief executive, Laura McQuade, was ousted from her job after hundreds of former and current employees signed public letters accusing McQuade, who is white, of abusive behavior and a failure to address complaints about systemic racism, pay inequity and a lack of upward mobility for black employees — allegations McQuade denied.

And this by Alexis McGill Johnson, the president and chief executive of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, published in the New York Times: I’m the Head of Planned Parenthood. We’re Done Making Excuses for Our Founder. We must reckon with Margaret Sanger’s association with white supremacist groups and eugenics.

[...]

Up until now, Planned Parenthood has failed to own the impact of our founder’s actions. We have defended Sanger as a protector of bodily autonomy and self-determination, while excusing her association with white supremacist groups and eugenics as an unfortunate “product of her time.” Until recently, we have hidden behind the assertion that her beliefs were the norm for people of her class and era, always being sure to name her work alongside that of W.E.B. Dubois and other Black freedom fighters. But the facts are complicated.

Sanger spoke to the women’s auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan at a rally in New Jersey to generate support for birth control. And even though she eventually distanced herself from the eugenics movement because of its hard turn to explicit racism, she endorsed the Supreme Court’s 1927 decision in Buck v. Bell, which allowed states to sterilize people deemed “unfit” without their consent and sometimes without their knowledge — a ruling that led to the sterilization of tens of thousands of people in the 20th century.

The first human trials of the birth control pill — a project that was Sanger’s passion later in her life — were conducted with her backing in Puerto Rico, where as many as 1,500 women were not told that the drug was experimental or that they might experience dangerous side effects.

We don’t know what was in Sanger’s heart, and we don’t need to in order to condemn her harmful choices. What we have is a history of focusing on white womanhood relentlessly. Whether our founder was a racist is not a simple yes or no question. Our reckoning is understanding her full legacy, and its impact. Our reckoning is the work that comes next.

And the first step is making Margaret Sanger less prominent in our present and future. The Planned Parent Federation of America has already renamed awards previously given in her honor, and Planned Parenthood of Greater New York renamed its Manhattan health center in 2020. Other independently managed affiliates may choose to follow.

[...]

Looks like some in PP are starting to do to Sanger what the Mormons did to Brigham Young.

[Apologiaphoenix]

Do you have any examples of this happening? It seems beyond extreme to me.

As for Sanger, I don't see how her speaking to the women of the KKK about birth control says anything about her other than that she wanted to speak about birth control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2IiNd9c1OY&t=5s

[Stoic]

Some people have had statues, books, and paintings removed for the most tenuous links to racism, even if it was their ancestors and not them themselves.

Do you have any examples of this happening? It seems beyond extreme to me.

As for Sanger, I don't see how her speaking to the women of the KKK about birth control says anything about her other than that she wanted to speak about birth control.

[Apologiaphoenix]

When is racism okay?

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Why do Margaret Sanger statues still stand? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.

I have never supported the tearing down of statues. Our history is not perfect, but we often try to think we can erase it like it never happened. Ultimately, it’s about symbolism. On explaining that further, I highly recommend reading this book.

So many people had their statues torn down regularly, but surprisingly, one person seemed to be immune to this. I wasn’t the one who first noticed this. The Babylon Bee actually made a point of this. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, remained safe.

Some people have had statues, books, and paintings removed for the most tenuous links to racism, even if it was their ancestors and not them themselves. However, if anyone has some connections to racism, it would be Sanger. To start with, birth control was largely promoted by her in order to promote the favored races and stifle the reproduction of the unfavored races.

This was the Eugenics movement. Did we take that seriously? Yep. That’s because there was this guy in Germany at the time named Hitler who was doing this by exterminating the people that he deemed unfit. World War II quickly put an end to the Eugenics movement, at least officially.

However, in her autobiography, Sanger talks about speaking to a group of aroused supporters. She considered any group like that a good group to talk to. Therefore, she accepted the invitation and went to speak.

So what was this group?

See for yourself:

All the world over, in Penang and Skagway, in El Paso and Helsingfors, I have found women’s psychology in the matter of childbearing essentially the same, no matter what the class, religion, or economic status. Always to me any aroused group was a good group, and therefore I accepted an invitation to talk to the women’s branch of the Ku Klux Klan at Silver Lake, New Jersey, one of the weirdest experiences I had in lecturing.

So let’s also consider the way the logic works here.

An aroused group is a good group.
The women’s branch of the KKK was an aroused group.
Therefore, the women’s branch of the KKK was a good group.

You can read the book here.

Now I am consistent in that I think removing statues doesn’t work. If Planned Parenthood wants to keep the statue, they have that freedom. However, I notice that Sanger remains safe despite having ties like this. Not only that, but her organization of Planned Parenthood is celebrated as is the abortion that the organization promotes.

We know the reason why. No one dares to touch abortion since it is practically a sacrament to many on the left. We have seen with the news of the leak recently from the Supreme Court that people are going berserk because Roe V. Wade could be overturned.

This is why Sanger gets a lot more grace than anyone else does. Sanger goes and speaks to the KKK? No outrage whatsoever. Someone else was a descendant of someone who was thought to be a racist? We must expel them from our history!

I don’t expect consistency at all on this front. However, it looks like when it comes to which is more important, keeping abortion or removing any hint of racism, keeping abortion, which by the way can eliminate babies who are minorities, abortion wins.

Quite revealing.

In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)