Re: population vs. technology/consumption

Dear Andrew,
Yes, I don't know, Yes, Yes, No, and No.
Note that I specifically said, any woman of any color. I am a woman of any
color and there are many forms of oppression. Men seem to presume that
women in general are thrilled at the thought of having 20 children and
always being pregant. They aren't, I assure you.
Best,
Judi

On Tue, 30 May 2000, Andrew Wayne Austin wrote:

> Judi Kessler,
> 
> I have not suggested we deny women access to contraception, abortion, or
> sterilization. I explicitly stated that this should be a right and that it
> should be secured. Did you not read my post??
> 
> How can you presume to speak for African American women, but I cannot? Are
> you not concerned that black women are sterilized at a rate dramatically
> higher than white women? Does it not bother you that conservatives
> celebrate the dramatic drop in black fertility? Or are you with Margaret
> Sanger that a reduction in the number of the inferior races is a good
> thing?
> 
> Your image of the black woman "pregnant and lactating most of her life" is
> a disgusting racist remark. I don't think there are very many African
> Americans who would consider that you have spoken for them, especially
> black women.
> 
> African American women in my class come up to me after my lecture on the
> racial disparity in sterilization and either thank me for talking about
> issues that other white people don't (many black women are after all
> conscious of these things - and it is not because they "heard it on the
> grapevine") or thank me for telling them something that had not crossed
> their mind.
> 
> I have an email (which I will not disclose here because I respect the
> student's privacy) from a black woman who was involuntarily sterilized via
> the same way method black women throughout the United States are. She was
> mightily upset when I read aloud the testimony of a resident surgeon who
> explained how he gets black women to undergo hysterectomies. The resident
> use the exact same line that the surgeon gave her.
> 
> Evidently you are ignorant of history and present reality of eugenics in
> the United States. You might want to study the problem before you attack
> me for opposing racist sterilization.
> 
> Finally, your remark was deeply offensive for both its essentialism and
> its racial stereotyping. You might consider an apology to the list.
> 
> Andrew Austin
> Knoxville, TN
> 
>