Dear reader, when you have a minute, check out an enlightening series on HULU titled, “Erased.” If you enjoy stories about heroism and bravery during war time, this one will sit well with you. Four major World War II scenarios are given a closer look: The attack on Pearl Harbor, the landing at Normandy, the rescue effort at Dunkirk and the Battle of the Bulge. Some of us have heard of these pivotal moments in the war effort and still others know of relatives that served in those conflicts.
It is generally accepted that the mainstream media created and maintained interest in the war effort by reporting tales of villainy by the eugenicist Adolf Hitler. Acts of heroism by American soldiers were placed on display in newsprint and on the radio by mainstream media to keep the public abreast of the war effort . As heroes were highlighted, recruitment soared and many men and women of all races, creeds and colors signed up to serve in order to prove their patriotism and stave off fascism.
According to the series, “Erased,” approximately 1 million people of color served during WWII in both forward and support capacities. Yet stories of heroic deeds by them were often deliberately scrubbed from the historical record. This 3 part series attempts to correct some of the omissions by historians regarding the service of patriotic black and brown men during World War II. As each of the three parts unfold, it quickly becomes apparent that the voices of valorous acts were selectively chosen by the contemporary media outlets to advance a highly scripted vision of America. In the minds of the story tellers tasked with telling a nation about its brave and chivalrous men, the efforts of people of color were deemed irrelevant and not fit to print; hence the title of the series, “Erased.”
I am using this scenario as a vehicle to highlight what contemporary erasure looks like in the hands of modern day eugenicists and media moguls. From the inception of organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the intention of its founder, Margaret Sanger, was to literally silence the voices of black and brown children through often dangerous birth control methods and abortion procedures performed on their mothers. The organization's original intent was to attempt to control the population (and therefore the power) of people of color and other “undesirables.” Since 1973 the number of black and brown voices that have been wiped out due to abortion alone is cited at over 20 million; this exceeds the approximate number of military personnel killed in WWII (. (Defense Casualty Analysis System). That means that Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood has done more to erase the voices of a race than Hitler managed to do with the Jews. While we as a country were focused on stopping racial extermination in Europe we missed what was being planned for the “undesirables” in this country. How did that happen?
Fast forward to 2024. Scarcely a word about the mass killing of children of color gets reported by the mainstream media. Why is that? Are their stories and the struggles of their parents deemed irrelevant and not fit to print?
The Germans had a term for those whom they targeted for extermination: “Lebensunwertes Leben.” It was a Nazi designation for the segments of the populace which, according to the Nazi regime of the time, had no right to live or were “unworthy of life.” (Lumen Learning).
As I think about my own father who served in WWII in the Navy Seabees, I cannot imagine that he willingly fought to ensure the eugenics schemes of a government funded agency such as Planned Parenthood whose purpose was to kill the very legacy he was fighting to defend. My fathers pride and joy was his family and he was definitely “Pro-child” in every sense of that term. But somehow, within one generation - my generation - murder in the womb became a “right” defendable by the highest law of this land. How did that happen?
We will continue to look at the history of the eugenics movement in the next several weeks as we piece together how we have come to consider abortion as “normal.” I pray you will stick with me as we dive more deeply into the history of eugenics and all that it has wrought to try to defeat an entire people group deemed “unfit to live.”
Many blessings as we all walk circumspectly towards the truth as it pertains to the matter of abortion.
Sylvia
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