Sanger
from page A l
and president of Texas Black
Americans for Life (TBAL),
insists that Planned Parenthood
presented The Negro Project in the
early 1930s to get blacks to pro
mote birth control to other blacks,
which it successfully did, but it
also deceived the black communi
ty of its absolute mission. TBAL's
mission statement says its is a
small group of Christians cotj^.
cemed about families that strives
to educate the community on vital
family issues such as crisis preg
nancies and sexual education for
parents and (children, all to pro
mote independent family life and
stronger communities.
"Margaret Sanger invited
prominent African-American edu
cators, doctors and church leaders
to write articles for her Birth Con
trol Review. Du Bois talked about
the social conditions of blacks at
the time and need for the services
that the Birth Control League was
promoting. In an essay he wrote
about developing the propaganda
for Negro community, Du Bois
I suggested going to the black
churches to get the message out.
Five years later Sanger developed
The Negro Project based on what
Du Bois had (written) but he prob
ably didn't intend for his words to
lead to an extermination of so
many blacks from the population,
but that gave Sanger the model to
do it."
Pack also believes that if Du
Bois and others had known at the
time what Sanger's ulterior motive
was they may not have extended a
hand of support to her. Pack wrote
that "Through programs such as
the Negro Project of 1929,
Planned Parenthood began to spin
a web of deception by baiting the
African-American community
with the pretense of family plan
ning' and other 'health services'."
Brian Lewis, director of devel
opment and public policy for
Planned Parenthood of North Car
olina, argued that "people have
taken what she said, in letters she
wrote to African American leaders
and really distorted what she real
ly represented."
Quotes like the following con
tinue to spark debate over Sanger
and keep Planned Parenthood
under fire, "The most successful
education approach to the Negro is
through a religious appeal. We do
want word to get out that we want
to exterminate the Negro popula
tion, and the minister is the man
who can straighten out that idea if
it ever occurs to any of their more
rebellious members." Many
believe this quote was Sanger's
way of outlining her plot to exter
minate black people and other
"undesirables" worldwide.
But, Lewis explained that
although Sanger "had some views
that might make you cringe now,
they were views held by 99 per
cent of everyone at the time."
Lewis also claims that the Planned
Parenthood network of today is
"here on the back of Margaret
Sanger" and that her primary con
cern was making available to
women everywhere, including
black women, their right to control
their reproductive functions if they
so desired, at a time when contra
ceptives were "revolutionary and
obscene."
"If people are opposed to birth
control, then that is fine, they have
that right to their opinion, but they
should not make Margaret Sanger
out to be some sort of monster or
racist," Lewis said.
Planned Parenthood has
devoted a section of its Web site
(www.plannedparenthood.org)
detailing Sanger's mission and
career in legalizing birth control.
In a section about "Sanger and
Eugenics" it reads, "Sanger's crit
ics attempt to discredit them by
intentionally confusing her views
on 'fitness' with eugenics, racism
and anti-Semitism. Margaret
Sanger was not a racist, an anti
Semite or a eugenicist."
However, Sanger was a mem
ber of the American Eugenics
Society, and one issue of Sanger's
Birth Control Review, the official
organ of Sanger's American Birth
Control League, shows that Dr.
b r n s t
R u d i n ,
head of
Nazi Ger
many's
eugenics
program,
published
his ideas
and sup
port of
eugenics
in Ameri
ca
Although statistics reported by
The Alan Guttmacher Institute, the
research arm of Planned Parent
hood, indicate that black women
obtain abortions at a higher rate
than white women, Lewis said it is
merely a result of socioeconomic
status, lack of health care options
and sexual education and institu
tional barriers to under-served
minorities, including black
women.
But Pack is convinced that the
figures on trends in abortion
among women of different races
are anything but circumstantial.
Having researched and published
various articles on abortion and
eugenics in the black American
community. Pack says she sees
more than a coincidental trend
among black women and abortion,
but the clues to a plot to racial
genocide.
"Planned Parenthood has done
a good job of marketing itself to
other communities, including the
Black community, so that now
they have developed a reputation
of being a benevolent organization
that cares about families and
women and all of the propaganda
that goes behind it," Pack said.
Still. Lewis insists that the
controversy surrounding Sanger's
legacy is a ball of confusion and
misinterpretation. The racist tag
that has since been placed upon
Sanger is one that Lewis believes
was due to her concern about
women and their controlling the
size of their families in order to be
economically independent.'Mar
garet Sanger created access to
birth control for low-income and
minority women and immigrant
women," Lewis said.
"The idea that she did this in
poor communities was an idea that
the other side pounced upon and
was taken as 'sterilizing the
African-American community. "
The fact that the family planning
clinic in Harlem wax staffed by
African Americans and endorsed
by Amsterdam News and the
Urban League should indicate that
Sanger's intentions and concerns
were genuine. Lewis said.
"It's using words that we don't
use anymore and trying to explain
what they were trying to do that
gets Sanger's intentions turned
around in a way that makes it look
as if she was racist." Lewis said.
Jim Sedlak, president of
\ STOPP International (a Christian
based organization of parents
devoted to educating the public on
the hidden agenda of Planned Par
enthood) and vice president of the
American Life League, considers
Planned Parenthtxxi to be "a very
politically savvy organization."
one that remained a very secret
network for much of its early exis
tence. The groups ate well known
for anti-abortion stances.
"Huge black leaders seemed
to have endorsed Planned Parent
hood. But Planned Parenthtxxi
says what it needs to publish in
order to gain a political agenda,"
said Sedlak, who also explained
that the eugenics nature of
Planned Parenthtxxi was not just
shared by Sanger alone, because
she surrounded herself with peo
ple who believed as she did. The
successor to Singer at Planned
Parenthtxxi was also a member of
the American Eugenics Society.
Sedlak, who is white, ques
tions the influence of people such
as Dr. Lothrop Stoddard, author of
"The Rising Tide of Color Against
White Supremacy." a book which
Sanger reviewed in her Birth Con
trol Review. Lothrop also sat on
the advisory board for the Negro
Project, and Sedlak questions his
influence as an avowed Nazi sup
porter on Sanger and her birth con
trol efforts.
ine primary onjecuve 01
Planned Parenthood. Sedlak said,
is to reduce the families in world
to two children or less; that was
Sanger's specific goal. According
to Sedlak. Sanger went so far as to
propose a program for birthing
licenses in the United States,
where no one would ever be
allowed more than three children,
because she wanted to eliminate as
many people as possible, particu
larly those she considered "unfit"
such as members of the minority
community who were poor and
uneducated.
"Planned Parenthood is more
clever today but just as adamant.
They have learned to disguise
what they're doing and they don't
openly talk about eugenics. Now
they call it a problem (of) 'over
population.' According to recent
United Nations data, there is no
overpopulation problem," Sedlak
said. "Margaret Sanger was speak
ing in language of her time, but her
organization has not turned away
form those philosophies and goals
of (the) early birth control move
ment."
The root of Sanger's fight, to
some, to legalize birth control was
plain and simple: reproductive
and economic freedom. Families,
including her own, straggled to
feed the mouths and clothe the
bodies of large families on small
incomes. Sanger saw birth control
as a way to prevent households
from overextending their econom
ic capabilities.
Planned Parenthood is the
largest provider of abortions in this
country and around the globe, and
statistics prove that a trend exists
in abortion among women of
color. Although few are disputing
that Sanger indeed opened the
doors to reproductive freedom for
women globally, the debate over
whether her movement may have
resulted in the death of an entire
black-generation seems like an
issue that may be as contentious as
the abortion debate itself.
For more information on
Sanger, the birth control move
ment and abortion, log onto
www.plannedparenthood.org,
www.abortionfacts.com or
www.stoppintemational.org.
Sedlak
Benefits of healing arts to be touted
FROM STAFF RETORTS
The Golden Flower T'ai Chi
Center, 612 Trade Street in Win
ston-Salem, will celebrate World
T'ai Chi and Qigong Day April 6
by holding a free large-scale tai
chi demonstration at 10 a.m.
Tai chi is an integrated sys
tem of physical and mental exer
cises that is to be performed
slowly with a very relaxed body
and with intense mental concen
tration. The soft martial art
teaches inner strength while ton
ing muscles, increasing flexibili
ty and boosting immune power.
Practicing it helps develop sensi
tivity and promote tranquility of
the mind.
Qigong is most often
referred to as any set of breath
ing and circulation techniques
capable of improving health,
preventing illness and strength
ening the body. The practice of
qigong aims at balancing and
strengthening "qi," a Chinese
term used to refer to all types of
energy in the human body. Also,
it is said that qigong is a way to
attain great wisdom and realize
the true nature of human exis
tence and its relation with the
cosmos.
Together, the two ancient
Chinese healing and martial arts
are said to help reduce stres^.
relieve chronic pain, lower
blood pressure, slow the aging
process, alleviate asthma, fight
depression as well as improve
balance and help prevent other
major diseases.
World T'ai Chi and Qigong
Day is celebrating its third year
with more than 50,000 people
practicing these martial arts.
After the demonstration,
there will be opportunities to
learn aboutg feng shui, massage,
acupuncture and other related
arts for well being.
There will be a live band,
African drumming, dancing and
arts projects for children of all
ages.
San Gee Tarn of Golden Flower Tai Chi Center.
Execs
from pane AH
tive Program at the University of
Virginia's Darden Business
School. She serves on the Con
gressional Black Caucus Foun
dation Board and the Milwaukee
Art Museum board of directors.
"One of my first summer
jobs was working for the
YWCA executive director in
Denver. Colorado," said Walls.
"She was a great role model for
me and instilled in me the value
of hard work, which 1 strive to
bring to every facet of my
responsibilities at Philip Mor
ris."
Washington serves as vice
president for external affairs at
Philip Morris Management
Corp. and has held a variety of
sales and government affairs
positions within the family of
companies over the paxt 14
years. Before joining Philip
Morris, Washington worked in
Columbia, S.C., for the Town
ship Auditorium and the lieu
tenant governor's office. Wash
ington is on the board of direc
tors of D.C. Central Kitchen.
National Coalition for Black
Civic Participation, D.C. Cham
ber of Commerce, National
Black Arts Festival and the
Delta Research & Education
Foundation. She is a member of
the Executive Leadership Coun
cil. She received her B.S. degree
from the University of South
Carolina.
"It is my distinct honor to be
recognized with this prestigious
award." said Washington. "The
women in my family have
always been strong and support
ive role models throughout my
life, and I have tried to use the
lessons they have taught me to
help the next generation of
women achieve their dreams."
In addition to Walls and
Washington, two other Philip
Morris Companies executives
were recently inducted into the
YWCA's Academy of Women
Achievers: Dr. Jane Lewis, vice
president of scientific technical
services for Philip Morris
U.S.A. and Denise Morrison,
vice president of Kraft Foods
North America and general
manager of the company's
snacks division.
The Board of Trustees,
Alumni, Faculty, Staff, and
Students of
Forsyth Technical
Community College
request the honor
of your presence at
the Installation of
Gary Martin Green
as President
on Thursday, the fourth of April,
two thousand two
at two o'clock in the afternoon at the
Stevens Center
405 West Fourth Street
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
TRIAD BUSINESS CONNECTION
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1302 K. 4th St
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Open: Tuesday thru Friday 9-6. Sal >1-4 Closed Monday
G.A. Hutson
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Eric S. Ellison
Attorney At Law
Areas of Practice Include:
? Real Estate Closings
? Traffic Tickets
? Criminal Law
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545 North Trade St. Suite 2L
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
Phone: (336) 723-7370
Email: EricSEIIison? aol.com