Our IKG Wisdom Wednesday talk opened the discussion of the eugenic labelings: Defective Delinquent and Dependent in classifying students. The 3Ds traumatize children by categorizing them as un-educateable, mentally and physically inept, and a threat to the safety of both teachers and other students in standard classrooms. This documentary by The Guardian UK examines this classification system and its application (ad hoc) to the children of Black American soldiers and White Irish women following WW2.
"I was considered defective by reason of my father's ancestry..."
The Irish government forbade marriages between Black soldiers and White civilian women. When White women fell pregnant, they were first, segregated from society and then forced to relinquish custody of the children. The children, like those in the documentary, faced years of torturous abuse at the hands of nuns and state officials. To ensure that no connections could be made between parents and their mixed-race offspring, records were redacted.
Ostracized from society, these children remained segregated from proper housing, education, health services, and economics, and grew into adults as defectives, delinquents, and dependents -- by the sheer virtue of their heritage. #EugenicallySpeaking
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