Thursday, October 31, 2024
The Conversation: How Trump’s racist talk of immigrant ‘bad genes’ echoes some of the last century’s darkest ideas about eugenics
In How Trump’s racist talk of immigrant ‘bad genes’ echoes some of the last century’s darkest ideas about eugenics for The Conversation, Shannon Bow O'Brien analyzes Trump’s comments against immigrants of color have prompted comparisons to the Nazis. But American and British theorists coined the theory of eugenics long before the Nazis rose to power.O'Brien reminds us that racist eugenics theories gave us the Immigration Act of 1924, which established the national origins quotas system and barred immigration from Asia. Her conclusion: "Trump calls to mind an America First mentality, including when he regularly reads the lyrics to a song called `The Snake' during his rallies as a way to explain the dangers of welcoming immigrants into the U.S. The civil rights activist Oscar Brown wrote this poem in 1963, and his family has said that Trump misinterprets the song’s words.
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https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2024/10/the-conversation-how-trumps-racist-talk-of-immigrant-bad-genes-echoes-some-of-the-last-centurys-dark.html