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| '''''Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America''''' is an ] ] |
'''''Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America''''' is an ] and ] ]<ref>http://www.cantonrep.com/newsnow/x163789945/Area-churches-to-show-abortion-documentary</ref> made in 2009 by ] ].<ref name = NYT>{{cite news | title = To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/us/27race.html | date = February 26, 2010 | work = ] | publisher = ] | location = Manhattan, NY | last = Dewan | first = Shaila}}</ref><ref name="metropulse">{{cite news |first=Frank N. |last=Carlson |title=Sidebar: Meet Mark Crutcher, the Man Behind Maafa 21 |work=MetroPulse |date=June 2, 2010 |url=http://www.metropulse.com/news/2010/jun/02/meet-mark-crutcher-man-behind-maafa-21/}}</ref><ref name="Smear-n-Fear">{{cite web |url=http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/sightings/index.html |title=Smear-n-Fear |publisher=Margaret Sanger Papers Project |month=April |year=2010 |accessdate=November 23, 2011}}</ref><ref name = Root1>{{cite news | title = Some Black Pro-Lifers Say Abortion Is Genocide | url = http://www.theroot.com/views/some-black-pro-lifers-say-abortion-genocide | date = March 15, 2010 | work = ] | publisher = ] | location = online magazine | last = Holloway | first = Lynette}}</ref> The film argues that the modern-day prevalence of ] among ] is an attempted ] or '']'' of black people. It alleges that the ] movements that targeted African Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries formed the basis for ] movements and in particular for the creation of ] by ]. Esther Katz, historian, editor of Sanger's papers for Illinois University Press, director of the Margaret Sanger Papers Project at NYU, identifies these claims as completely wrong and without evidence.<ref name="metropulse"/><ref name="Smear-n-Fear"/><ref name="metropulse2">{{cite news |first=Frank N. |last=Carlson |title=Anti-abortionists Accuse Knoxville Planned Parenthood of 'Black Genocide' |work=MetroPulse |date=June 2, 2010 |url=http://www.metropulse.com/news/2010/jun/02/anti-abortionists-accuse-knoxville-planned-parenth/?printer=1/}}</ref> | ||
| ==Synopsis== | ==Synopsis== | ||
| The title comes from the ] term "maafa", which means ''tragedy'' or ''disaster'' and is used to describe the centuries of global oppression of African people during ], ] and ], while the number "21" refers to an alleged ''maafa'' in the 21st century (though beginning in the 19th), which the film says is the abortion |
The title comes from the ] term "maafa", which means ''tragedy'' or ''disaster'' and is used to describe the centuries of global oppression of African people during ], ] and ], while the number "21" refers to an alleged ''maafa'' in the ] (though beginning in the 19th), which the film says is the abortion by black women.<ref name = CT> (7/22/2009)</ref><ref name = LeFlore>{{cite news | title = An Interview with Mark Crutcher | url = http://www.freedomsjournal.net/2010/01/10/an-interview-with-mark-crutcher/ | date = January 10, 2010 | work = Freedom's Journal Magazine (FreedomsJournal.net) | publisher = ] | location = Matteson, IL | last = Rev. LeFlore III | first = Ceasar I.}}</ref> The film states that abortion has reduced the Black population in the United States by 25 percent. It discusses some of Planned Parenthood's origins (formerly the ]), attributing to it a "150-year-old goal of exterminating the black population." It attacks ], along with other birth control advocates, as a racist eugenicist. The film features ], who claims that Sanger targeted black people.<ref name = Root1/><ref></ref> | ||
| ==Release and screenings== | ==Release and screenings== | ||
| The film was released on June 15, 2009, and the premiere screening was held on June 18, 2009, on the eve of ], at the ]. | The film was released on June 15, 2009, and the premiere screening was held on June 18, 2009, on the eve of ], at the ]. | ||
| ==Reception== | |||
| Reviewers of the film have generally criticized its attribution of racist views to family planning activists, as well as the other claims it makes to tie genocide to family planning.<ref name="Smear-n-Fear">{{cite web |url=http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/sightings/index.html |title=Smear-n-Fear |publisher=Margaret Sanger Papers Project |month=April |year=2010 |accessdate=November 23, 2011}}</ref> Critics note that the film blames the high abortion rate among black women on a conspiracy rather than on unequal socioeconomic conditions. | |||
| Pro-life activists in Knoxville, Tennessee praised the film as a "valuable tool for discourse" against abortion.<ref name="metropulse2"/> ], an online database of movie reviews that use a "Biblical perspective" while attempting to assist families with their entertainment choices, gave ''Maafa 21'' a quality rating of "EXCELLENT" (4 out of 4 stars) and a content rating of "WORTHWHILE: Discernment required for young children" (+1 from a range from +4 down to -4).<ref>]'')]</ref> It describes the film as a "very carefully reasoned, well-produced exposé of the abortion industry, racism and eugenics" that "proves through innumerable sources that the founders of Planned Parenthood and other parts of the abortion movement were interested in killing off the black race in America and elsewhere." While declaring the conclusions of the film to be "irrefutable," the review questioned the use of class warfare.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/movie/maafa-21-black-genocide-in-21st-century-america.html | work = MovieGuide.org | author = ] | title = Let My People Live | accessdate = August 20, 2012}}</ref> | |||
| Catholic.net's review of ''Maafa 21'' offers evidence of the film's broad exposure to a diverse collection of individuals, groups, and organizations and through multiple formats, including ], ], ], and ]. This exposure includes mainstream publications, TV and radio ] hosts, religious organizations, ] ], ], and ]. From the perspective of Catholic.net, the general response has been overwhelmingly positive, revealing the documentary's effectiveness in its ability to sway opinion and to generate emotion against industrialized abortion.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.catholic.net/index.php?option=dedestaca&id=5332&grupo=News%20%20Media&canal=Entertainment | work = Catholic.net | author = Catholic.net | title = Maafa21 Black Genocide in 21st Century America | accessdate = August 21, 2012}}</ref> | |||
| Esther Katz, editor and director of the Margaret Sanger Papers Project (MSPP) at ], said that quotes attributed to Sanger are taken out of context. While criticizing the film's depiction of Sanger as a genocidal eugenicist, Katz concedes that "Sanger made mistakes" and "was very naïve" in her campaign to legalize contraception, particularly in her vilification "of immigrants" and of her advocating "for the sterilization of the mentally challenged,"<ref name="metropulse2">{{cite news |first=Frank N. |last=Carlson |title=Anti-abortionists Accuse Knoxville Planned Parenthood of 'Black Genocide' |work=MetroPulse |date=June 2, 2010 |url=http://www.metropulse.com/news/2010/jun/02/anti-abortionists-accuse-knoxville-planned-parenth/?printer=1/}}</ref> which ''Maafa 21'' insists were ] for ''the black race''.<ref name = LeFlore/><ref name = CT/> Editors of the online blog for the MSPP question the scholarship behind ''Maafa 21'''s portrayal of Sanger and her racial views, calling the film "propaganda".<ref name="Smear-n-Fear"/> | |||
| ], author of "African-American Women and Abortion: A Neglected History",<ref>{{cite journal | url = http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/journal_of_health_care_for_the_poor_and_underserved/v003/3.2.ross.pdf | title = African-American Women and Abortion: A Neglected History | last = Ross | first = Loretta J. | month = Fall | year = 1992 | work = Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved | pages = 274–284 | publisher = The Johns Hopkins University Press | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | issn = 1049-2089}}</ref> founder of the and co-founder of , wrote that ''Maafa 21'' is a "pseudo-documentary" produced "by a white Texan, Mark Crutcher, who has made a career of attacking Planned Parenthood."<ref name = Ross>{{cite journal | url = http://www.ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/2011_winter_Ross.php | title = Fighting the Black Anti-Abortion Campaign: Trusting Black Women | last = Ross | first = Loretta J. | work = ] | month = Winter | year = 2011}}</ref> Ross said that the premise of the film was wrong and that black slave women brought to America the knowledge of birth control and abortion, arguing that black women worked to reduce their collective birthrate after the ] as a way to raise themselves up, not as a form of race genocide. She wrote that black women believed that having fewer children allowed parents to give each child a better opportunity and that African-American leaders worked with Sanger to establish family planning clinics in black neighborhoods as part of a "racial uplift strategy," not as racial suicide.<ref name = Ross/> | |||
| '']'' gave the film a mixed review. The reviewer said that the film "does a good job of placing the Eugenics movement into a larger historical context,"<ref name=Liberator>{{cite web |url=http://weblog.liberatormagazine.com/2010/06/maafa-21-black-genocide-in-america-film.html |work=] |author=Black Yoda |month=June |year=2010 |title= | |||
| Maafa 21: black genocide in America (film review) |accessdate=November 23, 2011}}</ref> but that "one gets the impression that the point isn't so much about saving black people, but furthering a political agenda" against abortion, using emotional manipulation to do so.<ref name=Liberator/> A similar response came from Harold Middlebrook, pastor at Canaan Baptist Church of East Knoxville and "a widely respected civil-rights leader." While rejecting the idea that ''Maafa 21'' will have a lasting impact on African-American culture, largely due to his apprehensions of the sincerity of the film's producers, Middlebrook said that he "believes the theory that Planned Parenthood may be attempting to limit black births to increase white dominance."<ref name = metropulse2/> | |||
| Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director of the ], wrote that the film is a "]" used to support the activities of the black pro-life movement.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.biopoliticaltimes.org/article.php?id=5664 |last=Darnovsky |first=Marcy |title=Behind the New Arizona Abortion Ban |date=April 7, 2011 |work=Biopolitical Times |accessdate=November 16, 2011}}</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 23:05, 19 February 2013
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| Maafa 21 | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Mark Crutcher |
| Produced by | Life Dynamics |
| Release date | June 15, 2009 |
| Running time | approx. 137 mins |
| Country | United States |
Maafa 21: Black Genocide in 21st Century America is an anti-abortion and anti-contraception documentary film made in 2009 by pro-life activist Mark Crutcher. The film argues that the modern-day prevalence of abortion among African Americans is an attempted genocide or maafa of black people. It alleges that the eugenics movements that targeted African Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries formed the basis for reproductive rights movements and in particular for the creation of Planned Parenthood by Margaret Sanger. Esther Katz, historian, editor of Sanger's papers for Illinois University Press, director of the Margaret Sanger Papers Project at NYU, identifies these claims as completely wrong and without evidence.
Synopsis
The title comes from the Swahili term "maafa", which means tragedy or disaster and is used to describe the centuries of global oppression of African people during slavery, apartheid and colonial rule, while the number "21" refers to an alleged maafa in the 21st century (though beginning in the 19th), which the film says is the abortion by black women. The film states that abortion has reduced the Black population in the United States by 25 percent. It discusses some of Planned Parenthood's origins (formerly the American Birth Control League), attributing to it a "150-year-old goal of exterminating the black population." It attacks Margaret Sanger, along with other birth control advocates, as a racist eugenicist. The film features Alveda King, who claims that Sanger targeted black people.
Release and screenings
The film was released on June 15, 2009, and the premiere screening was held on June 18, 2009, on the eve of Juneteenth, at the United States Capitol Visitor Center.
See also
References
- http://www.cantonrep.com/newsnow/x163789945/Area-churches-to-show-abortion-documentary
- Dewan, Shaila (February 26, 2010). "To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case". NYTimes.com. Manhattan, NY: The New York Times Company.
- ^ Carlson, Frank N. (June 2, 2010). "Sidebar: Meet Mark Crutcher, the Man Behind Maafa 21". MetroPulse.
- ^ "Smear-n-Fear". Margaret Sanger Papers Project. 2010. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Holloway, Lynette (March 15, 2010). "Some Black Pro-Lifers Say Abortion Is Genocide". TheRoot.com. online magazine: The Washington Post Company.
- Carlson, Frank N. (June 2, 2010). "Anti-abortionists Accuse Knoxville Planned Parenthood of 'Black Genocide'". MetroPulse.
- "Klan Parenthood", an interview of Mark Crutcher (7/22/2009)
- Rev. LeFlore III, Ceasar I. (January 10, 2010). "An Interview with Mark Crutcher". Freedom's Journal Magazine (FreedomsJournal.net). Matteson, IL: Wallace Multimedia Group LLC.
- Interview of Dr. Alveda King