| Revision as of 05:39, 23 February 2013 editLittle green rosetta (talk | contribs)5,428 edits Per NPOV request← Previous edit | Revision as of 22:05, 23 February 2013 edit undoRoscelese (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers35,788 edits if we want to include more from Katz in general, we might consider restoring "immigrants" etc, but concession to the film's false claims != focus of Katz's commentary & to make it the central focus of our summary is flagrantly misrepresenting the source.Next edit → | ||
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| 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. Critics note that the film blames the high abortion rate among black women on a conspiracy rather than on ]. | 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. Critics note that the film blames the high abortion rate among black women on a conspiracy rather than on ]. | ||
| 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" |
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" to review media, gave ''Maafa 21'' a quality rating of "excellent" (4 out of 4 stars), declaring its conclusions "irrefutable."<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> Anti-abortion website Catholic.net also stated that the film had appeared in many media outlets, saying that general response to the film was overwhelmingly positive.<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 and actions attributed to Sanger are taken out of context in order to falsely claim that she had a racist agenda. "She certainly didn’t want to wipe out the black race...debating whether she wanted to erase blacks from the face of the earth is just stupid. I mean, there’s no way she’s ever said any such thing. There’s no action she’s ever taken to signify that."<ref name="metropulse2"/> Katz concedes that "Sanger made mistakes" and "was very naïve" in her campaign to legalize contraception.<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> 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"/> | ||
| 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. |
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| ], 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." 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>{{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> | ], 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." 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>{{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> | ||
Revision as of 22:05, 23 February 2013
2009 United States film| 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 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 rooted in an attempted genocide or maafa of black people. It alleges that the eugenics movement that targeted African Americans in the 19th and 20th centuries formed the basis for the abortion-rights movement of the 20th and 21st centuries and, in particular, for the creation of Planned Parenthood by Margaret Sanger. The film has been enthusiastically received by anti-abortion activists. Esther Katz, director of the Margaret Sanger Papers Project, along with other observers, has stated that the film incorrectly depicts Sanger's views and works.
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 disproportionately high rate of abortion among African Americans. 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, niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., 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.
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. 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. MovieGuide, an online database of movie reviews that use a "Biblical perspective" to review media, gave Maafa 21 a quality rating of "excellent" (4 out of 4 stars), declaring its conclusions "irrefutable." Anti-abortion website Catholic.net also stated that the film had appeared in many media outlets, saying that general response to the film was overwhelmingly positive.
Esther Katz, editor and director of the Margaret Sanger Papers Project (MSPP) at New York University, said that quotes and actions attributed to Sanger are taken out of context in order to falsely claim that she had a racist agenda. "She certainly didn’t want to wipe out the black race...debating whether she wanted to erase blacks from the face of the earth is just stupid. I mean, there’s no way she’s ever said any such thing. There’s no action she’s ever taken to signify that." Katz concedes that "Sanger made mistakes" and "was very naïve" in her campaign to legalize contraception. 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."
Loretta J. Ross, author of "African-American Women and Abortion: A Neglected History", founder of the National Center for Human Rights Education and co-founder of Sister Song, Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, wrote that Maafa 21 is a "pseudo-documentary" produced "by a white Texan, Mark Crutcher, who has made a career of attacking Planned Parenthood." 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 American Civil War 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.
The Liberator Magazine 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" 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. 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."
Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, wrote that the film is a "shockumentary" used to support the activities of the black pro-life movement.
See also
References
- Dewan, Shaila (February 26, 2010). "To Court Blacks, Foes of Abortion Make Racial Case". NYTimes.com. Manhattan, NY: The New York Times Company.
- ^ 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
- MovieGuide. "Let My People Live". MovieGuide.org. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
- Catholic.net. "Maafa21 Black Genocide in 21st Century America". Catholic.net. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
- Cite error: The named reference
Smear-n-Fearwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Ross, Loretta J. (1992). "African-American Women and Abortion: A Neglected History" (PDF). Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. 3 (2). The Johns Hopkins University Press: 274–284. ISSN 1049-2089.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Ross, Loretta J. (2011). "Fighting the Black Anti-Abortion Campaign: Trusting Black Women". On The Issues.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Black Yoda (2010). "Maafa 21: black genocide in America (film review)". The Liberator Magazine. Retrieved November 23, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - Darnovsky, Marcy (April 7, 2011). "Behind the New Arizona Abortion Ban". Biopolitical Times. Retrieved November 16, 2011.