Dante Jemmott - Eugenics and Mass Media - Transcript

[Dante Jemmott] The two radio addresses that I read were both originally written by William Lorne Hutton. They’re titled Tomorrow's Children and The Future of the Race.

[From The Future of the Race] “We need more children from the strong, vigorous and intelligent and fewer from the weak and imbecile.”

[Dante Jemmott] I was really blown away by how passionate these people were about eliminating certain people from Canada.

[From The Future of the Race] “But if he is feeble in mind or body the State will feed and clothe him and provide him with doctors and nurses. Everything possible will be done to see that he can survive. But little or nothing will be done to see that he does not reproduce his kind.”

[Dante Jemmott] He talked about their genetics are being passed on. And so people are just becoming morefeeble-minded and more feeble-minded. And he very bluntly said it needs to stop those people shouldn’t be allowed to have families – to reproduce.

[From The Future of the Race] “From the standpoint of natural law, this is an unforgivable sin.”

[Dante Jemmott] And I think in order to move forward we need to continue to unpack these things so that we can actually move forward for the better.

[From World Population Since 1750] “A greater danger presents itself in the continuing high fertility rates of the mentally and morally defective. Fertility among such persons remains entirely unchecked. They are continuing to multiply, while the professional and more highly educated groups are falling far short of reproducing themselves.”

[From California Sterilization Policy] “There has been a disproportionate increase of those mentally and physically incapable of maintaining themselves and their families. While agencies to check the reproduction of the subnormal are essential, the greatest safeguard for the future of the race lies in the maintenance of a healthy family life…”

[From German Sterilization Policy] “Germany decided to enact measures to prevent the subnormal elements of the population from increasing. An Act for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring was placed on the Statute Book in July 1933.”