Turner, C., & Darity, W. A. (1973). Fears of genocide among black Americans as related to age, sex, and region.American Journal of Public Health, 63(12), 1029-1034.

Introduction

In recent years there has been increasing concern in the black community that birth control (family planning) programs may be a current method of perpetrating black genocide.

The United Nations Convention on Genocide has defined genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Using this general definition, it is evident that fears of genocide among black Americans are firmly based on historical and contemporary reality. Black Americans have been subjected to centuries of brutalization which needs no documentation here. But more importantly, the pervasiveness of white racism in the United States continues to create the circumstances for both direct and indirect forms of black genocide.

An example of such racism is the increasing number of punitive and compulsory sterilization proposals appearing throughout the country. Although the stated intent of these proposals has usually been to “stem the tide of illegitimate births” or to “reduce the welfare rolls,” further elaboration often reveals racist motivations which are all too clear. Moreover, it should be pointed out that these proposals have not been limited to southern states. The purpose of the study reported here was to determine the extent of genocide fears among a sample of black Americans and to explore the relationships of other variables (i.e., age, sex, and region) to such fears.