This just makes me so sick.
A group called Project Prevention is doing it’s damage in Philly and the local paper is giving them somewhat-friendly press.
I heard about this “organization” about five years ago when I was interning at Ms. magazine. Except back then they were called C.R.A.C.K. (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity) and everyone knew what a bunch of racist assholes they were. I guess folks need a reminder.
Project Prevention (a much friendlier name) pays women drug addicts to get long-term birth control and surgical sterilization. Outside of how disgusting that is on its face--let’s just sterilize women, not get them treatment--the group’s blatant racist and classist tactics make them beyond reprehensible.
Fuck, they used to put up billboards in poor black neighborhoods that said things like, “Addicted to Drugs? Want $200?” One of their other strategies is to approach women in soup kitchens. I wonder how many billboards went up in rich white areas where women are snorting coke at their kid's birthday party or popping Xanax like Tic Tacs.
Barbara Harris, the organization’s founder, is the Queen Bee of bigotry. Check out this quote where she compares her clients to animals:
"We don’t allow dogs to breed. We spay them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of children."
Wyndi Anderson at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women says (via email) that “CRACK relies on the same economic arguments to support their program as were used to justify eugenics sterilization in the United States and Nazi Germany.” She points out that there are real solutions to help women:
"There are things we can do to help women and families. Make sure that when a woman asks for help she can get it. Too often women and other people seeking help for addictions are put on waiting lists, told to come back later, given a referral to a program that will not in fact take them, or told that they are ineligible because they do not have the right kind of insurance. Make sure that women with drug problems are treated the same as other patients."So please, don’t let the people of Philadelphia forget who this group really is. Write a letter to the editor:
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Box 41705
Philadelphia, PA
19101
FAX: 215-854-4483
Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com
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Why aren't they targeting male drug addicts,too...vasectomies are reversable...
This is absolutely sickening. I can understand not wanting children to be born into a potentially harmful situation, but this is ridiculous. If the women were to get HELP (i.e. treatment or counseling), they would be less likely to make poor decisions regarding sexual activity and birth control.
Excuse me while my stomach ulcer starts bleeding...gah
Ah, I remember CRACK and Ms. Harris's love of perpetuating the welfare queen stereotype (i.e., black women popping out crack babies and getting paid for it). Besides the obvious problem of encouraging the drug habit via her bribe, it's telling that Harris and co. don't focus on other kinds of addiction--alcohol or cocaine for example--where the pool of addicts is more racially diverse (i.e. white ladies too). So racist.
And I second nemohee's suggestion that the men addicts should be offered moolah for sterilization too.
On a related note, NAPW is a really great organization and Lynn Paltrow has done a wonderful job of raising awareness on issues that pregnant women fact.
first off, huge point there in the first comment - women are just a much easier target for these ridiculous, racist and misogynist practices...
however, i part from both commenters in that i think coerced sterilization of poor people of color, male OR female, is a big step on the path to dehumanization... i mean, shoot, why not expand it to include men and women with poor mental faculties - as we move into a more automated society, their children will have fewer opportunities for unskilled labor... we'd be protecting them by not allow their birth... or we could do it on a basis of income - who can provide for thier children... what about nose width? come on...
yeah, i definitely remember CRACK... i also remember some north carolina hospitals that would routinely weasel consent out of pregnant women for drug testing and then imprison them for child abuse or similar charges...
umm... yeah, and they wouldn't be testing the white, upper-class woman doing lines of coke off her chanel compact...
in any case, drug abuse is a disease, not an offense, and should be treated as such... in the current climate, women with histories of drug use are scared away from prenatal care due to the potential prosecution they may face, which is, according to plenty of medical research, much more harful to a child than in utero cocaine use...
yeah... and big ups to Lynn Paltrow and NAPW... they're off the hook and have a lot of powerful reading on their site... also, it's worth looking into Drug Policy Alliance, who did a lot of work with NAPW around the criminalization and sterilization of pregnant women with drug use issues.
peace out.
and not only are they racist, sexist fucks, like many they completely misuse the word 'literally'...
and not only are they racist, sexist fucks, they completely misuse the word 'literally'...*language nerd smilie*
>
I read this last night, and had an image of a gigantic live-trap set up in a back alley, with this group's name stamped on it, baited with a bucket of fried chicken.
If I lived in Philly, I'd call it a piece of Protest Performance Art and start welding.
The comments made here couldn't be further from the truth. It's unfortunate that some want to manipulate the facts, or change the story altogether. So, let's get a few things straight:
It is racist to assume that all drug addicts are minorities. That couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, we have paid more white women than black. Further, statistics show that we pay less pregnant African-American drug users than is indicated by the NIDA survey. In that study 34% of pregnant users were black. Only 31% of our clients are. So that contradicts any racial argument that can be made. Moreover, founder and director Barbara Harris is married to a black man, and has adopted four black children. How racist is that?
You wonder how many billboards we've put up in rich neighborhoods. We've had our billboards in Beverly Hills. Is that rich enough for you? We don't target a demographic, we target a behavior.
The quote in regards to animals, was not Mrs. Harris. She was quoting the statement from a drug addict herself. I would advise you to check your facts before posting your hateful propaganda against Project Prevention.
I would recommend editing your site to reflect the truth, rather than these lies. Disseminating such libelous statements to the public is a dangerous proposition.
If we were to survey all of the people taking time to actually read the garbage on this site I'd guess 95% or more have not and would not adopt the very children that are mentioned! My husband and I have not only adopted 4, but are foster parents to 3 more totally seven children in our home now. All of them are black. Oh, and by the way so is my husband! Last time I reveiewed the meaning of a racist it was a person who wasn't married to a person of another race! It is so sad that your group and it's followers are so busy bashing people that are truly making a difference in this world that they wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them in the face!!
Barbara Harris
If we were to survey all of the people taking time to actually read the garbage on this site I'd guess 95% or more have not and would not adopt the very children that are mentioned! My husband and I have not only adopted 4, but are foster parents to 3 more totally seven children in our home now. All of them are black. Oh, and by the way so is my husband! Last time I reveiewed the meaning of a racist it was a person who wasn't married to a person of another race! It is so sad that your group and it's followers are so busy bashing people that are truly making a difference in this world that they wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them in the face!!
Barbara Harris
If we were to survey all of the people taking time to actually read the garbage on this site I'd guess 95% or more have not and would not adopt the very children that are mentioned! My husband and I have not only adopted 4, but are foster parents to 3 more totally seven children in our home now. All of them are black. Oh, and by the way so is my husband! Last time I reveiewed the meaning of a racist it was a person who wasn't married to a person of another race! It is so sad that your group and it's followers are so busy bashing people that are truly making a difference in this world that they wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them in the face!!
Barbara Harris
I am one of Project Prevention's major funders, so I have an insider's view. PP does not target any specific "identity" group *per se*. I would object to the strategy if it did, because it would risk leaving easily-reached clients among other "identity" groups.
That said, I also fund "minority reach" by one of America's "Big Six" ballet companies and also provide pointe shoe scholarships that are only available to African-American ballerina-wannabes. So obviously I see nothing *inherently* objectionable about programs that seek to help people "Of Color" to the exclusion of others, *as long as they don't use government money*. (Which PP does not.)
But Project Prevention is not such a identity-group-targeted program. Barbara Harris targets serious substance abusers in their fertile years.