{"id":85579,"date":"2016-01-18T03:57:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-18T08:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=85579"},"modified":"2016-01-18T10:28:12","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T15:28:12","slug":"timing-planned-parenthoods-1966-award-mlk-suspicious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/timing-planned-parenthoods-1966-award-mlk-suspicious\/","title":{"rendered":"Timing of Planned Parenthood’s 1966 award to MLK suspicious"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The timing of when Planned Parenthood gave civil rights leader Martin Luther King (MLK), Jr. their infamous Margaret Sanger award is suspicious in my view. As America celebrates the life of MLK, Planned Parenthood, which takes lives, will parade MLK around as a trophy. In 1966, Planned Parenthood gave MLK the Margaret Sanger Award and they knew exactly what they were doing when they did so.<\/p>\n

\"MLK<\/p>\n

A look at records from Planned Parenthood reveal that for many years, the organization which at the time promoted forced sterilizations of those they deemed unfit, had been discussing how they could win over the “Negro community.” Under a eugenics system, blacks and others deemed to be \u201cFeebleminded or unfit\u201d were sterilized by the state. Research has shown that Planned Parenthood was used by state sterilization boards to perform these surgeries.<\/p>\n

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A problem arose when the idea of state sponsored sterilization began to be challenged in court. If you put these events on a timeline, as I have, you see clearly that this was the time frame that Planned Parenthood began calling for legalized abortion. The problem they faced was that the Black community saw birth control and abortion as genocide. But, they also had a solution. To use what their founder Margaret Sanger had been successful with for years \u2013 they would use Blacks\u00a0themselves to introduce and promote abortion.<\/p>\n

Internal memos within their organization, which I have read and detailed <\/a>further on my blog, indicate that Planned Parenthood was discussing a solution to this ever growing problem of Blacks being suspicious of them. A snap shot of how this plan to bring the Black community on board is broken down in a small way below.<\/p>\n

1962 <\/strong>Planned Parenthood discovers that Black leaders like Malcolm X saw words like “control” as negative and words such as “planning” as positive. Thus the emphasis changed from “birth control” to “family planning.”<\/p>\n

1965<\/strong> Correspondence reiterated to Planned Parenthood leadership that Blacks were suspicious of population control methods. One read in part:<\/p>\n

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Many Negroes will be justifiably suspicious of white organizations, white physicians, and white social workers that seek to \u201climit the Negro population.\u201d It smacks of racism and can offend people who are understandably sensitive on the matter.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Then, a solution was expressed to involve the Black leaders from the civil rights movement to introduce their projects, “so that whites are not in the misperceived position of racist aggression.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

1965<\/strong> The Urban League’s Whitney Young gave a speech before Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures of the Committee on Government Operations, United States Senate: 89th Congress First Session, where he expressed how Blacks felt about Planned Parenthood. An excerpt of the speech is transcribed below:<\/p>\n

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Let me conclude by trying to explain why many Negro citizens are suspicious of the motives of family planners\u2026First the administrators of most public institutions are political appointees\u2026the top administrators are well-known racists. Second, since so few of the proponents of family planning, including PPFA are ever prominently identified as fighting the basic problem of discrimination and segregation in employment, in housing, or even in education, either as individuals or through the established agencies like the Urban League, many interpret this interest in family planning as designed more to control population expansion in this particular racial group and to reduce taxes, than to achieve a human and social goal\u2026Third\u2026there still remains , all to often, lack of minority representation at your local policy making levels\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

1966 <\/strong> A letter written in February by Sidney A. Hessel of the Planned Parenthood League of New Haven [CT.] to Alan F. Guttmacher, expressed his concern that Blacks viewed the organization as racist:<\/p>\n

Since the luncheon phase of the last board meeting I have been very much concerned. I do not know if your report was the bombshell to the others that it was to me, but the fact that the Urban League, NAACP, etc. were actively and vocally naming PP*WP [Planned Parenthood-World Population] a racist organization shocked me…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1966<\/strong>, Dr. Alan F. Guttmacher<\/a>, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation told a symposium at the University of California Medical Center that a sensitive area in the field of birth control was, \u201cthe belief that the white middle class was coercing their own poor and people with black and yellow skins to reduce family size because the middle-class whites are frightened of being outnumbered.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

His solution was to involve Black leaders in their movement so they can indoctrinate their “members”<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe only way the mounting feeling that birth control is a tool of racism can be handled, is to involve knowledgeable leaders from the minority groups<\/strong> who understand and are favorable to the philosophy of birth control. They, in turn, must translate their appreciation of the contribution which birth control can make toward family stability to their own people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

1966<\/strong> An internal memo from Alan Guttmacher and Fred Jaffe<\/a>, outlined the plan for winning over the Black Community. The memo begins by calling the new plan, a \u201cCommunity Relations Program.\u201d The \u201cprogram\u201d is to, \u201cform a liaison between Planned Parenthood and minority organizations.\u201d <\/strong> The plan, according to Planned Parenthood, will emphasize that \u201call people have the opportunity to make their own choices,\u201d rather than, as the memo states, \u201cexhortation telling them how many children they should have.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

Guttmacher ends by stating that the their suggestions are \u201clong overdue\u201d but stresses, \u201cwe do not need to panic. In fact, if we panic and continue to publicize the \u201cproblem\u201d, we may well exacerbate it.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTE: In 1968, Jaffe founded the PPFA Center for Family Planning Program Development, which later became the Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood\u2019s research arm.<\/em><\/p>\n

1966<\/strong> Correspondence between Planned Parenthood leaders continue to confirm that, “civil rights leaders are beginning to take a hostile position toward population planning on the ground that it is an attempt to halt the growth of the Negro population.\u201d<\/em> To solve the problem, the suggestion is then made that Planned Parenthood immediately open dialogue to the Black leaders, to \u201cget their support and participation.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

1966 <\/strong>In May of this year, only months from when Planned Parenthood leaders discussed bringing in some Black civil rights leaders to help them push the Planned Parenthood agenda, Planned Parenthood gave their most infamous award, the Margaret Sanger Award to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was accepted <\/a>by Mrs. Martin Luther King rather than MLK himself.<\/p>\n

It is doubtful that Martin Luther King understood Planned Parenthood’s eugenics past and he certainly had no idea that seven years after he accepted the Margaret Sanger Award, the United States would legalize abortion on demand. He had no way of knowing how Planned Parenthood would grab abortion and use it to target the Black community. Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. explains this:<\/p>\n