Excerpts from “THE AIMS AND METHODS OF EUGENICAL SOCIETIES” by Leonard Darwin, October 7, 1921

Response and Reflection: DEAR YOU by Glenis Redmond

Artist note: Glenis Redmond is a BIPOC writer and I want to acknowledge that I am in no way attempting to appropriate that part of her lived experience and culture. I chose DEAR YOU because it spoke to me about the intersectionality of oppression and erasure and the unbreakable spirit that lives within us across generations. Glenis Redmond also identifies as a member of the disability community. As a disabled woman, I see that, feel that and hear that in her visceral and powerful words and am so honored to speak them in fervent opposition to Leonard Darwin’s chillingly ignorant and inhuman dissertation.

The title of this sharing comes from the following quote by Glenis Redmond: “How do you qualify a life? By the people who sow into you. And I am an orchard because so many have sown into me.”

Thank you for your orchard, Glenis Redmond.

Image Description: A petite white woman with short, straight brown hair sitting in an overstuffed gray/green chair. She is wearing a black V-neck dress and is looking directly into the camera.