Maafa 21

Maafa 21
Produced by	Life Dynamics
Release date	June 15, 2009
Running time	approx. 137 mins
Country	United States

Maafa 21 is a documentary created by a pro-life company in Texas called Life Dynamics Incorporated about the history of African-Americans being affected by the eugenics movement.

Synopsis

The title comes from the Swahili term "Maafa", which means "tragedy" or "disaster", and is used to describe the centuries of oppression and diaspora resulting from slavery. "21" refers to the 'maafa' of the 21st century, which the film claims is abortion.

The film discusses some of Planned Parenthood's origins (formerly the American Birth Control League), attributing to it a "150-year-old goal of exterminating the black population". The film documents that Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood was as a racist eugenicist along with some others who were also involved in her organization.

Maafa 21 shows the connection from slavery and eugenics to birth control, abortion and black genocide today.

The film claims that currently, abortion is the #1 killer of blacks in America, and that, in 2004, abortion killed 2.8 times as many blacks than HIV/AIDS, gang violence, accidents, cancer, and heart disease, combined.

Critics of the film question the scholarship behind its assertions and the agenda of its creator, Mark Crutcher.

However, those who seem to attack the film, only seem to attack the "motives" behind the film makers, rather than the volume of documentation itself. The film is loaded with original documents, and audio. The credits for the film quote the archived libraries of Margaret Sanger, Planned Parenthood, and the American Eugenics Society, among myriads of additional sources. The film quotes original Margaret Sanger writings like Sanger's Birth Control Review and where Margaret Sanger herself admits she gave a speech to the Klan.

The film details the forced sterilization of African American woman Elaine Riddick and quotes various civil rights leaders including Jesse Jackson as saying that birth control clinics would bring black genocide to African Americans. Maafa21 covers the firing of Samuel Yette from Newsweek for his exposing of Black Genocide through his book "The Choice".

Maafa21 draws lines from the American Eugenics Society (AES) to the Nazi eugenics and points out that Hitler not only corresponded with members of the AES but he sterilized Afro-German Blacks in the same manner the American Eugenics Society did. The film also attaches Nazis such as Eugen Fischer and Ernst Rudin to Margaret Sanger through her Birth Control Reviews. Others such as Leon Whitney who corresponded with Hitler, Harry Laughlin who created a film used by the Nazis, and Lothrop Stoddard who met with Hitler, were either members of Sanger's board or contributors to her Birth Control Reviews.

One of the most shocking quotes from Maafa21 came from Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg who Emily Bazelon with the New York Magazine that “ Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.”

Another shocking quote comes from actual audio of Republican President Richard Nixon stating that people will vote for abortion because, "they think that what’s going to be aborted generally are the little black bastards."

Maafa 21 features noted African American leaders such as Dr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, Pastors Johnny Hunter and Clenard Childress leaders of the nation’s largest African American pro-life organization LEARN, Pastors Stephen Broden and Dr. Levon Yuille and Human Life International's Brian Clowes , Community Activist Connie Eller, and Life Dynamics President: Mark Crutcher.

It may interest some that Maafa21 was the featured film in the March 2010 Jubilee Film Festival in Selma, Al. to commemorate the right to vote and remember the historic “Bloody Sunday” anniversary of the Bridge Crossing Civil Rights march from Selma-to-Montgomery.

View the Maafa21 trailer here

Release and screenings

The film was released on June 15, 2009, and the premiere screening was held on June 18, 2009, on the eve of Juneteenth, at the United States Capitol Visitor Center.