Vermont’s eugenics history demands public reckoning

Charles Murray, who spoke recently at Middlebury College, has reprised “the best of eugenics” to inform his lectures and writings including his book, “The Bell Curve.” Murray argues for the relative intelligence and suitability of ethnic groups to a host of workplace and societal activities based upon amongst other demographic drivers, “race.” Be clear, Dr. Murray’s work is nothing more than racial stereotyping dressed in cooked numbers and is designed to scramble the status quo. It’s the worst form of gutter politics masquerading as junk science.

A century ago, Americans led in what was then considered to be a promising area of scientific research. It had been used to bridge the gap between research and the conventions of society to explain why certain subsets of civilization were predisposed towards certain intellectual pursuits or physical ones. That area of scientific research has a name: eugenics. Eugenics involved attributing features about race and ethnicity to one’s biology or genetic profile. Most Americans and Vermonters are aware that this genetics-driven view of the world was at the core of Hitler’s political ideology. Biology...