30
::
LAILA IBRAHIM
May declared, loud enough for Ishi to hear, “at was very
impressive!”
Most likely he didn’t understand her words, but she hoped her
tone conveyed her respect and enthusiasm to the gentle man who
survived the massacre of his people.
John nodded and replied, “I’m grateful so many visitors from
around the world can see him demonstrate his humanity. All of us
were like that once. ere is no reason to disregard our primitive
origins—even though we have moved past them.”
John pointed to the Race Betterment booth. “I want to pop into
here to see the public arguments from the eugenicists for myself.”
May nodded with a lopsided smile that probably looked like a
grimace.
ey turned into the large corner exhibit that took up at least four
spaces. ere were chairs stationed around a table with pamphlets
and brochures. Frescos of classical Greek statues were painted high
up on the walls.
May picked a brochure up and read about the dangers of race
mixing. Another brochure advocated for forced sterilization for
“lunatics, idiots, paupers, epileptics and criminals.” It said these “unt
persons” have reached a vast multitude—“500,000 lunatics, 80,000
criminals, 100,000 paupers, 90,000 idiots, and 90,000 epileptics”—
that were a drain on the “sounder population.” ey argued that in
one generation there would be no need for hospitals or prisons if
people with “superior genetics” were the only people allowed to have
children.
She felt her bile rise.
“I don’t understand why people are so cruel. It is just vile non-
sense,” May declared.
“ey do have some valid points—though there is much I dis-
agree with or nd detestable.”