Bizarre Benefit

Hoosiers Fighting For The Rohingya
(part of the Screamers series)

(Yeah, my graphic artist made a spelling error...)

If you have ever watched the Travel Channel then chances are you have seen the show Bizarre Foods. It is one of my favorite shows and has inspired me to try the foods that the host samples from around the world. So much so that I rarely pass up an oddity in the supermarket anymore. And yeah, that means that if there happens to be a place selling edible insects... I've probably ordered, purchased, and sampled everything they have.

But the combining of this passion with the work Alder's Ledge does was a long process. I rarely find that people who are willing to listen to me when I talk about genocide are up for eating afterward. And the people willing to eat my not so bizarre dishes rarely want to talk about genocide while eating. So the thought of combining the two has been hard to decide upon.

So why is Alder's Ledge putting the two together? It allows us to offer a "hook" that draws in the listeners'. After all, how many people do you know who would pass up free food? Thus giving us the opportunity to scream.

But before we explain the Bizarre Foods aspect I should explain screaming once again.

A screamer is a person who has witnessed or learned about a genocide and therefore finds him or herself incapable of remaining silent about the tragedy they now know about. This screamer goes out into the world around them and attempts to tell others in anyway they can so that hopefully the information spreads. Like a spark in a dry field of grass... the screamer starts a fire in their own community. Their screams build up the flames of outrage and, with any luck, create a movement to stop the injustice that we know as genocide.

Alder's Ledge is attempting to draw in the world around us here in central Indiana and spread the word about the Rohingya Genocide. Through our interactions with the community around us we have started a small group of screamers. And through the author's own bullheadedness, we are driving the message home as best we can.

Yet the topic of genocide seems to be difficult at best to broach with new audiences. And then there is the underlying prejudices that sadly exist when you bring up Muslims here in Indiana. Combining the two creates an uphill battle that we are struggling to fight. That is why we are approaching the struggle in a way that we personally know Hoosiers cannot resist... through their stomachs.

Now Indiana people are not generally believed to be adventurous eaters. There are three or four typical dishes that Hoosiers refuse to modify or abolish all together. However it has been my experience that there are just enough foodies in this state (there most likely more restaurants in Indy than bookstores, libraries, and schools combined) to expand the audience to which we can spread our message. And when you factor in the ones who just come to watch their friends eat "icky" stuff... well the audience keeps getting bigger.

The only problem is that Alder's Ledge is not an organization in the traditional sense. We are just a bunch of misfits from all sorts of backgrounds. Some of us don't even live here in Indiana. So the move to set out as an organized front and spread our message in this manner depends on one thing... volunteers.

Alder's Ledge is currently looking for people in the area surrounding Indianapolis that would be willing to host a Bizarre Foods Night to Benefit the Rohingya of Burma. We should first point out that we do not collect any form of currency ourselves. We only give you the information so that you can then donate yourself to Partners Relief and Development.

These events should be considered for church and religious groups, educational organizations and facilities, and companies in the general area. We need churches, synagogues, mosque, school leaders, and any other groups interested to help support us. Without the help of the community we will continue to fight this fight the way we have been... through social media, this blog, and my personal favorite... one on one, face to face.

If you or your organization is interested please leave a message below. Note that messages are moderated and so they will most likely not be posted. But we will get back to you as soon as possible. Want to put together something like this with your friends and family and become a screamer? Inquire by leaving a message below, I will personally get back to you as quickly as I can.

How Attached to Your Balls Are You? Part Two

Indiana and Eugenics



Before the Nazis started using the "science" of eugenics Hoosiers had begun perfecting it. Indiana after all was the first state in the country (or the world for that matter) to pass a eugenic bases forced sterilization law in 1907. However even before the law was passed the Hoosier state had already begun forcibly neutering its "undesirables".

Much like Hitler's Nazis, the Hoosier State used its first sterilization law to target the socially undesirable. Among the list were "confirmed criminal", "idiots", "compulsive masturbaters", "imbeciles", and "rapist". The mentally ill or handicapped were the main targets however.

And like all things eugenic, the Hoosier law was designed to weed out the "2 percent of Indianans" who were "mentally defective". In other words, those the law deemed unfit to reproduce on the grounds that they were a burden to society would be fixed. The aim was to create a state that was free of the "undue burdens" that were holding Indiana's economy and society back.

Now to be fair 22 other states would follow Indiana's lead by implementing similar laws. However Indiana stands out for the fact that it struck down the first law in 1921 only to re institute it in 1925. And the second of the Hoosier eugenic laws would last till 1974 when it was finally repealed.

In all the sterilizations would amount to 2,424 people being sterilized under the guise of Eugenic "Science". Out of those 2,424 people there would be 1,167 males sterilized and 1,257 females sterilized. Of these 1,751 had been sterilized under the ruling that they had been found "mentally deficient while the remaining 667 were found to be "mentally ill". Dr. Harry Sharp however had done several hundred forced sterilizations before the law had passed so it is difficult to say how many people had been sterilized in Indiana for certain (Dr. Sharp was a eugenic believer and was estimated to have sterilized around 800 people before the law passed in 1907).

Of the people sterilized it is believed that poor whites from Kentucky and Tennessee were targeted due to their "social backwardness" and lack of ability to adapt to a modernized world. This tendency to target the "mentally deficient" allowed followers of the "Eugenic Science" to throw a wide net around any group they deemed "deficient" due to their economic standings. After all, eugenics teaches that the poorer classes are economically lacking simply due to their genetic inefficiencies.

This part of the history of Eugenics is not really talked about much or even studied in Indiana. Once can guess why. However in 2007 a marker was erected on the east lawn of the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis Indiana to commemorate those who were forcibly sterilized under the Indiana Sterilization Act. It reads:

"By late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and pauperism were hereditary. Various laws were enacted based on this belief. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved first state eugenics law making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. Sterilizations halted 1909 by Governor Thomas R. Marshall."

Continued on the reverse side:

Indiana Supreme Court ruled 1907 law unconstitutional 1921, citing denial of due process under Fourteenth Amendment. A 1927 law provided for appeals in the courts. Approximately 2,500 people in state custody were sterilized. Governor Otis R. Bowen approved repeal of all sterilization laws 1974; by 1977, related restrictive marriage laws repealed."

The related restrictive marriage law had forbid the marriages of people deemed to be "mentally deficient", those with a "transmissible disease", or the "habitual drunkard". This too had been enacted under the influence of eugenics (naively believing that only married people have sex).