How Covid-19 has reinforced the histories of eugenics and controversies of recognition of Native Americans in Vermont 

Written May of 2021. Download full report here.

Abstract

It is widely known that Covid-19 puts black people, indigenous people, and people of color at a higher risk than white people. To Native Americans, however, Covid-19 also places a significant cultural burden. Many of their elders have passed from the disease, and with them goes their knowledge of traditional culture, language, and practices. In addition, the pandemic compounds what Jack Healy of the New York Times refers to as “a deadly toll of a tattered health system and generations of harm and broken promises by the US government.” Those patterns have caused many Native Americans to be rightly skeptical of non-traditional medicine, especially when it is delivered or mandated by the government. Vermont, in particular, had a eugenics survey carried out by UVM from 1925 to 1936, which focused on institutionalization and sterilization in order to create a “pure” state. This report documents the sentiments of four indigenous Vermonters when it comes to the ways how histories of past health-related violences affect whether or not their communities receive the Covid-19 vaccine. The interviews reveal corroboration that many indigenous people are indeed very skeptical about the vaccine especially because of the eugenics movement, and also introduces parallels and connections to the controversial process of Abenaki recognition in Vermont.