Culling the Masses

Today, the idea of choosing individuals based on perceived race is repugnant to our ideals of equality and fairness. Generations of scholars have argued that racism was an aberration that democracies eventually worked out of their laws. Culling the Masses challenges this assumption by showing how governments in the Americas have deliberately chosen their populations by ethnically selective immigration and nationality laws. In fact, the governments that were most inclusive, whether democratic or populist, were most likely to select by race. The biggest exemplar of liberal democracy was the United States, which had the longest period of uninterrupted racial exclusions (between 1790 and 1965).

Cook-Martín was recently interviewed by Salon. You can read more about Culling the Masses in HEPPAS Books and Scholars Strategy Network.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for International Studies, dean's office, sociology department, and Grinnell College Libraries.