On behalf of The Rockefeller Foundation, we commend the Anti-Eugenics Project for their essential work to understand, and increase awareness of, the harmful legacies of eugenicist ideologies. And we welcome the Project hosting this week’s Dismantling Eugenics convening, which will, among other topics, examine the role that philanthropies played in developing and perpetuating eugenics policies and practices.
The Rockefeller Foundation is currently reckoning with our own history in relation to eugenics. This requires uncovering the facts and confronting uncomfortable truths, and this investigation is underway.
As this investigation continues, The Rockefeller Foundation is putting equity and inclusion at the center of all our work: In our fights to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, promote green energy transitions and end energy poverty, combat hunger and food insecurity, and build pathways to economic prosperity. Across our work, The Foundation is confronting the hateful legacies of the past—in laws, structures, and systems—that have suppressed opportunity for so many and are helping our grantees and the people they serve to overcome them. Of course, we understand that the work we engage in today does not absolve us of yesterday’s mistakes. However, our past does inform our present efforts to bolster humanity with advances in science and technology, and to reimagine the future. We will do everything we can to ensure that future is brighter, more equitable, and more sustainable—for everyone.