Letters to the Editor: Trump’s racist ideas on criminality go back to America’s founding

To the editor: So, former President Trump thinks criminality is genetic, a perception that reflects the racist ideology of 19th century Italian physician and criminologist Cesare Lombroso, as recounted in Benjamin Carter Hett’s op-ed article.

What caught my eye was Lombroso’s characterization of Africans and Indigenous Americans, among others who have dark skin, as born criminals. They are “not of our species but a species of bloodthirsty beasts,” he said. Tragically, this line of thought was revived by the Nazis before World War II.

As an Indigenous American, I am reminded of an even earlier, mostly unknown history.

In the 15th century, the Catholic Church implied through papal decrees that dark-skinned Indigenous people were inferior to light-skinned Europeans. This became known as the Doctrine of Discovery, which gave legal and theological justification for the brutal colonization of this continent. This is reflected in our Declaration of Independence, which refers to “merciless Indian savages.”

We were regarded as not fully human, lacking good genes and therefore inferior. Obviously, some in our population still echo that sentiment. Thankfully, there are those who believe otherwise — more than the former, I hope.

Harold Printup, Mar Vista