Think Black: A Memoir

trained Dehomag and Third Reich employees in the use of the Hollerith equipment; and maintained and repaired Hollerith machines to keep them in good working order.

painful, cruel irony that this IBM software is now known as “Watson Visual Recognition.”

Using Hollerith machines, IBM—under the leadership of Thomas J. Watson Sr.—had pursued such a strategy with punch cards, first in Jamaica in 1928 and then in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. Now, under a new Thomas J. Watson, the founder’s son, IBM pursued a remarkably similar strategy in support of apartheid, with an even more powerful arsenal of d

“Whatever you do, my son,” the voices said, “make your life count for us. . . . Whatever you do, my son, make your life count for us. . . . Whatever you do, my son, make your life count for us. . . .”

success of the Jamaica Project allowed the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Davenport, to announce plans for a global study to identify mixed-race individuals as a first step toward their elimination in favor of “racially pure stock.”8

Skin color conveyed intelligence for him. Lighter skin meant greater intellect, darker skin the opposite. My father read widely of such racist views in books and articles by authors such as Arthur

Even as a child of nine or ten, I suggested more than once that they’d be better off apart than together. That suggestion brought an instant, unanimous rebuke: “We’re staying together for you and your sister.”

After twice divorcing my father and engaging in a number of other relationships, my mother confirmed my long-held suspicions by finally marrying Chick and staying with him until the end of her life.

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