Life
North Carolina to discuss compensation for sterilization victims
Sterilization victim Elaine Riddick/AP Photo/Karen Tam
A forcible sterilization program with overtures of eugenics resonates like something from Nazi Germany, but it happened in the United States, and it was more than just an isolated occurrence.
At least thirty states had programs that sterilized people, mostly African-American women, against their will. But few were as outlandish as the one in North Carolina where as many as 2,000 people were sterilized between 1929 and 1974, according to an AP story.
While many states have apologized for such barbarity, North Carolina is the only one considering compensating the victims. A recent task force, formed in 2010 by Governor Beverly Perdue, has recommended that each of the 2,000 people victimized be awarded US$50,000.
Many of the victims feel that amount is inadequate and places a small value on their lives and their potential children. The task force’s report briefly addressed this issue, noting that compensation “is not meant to value life loss or the choices taken away from nearly 7,600 men and women but to serve as a strong and collective acknowledgment of an abusive government program that should never be duplicated by this state or any other government ever again.”
