{"id":9431,"date":"2011-11-07T18:45:11","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T18:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=9431"},"modified":"2011-11-07T18:45:11","modified_gmt":"2011-11-07T18:45:11","slug":"remembering-americas-eugenics-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2011\/11\/remembering-americas-eugenics-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering America’s Eugenics Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Victims speak out about North Carolina sterilization program, which targeted women, young girls and blacks<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Elaine Riddick was 13 years old when she got pregnant after being raped by a neighbor in Winfall, N.C., in 1967. The state ordered that immediately after giving birth, she should be sterilized. Doctors cut and tied off her fallopian tubes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have to carry these scars with me. I have to live with this for the rest of my life,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Riddick was never told what was happening. \u201cGot to the hospital and they put me in a room and that\u2019s all I remember, that\u2019s all I remember,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I woke up, I woke up with bandages on my stomach.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Riddick\u2019s records reveal that a five-person state eugenics board in Raleigh had approved a recommendation that she be sterilized. The records label Riddick as \u201cfeebleminded\u201d and \u201cpromiscuous.\u201d They said her schoolwork was poor and that she \u201cdoes not get along well with others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was raped by a perpetrator [who was never charged] and then I was raped by the state of North Carolina. They took something from me both times,\u201d she said. \u201cThe state of North Carolina, they took something so dearly from me, something that was God given.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t be until Riddick was 19, married and wanting more children, that she\u2019d learn she was incapable of having any more babies. A doctor in New York where she was living at the time told her that she\u2019d been sterilized.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cButchered. The doctor used that word\u2026 I didn\u2019t understand what she meant when she said I had been butchered,\u201d Riddick said.<\/span><\/p>\n

North Carolina was one of 31 states to have a government run eugenics program. By the 1960s, tens of thousands of Americans were sterilized as a result of these programs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eugenics was a scientific theory that grew in popularity during the 1920s. Eugenicists believed that poverty, promiscuity and alcoholism were traits that were inherited. To eliminate those society ills and improve society\u2019s gene pool, proponents of the theory argued that those that exhibited the traits should be sterilized. Some of America\u2019s wealthiest citizens of the time were eugenicists including Dr. Clarence Gamble of the Procter and Gamble fortune and James Hanes of the hosiery company. Hanes helped found the Human Betterment League which promoted the cause of eugenicists.<\/span><\/p>\n

It began as a way to control welfare spending on poor white women and men, but over time, North Carolina shifted focus, targeting more women and more blacks than whites. A third of the sterilizations performed in North Carolina were done on girls under the age of 18. Some were as young as nine years old.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the past eight years, North Carolina lawmakers have been working to find a way to compensate those involuntarily sterilized in the state between 1929 and 1974. During that time period, 7,600 people were sterilized in North Carolina. Of those who were sterilized, 85 percent of the victims were female and 40 percent were non-white.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t rewind a watch or rewrite history. You just have to go forward and that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do in North Carolina,\u201d said Governor Beverly Perdue in an exclusive interview with NBC News.<\/span><\/p>\n

While North Carolina\u2019s eugenics board was disbanded in 1977, the law allowing involuntary sterilization wasn\u2019t officially repealed until 2003. In 2002, the state issued an apology to those who had been sterilized, but the victims have yet to receive any financial compensation, medical care or counseling from the state. Since 2003, three task forces have been created to determine a way to compensate the victims. Officials estimate that as many as 2,000 victims are still alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Riddick was one of several victims to speak at a public hearing this summer. It was the first time that many survivors had told their stories publicly and that others heard of North Carolina\u2019s tarnished past.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo think about folks who went in\u2026and their doctor told them this was birth control and they were sterilized\u2026the folks who didn\u2019t have the capacity to make the decisions, the uninformed consent,\u201d said Perdue. \u201cThose types of stories aren\u2019t good for America and I can\u2019t allow for this period in history to be forgotten, that\u2019s why this work is important.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Only 48 victims have been matched with their records, something necessary for them to eventually be compensated. State Representative Larry Womble has been advocating for the survivors of the state\u2019s sterilization program for nearly 10 years. He helped fight for the repeal of the state\u2019s law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Womble said that if the government is \u201cpowerful enough to perpetrate this on this society, they ought to be responsible, step up to the plate and compensate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In August, a task force created by Gov. Perdue recommended that the victims be compensated, but they were unsure how much to award the victims. Previous numbers pondered range between $20,000 and $50,000. The task force also recommended mental health services for living victims and a traveling museum exhibit about North Carolina\u2019s eugenics program.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perdue said it\u2019s a challenge to determine how much money each victim should be given.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my perspective, and as a woman, and as the governor of this state, this is not about the money. There isn\u2019t enough money in the world to pay these people for what has been done to them, but money is part of the equation,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Riddick once sued North Carolina for a million dollars. Her case made it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, but the court declined to hear the case. \u201cI would like for the state of North Carolina to right what they wronged with me,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some victims and their advocates have questioned whether North Carolina is procrastinating in compensating them, hoping they\u2019ll die before a solution is reached. \u201cIt\u2019s an ugly chapter in North Carolina\u2019s book, we have a wonderful book, but there\u2019s an ugly chapter,\u201d Womble said. \u201cWe must step up to the plate and we must realize and take responsibility.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Perdue, for her part, said that she is committed to helping the victims.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want this solved on my watch. I want there to be completion. I want the whole discussion to end and there be action for these folks. There is nobody in North Carolina who is waiting for anybody to die,\u201d Gov. Perdue said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the state social workers who declared Riddick was \u201cmentally retarded\u201d and \u201cpromiscuous\u201d, she went to college and raised the son born moments before she was sterilized. Her son is devoted to his mother and a successful entrepreneur.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elaine is proud of her achievements.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where I would be if I listened to the state of North Carolina,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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