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Victims of North Carolina's forced-sterilization program will not receive any compensation under a $20.2 billion state budget deal announced Wednesday. One outspoken victim of the program says she plans to sue.
Elaine Riddick of Atlanta, who spoke out on NBC’s "Rock Center" last year about the eugenics program, told the AP on Wednesday that she was angry with the Senate. Riddick, born in 1954, was 14 when she was sterilized after being raped and giving birth to a son.
Riddick’s records reveal that a five-person state eugenics board in Raleigh had approved a recommendation that she be sterilized. The records label Riddick as “feebleminded” and “promiscuous.” They said her schoolwork was poor and that she “does not get along well with others.”
“I 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,” she said. “The state of North Carolina, they took something so dearly from me, something that was God given.”
Then we have this gem from today's Winston-Salem Journal, including a quote from Forsyth County's own Pete Brunstetter:
Republican leaders in the Senate said the state didn't have the money in a tight budget year, and that they feared that paying the victims would open the door for other groups — such as the descendants of slaves — to seek reparations.
"There are any number of things that governments have been involved in that may or could lead to liability," said Sen. Pete Brunstetter, R-Forsyth, who is co-chairman of the Senate appropriations committee. "The question is, where does it lead you once you start paying reparations?"
Seriously Pete? We shouldn't atone for unimaginable wrongs because it might lead to reparations for slavery? I am truly flabbergasted at these clowns. When will the voters in NC wake up?
Seriously Pete? We shouldn't atone for unimaginable wrongs because it might lead to reparations for slavery? I am truly flabbergasted at these clowns. When will the voters in NC wake up?
And bankrupting the state would be better how? And your Nazi reference is an insult to those who actually suffered under them. Forced sterilization, while horrible, is nowhere near forced extermination of an entire race.
Edit to add: Oh yeah, if you'd bother reading a history book, you'd know that forced sterilization is exactly what the Nazis did to hundreds of thousands of people. See, my reference is dead on. In fact, I shouldn't be so hard on the Nazis, as it was actually done in many countries.
While certainly a blight on the state's history, I think paying folks, for what at the time was a legal deal, is not the correct answer. yeah, that goes for the asinine concept of reparations, too. Stuff happens. To us all.
At the same time, trying to rationalize not paying based on the budget is pretty lame, too! Ponying up the cash is either the right thing to do (which I say no) or the wrong thing to do. The budget must support the decision, not lead the decision.
While certainly a blight on the state's history, I think paying folks, for what at the time was a legal deal, is not the correct answer. yeah, that goes for the asinine concept of reparations, too. Stuff happens. To us all.
At the same time, trying to rationalize not paying based on the budget is pretty lame, too! Ponying up the cash is either the right thing to do (which I say no) or the wrong thing to do. The budget must support the decision, not lead the decision.
Definitely agree with your second paragraph. The first, not so much. Is this any different from the state taking your house to build a road? You'd be compensated in that case. How is it that a house is somehow worth compensation, but one's reproductive capability isn't?
I agree that some sort of compensation should be paid but only to survivors, only when the state has the capability to do so and only when stringent anti-fraud measures are in place. If you feel they deserve compensation sooner then by all means break out your checkbook.
Quote:
Edit to add: Oh yeah, if you'd bother reading a history book, you'd know that forced sterilization is exactly what the Nazis did to hundreds of thousands of people. See, my reference is dead on. In fact, I shouldn't be so hard on the Nazis, as it was actually done in many countries.
I am well aware of what the Nazi's did. However they performed other atrocities in addition to forced sterilization that was much worse than anything this state has ever done. Your comparison is shrieking, attention-getting hyperbole.
Apparently I haven't shrieked loudly enough for the folks in Raleigh to hear, because the victims are still waiting...even for an apology. And while I'm glad you agree there should be compensation, your conditions are quite trivial. The state has money for this, and the anti-fraud measures could consist of simply showing some form of acceptable identification. The state has detailed records about who the victims of this practice were.
.......Seriously Pete? We shouldn't atone for unimaginable wrongs because it might lead to reparations for slavery? I am truly flabbergasted at these clowns. When will the voters in NC wake up?
Seriously arby? Nazi Germany? Its not still going on, you do realize?
I tend to believe some type of compensation should be done but not sure how. But your title is despicable.
Seriously arby? Nazi Germany? Its not still going on, you do realize?
I tend to believe some type of compensation should be done but not sure how. But your title is despicable.
Thanks. I chose the title just to get a reaction from those of you who, predictably, reacted just as I thought they would. What the state did to these people is infinitely more despicable than any words I could type, and the lack of compassion for these people is even more despicable. At least the people who perpetrated the sterilizations thought they were doing the right thing at the time. I'm not sure what the excuse is for despicably failing to address it today.
At least the people who perpetrated the sterilizations thought they were doing the right thing at the time. I'm not sure what the excuse is for despicably failing to address it today.
There really isn't one, apart from politics, which is no excuse. There is doing the right thing, and owning up to wrongs, which don't stand a snowball's chance in hell these days. Yet another example of behavior being guided by ideology (which is not synonymous with morality, or fairness either), rather than actual respect for humanity. Which leads us straight back to Nazis.
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