'How much are the kids I never had worth?'

[Number23]

''How much are the kids I never had worth?' - forced sterilisation victim
http://www.smh.com.au/world/how-much-are-the-kids-i-never-had-worth--forced-sterilisation-victim-20120129-1qns4.html

RALEIGH, North Carolina: Elaine Riddick was a confused and frightened 14-year-old. She was poor and black, the daughter of alcoholic parents in a segregated North Carolina town. And she was pregnant after being raped by a man from her neighbourhood.

Ms Riddick's miserable circumstances attracted the attention of social workers, who referred her case to the state's Eugenics Board. In an office building in Raleigh, five men met to consider her fate.

Board members concluded the girl was ''feebleminded'' and doomed to ''promiscuity''. They recommended sterilisation. Ms Riddick's illiterate grandmother, Maggie Woodard, marked an ''X'' on a consent form.

Hours after Ms Riddick gave birth to a son on March 5, 1968, a doctor sliced through her fallopian tubes and cauterised them.

The stated purpose of the eugenics program was to, of course, "purify the state's population by weeding out the mentally ill, diseased, feebleminded and others deemed undesirable." But how much do you all want to bet that the vast majority of the folks needing "purification" were simply not white?

And for this racist bit of inhuman butchery, the victim was given the princely sum of $50,000. Fifty THOUSAND whole dollars. This is almost too much to believe. But this is a huge part of what being black in America has always been.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

1. NC legislature is for the first time in over 100 years, all Republican

I'd be surprised if they even approved $50K.

[Number23]

3. And yet, as the article says, it is still the first state to consider financial compensation for

its victims.

It is the first state to consider compensation for victims of forced sterilisation - up to 65,000 in at least 30 states, according to most estimates. Between 1929 and 1974, nearly 7600 people were sterilised under orders from North Carolina's Eugenics Board. Nearly 85 per cent were women or girls, some as young as 10. The state estimates that 1500 to 2000 of the victims are still alive.

[Warpy]

2. I saw the tail end of this horrible program

at one of their state mental hospitals in the 60s and yes, poor white women were also sterilized if they were considered "feeble minded" or "promiscuous," the latter meaning they weren't married to the father of the child. All were poor, that was the determining factor. Poor women were not qualified to have children because being born into poverty was a shameful thing indicating their innate inferiority.

No one outside the system wanted to hear anything about it, either.

[Number23]

4. Good grief, I can only imagine the things you must have seen

The state of NC has apparently created a victims' foundation http://www.sterilizationvictims.nc.gov/aboutus.aspx

I'm sure this must have been the group to determine that the victim's pain in the article was worth a whole $50K.

All were poor, that was the determining factor.

Poverty and race are not mutually exclusive, particularly when we are talking about being black in North Carolina during the 1930s. I have absolutely no doubt that poor white women were also victimized, but the social, economic and political structure of this country, particularly in areas of the South, was created so that blacks were and always would be poor.

From the victims' foundation web site: "In the 1950s, the N.C. Eugenics Board began to focus increasingly on the sterilization of welfare recipients which led to a dramatic rise of sterilizations for African Americans and women that did not reside in state institutions."

I am hoping that everyone victimized by this program is compensated and 50 grand is not going to cut it. Not even by half.

[SemperEadem]

6. exactly

"I have absolutely no doubt that poor white women were also victimized, but the social, economic and political structure of this country, particularly in areas of the South, was created so that blacks were and always would be poor. "

It is built on an irrational fear, caused by an almost-psychotic hatred so deep that it's quite hard to fathom how one can be so hard-wired to proceed through life like that. I just don't get it, but then again, I have education and that appears to make a huge difference in one's ability to be open-minded. But my God, don't they ever get tired of keeping it up?

a rather interesting article, sort of on this subject: http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html

[SemperEadem]

5. I'd guess

that there were some whites who were not of an "acceptable" social class or standing in the community who had this treatment administered, but I agree--you're going to see a whole lot of black females as victims here, especially when you have illiterate grandmothers signing away the butchering job to ne'er-do-wells working for the state.

It's further proof of the War on Black Women. It's everywhere you turn. You can't just be minding your business without it landing on your head. It is real, it has been real for eternity and I, for one, am fucking sick of having to fight in it every got-damn day.

[Number23]

7. (Standing ovation)

It's further proof of the War on Black Women. It's everywhere you turn. You can't just be minding your business without it landing on your head. It is real, it has been real for eternity and I, for one, am fucking sick of having to fight in it every got-damn day.

Girl....

[JustAnotherGen]

9. Another Standing Ovation

It's further proof of the War on Black Women. It's everywhere you turn. You can't just be minding your business without it landing on your head. It is real, it has been real for eternity and I, for one, am fucking sick of having to fight in it every got-damn day.

And this group needs a statement of purpose. . . This should be the one place/the ONE group where black women should feel safe to speak of issues that impact us without having to explain ourselves. I'll do it in the Feminist and Women's Rights Groups - I refuse to do it here.


Because this is not just an issue for black women - it's an issue for our fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews, (not in this woman's case) sons - who were powerless to stop this treatment of us for years. I'm talking back to the time we were slaves.

It's the story of us, our ancestors and if some of the foaming at the mouth Republicans in this country had their way - our future - or lack thereof in this country.

[Number23]

10. I missed this post before, but you deserve a standing ovation of your own

This should be the one place/the ONE group where black women should feel safe to speak of issues that impact us without having to explain ourselves. I'll do it in the Feminist and Women's Rights Groups - I refuse to do it here.

Could not agree more.

[nofurylike]

8. thank you for posting that, Number23.

"this racist bit of inhuman butchery"
yes.



it is horrifying, and enraging.

"Fifty THOUSAND whole dollars"!!
yes, that does say it all.

"a huge part of what being black in America has always been."