Now that an N.C. House legislative committee has completed its study of compensation for victims of North Carolina's dreadful sterilization program, the N.C. General Assembly should put this issue at the top of its list when it convenes next month. The state has dragged its heels on this for five years, even as sterilization victims have continued to suffer and die off.
From 1929 through 1974, more than 7,600 men, women and children were sterilized by the state's low-profile program that was based on the junk science of eugenics. Most were poor, and many were operated on after being determined to be "feeble-minded" on the basis of faulty intelligence testing. Others were operated on for no more reason than they were promiscuous. This long and shameful chapter in state history finally came to light six years ago this month, when the Journal brought to light the program in an investigative series.
Gov. Mike Easley apologized publicly for the program, but since then there has been mostly lofty talk about helping the victims. About the only action the state has taken, despite a lot of prodding from the Journal and Rep. Larry Womble of Forsyth County, is to start a traveling exhibit and brochure about the program, and make some initial contact with victims.
There is no excuse for this lack of action. Easley and legislators have failed the victims. Gov.-elect Bev Perdue and the next General Assembly must do better.
Perhaps the main reason for the failure has been the emphasis on financial compensation for the victims. The legislative committee is once again pursuing that -- $20,000 for each victim. That's included among its other recommendations. Speaker of the House Joe Hackney is open to the idea of financial compensation.
It would be justified, even if the push for it has been made as the economy has gotten worse over the last few years.
At the very least, the legislature should finally follow through on recommendations that Easley approved five years ago. That means giving the victims treatment for the mental and physical ills left by their sterilizations, putting the story of this program in public-school textbooks and setting up a monument to the victims -- so that the terrible mistakes of this program will never be repeated.
The legislative committee recommended that the victims receive mental-health-care benefits, but it did not deal with help with physical care. Lingering ill effects of some of these operations have created a strong need for that care. Perhaps it could be provided at the state's university hospitals.
The committee is correct in recommending that information about the program be taught in schools, that stories of victims be documented and that state, county and local-government employees receive training about issues of ethics and human rights. But instead of a monument, it recommends a historical marker. That is not enough. It would amount to a token gesture that would be an insult to the victims.
This issue has been studied ad nauseam. Victims have told their stories over and over to legislators, reliving the pain each time. The General Assembly should finally help these victims when it convenes next month.
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