The Long Shadow of Eugenics in America As young girls, the Relf sisters were sterilized without consent. What does the government owe them â and the thousands of other living victims?
In the summer of 1973, Minnie Lee and Mary Alice were taken from their home in Montgomery, cut open and sterilized against their will and without the informed consent of their parents by a physician working in a federally funded clinic. The Relf case would change the course of history: A lawsuit filed on their behalf, Relf v. Weinberger, helped reveal that more than 100,000 mostly Black, Latina and Indigenous women were sterilized under U.S. government programs over decades. It also officially ended this practice and forced doctors to obtain informed consent before performing sterilization procedures â though as it would turn out, forced sterilizations by state governments would continue into the 21st century.
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The history of legalized forced sterilization by the government begins in 1907, when Indiana became the first state to pass a eugenics law providing for the involuntary sterilization of âconfirmed criminals, idiots, imbeciles and rapists.â Those affected early on were mainly men viewed as criminalistic, including those whose âdefectâ was supposedly excessive masturbation or homosexuality.
âThat first law focused on vasectomizing poor white men who were identified as being sexually deviant,â says Dr. Alexandra Minna Stern, a professor of American history and culture at the University of Michigan and co-director of the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab. Her research team studies the history of eugenic sterilization in the United States and has collected the records of more than 60,000 survivors in California, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Utah. âWeâre talking about sterilizing populations that are being seen as hypersexualized or as sexually inappropriate, as promiscuous, as not having middle-class sexual respectability.â
"After more than 200 failed attempts to outlaw lynching, Congress is finally
succeeding in taking the long overdue action by passing the Emmett Till
Antilynching Act. Hallelujah. It's long overdue," said Majority Leader
Chuck Schumer in remarks on the Senate floor after the bill's passage.
That it took so long to pass is a "bitter stain" on America, the New York Democrat added.
"The first antilynching legislation was introduced a century ago, and after
so long, the Senate has now finally addressed one of the most shameful
elements of this nation's past by making lynching a federal crime," he
said.
well this is a bit surprising...
i doubt anyone will go back and look at this now
kmele foster interviews amy cooper and discusses with bari weiss
foster was especially enlightened after he listened to the entire 911 call
i decided to listen to the podcast in the background while working
turns out christian cooper has initiated this kind of confrontation before
well this is a bit surprising... i doubt anyone will go back and look at this now kmele foster interviews amy cooper and discusses with bari weiss foster was especially enlightened after he listened to the entire 911 call i decided to listen to the podcast in the background while working turns out christian cooper has initiated this kind of confrontation before
Could have also put this in the What Makes You Laugh...HA!
Black Lives Matter is still standing with Jussie Smollett after the actor was convicted Thursday of staging a racist, homophobic attack and lying to police about it.
