On Monday, Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington County) and the
Christian Law Center both called upon the state of Virginia to take “full
responsibility” for the coerced sterilization of close to 8,000 individuals in
Virginia from 1924 through 1979, a move that could mean monetary payouts to
living victims.[1]
The forced sterilizations that occurred in Virginia between
1924 and 1979 are a period of Virginia’s history that is little known by many
Virginians. But in 2002, Mark R. Warner, then governor of Virginia, issued “the
commonwealth’s sincere apology for Virginia’s participation in eugenics.”
Countrywide, as many as 60,000 individuals were sterilized.[2]
Overall, Virginia ranked second only to California in sterilizations,
which had 20,000.[3]
In their joint statement released on Monday, Del. Hope noted
Warner’s apology but added, “Now we should take it a step further, and Virginia
should take full responsibility for its actions.”
Although Hope suggested that further research is necessary
to identify the sterilization victims in Virginia and to determine how many are
still living, North Carolina proposed a $50,000 “award” for each sterilization
victim earlier this year.[4]
While Mark Warner’s apology was a solid first step in
confronting Virginia’s history of sterilization, deeds often speak louder than
words. If Virginia truly wants to show its citizens and the rest of the country
that it’s serious about “making up” for the thousands of forced sterilizations
it will push forward with efforts to find living victims and compensate them
for the morally unconscionable actions that were taken against them.
There won’t ever be an agreement on what the appropriate
award is, but offering up monetary compensation is a symbol of how serious
Virginia is about righting the wrongs of the past. And it will serve as a
lesson for the future that horrible acts perpetrated
against citizens of the commonwealth will not be brushed aside with merely an
apology.
[1] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/aug/07/tdmet01-delegate-suggests-compensation-for-forced--ar-2112953/
[2] http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-06-23-eugenics-carrie-buck_N.htm
[3] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/aug/07/tdmet01-delegate-suggests-compensation-for-forced--ar-2112953/
[4] http://www.gastongazette.com/articles/state-72176-bill-compensation.html
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