MSNBC Discusses North Carolina’s Forced Sterilization Program, Avoids Mentioning The D Word

07 Nov, 2011 by William Teach

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What happened in North Carolina, and 37 other states, was a travesty. I’ve mentioned it before. Forced sterilization of Blacks, the poor, “defectives”. Brian Williams, with his new “Rock Center” program, delves into the issue.

After bringing the human interest part to the story, we get

North Carolina was one of 31 states to have a government run eugenics program. By the 1960s, tens of thousands of Americans were sterilized as a result of these programs.

Eugenics was a scientific theory that grew in popularity during the 1920s. Eugenicists believed that poverty, promiscuity and alcoholism were traits that were inherited. To eliminate those society ills and improve society’s gene pool, proponents of the theory argued that those that exhibited the traits should be sterilized. Some of America’s wealthiest citizens of the time were eugenicists including Dr. Clarence Gamble of the Procter and Gamble fortune and James Hanes of the hosiery company. Hanes helped found the Human Betterment League which promoted the cause of eugenicists.

It began as a way to control welfare spending on poor white women and men, but over time, North Carolina shifted focus, targeting more women and more blacks than whites. A third of the sterilizations performed in North Carolina were done on girls under the age of 18. Some were as young as nine years old.

Who could have done this?

For the past eight years, North Carolina lawmakers have been working to find a way to compensate those involuntarily sterilized in the state between 1929 and 1974. During that time period, 7,600 people were sterilized in North Carolina. Of those who were sterilized, 85 percent of the victims were female and 40 percent were non-white.

The last time the GOP controlled the NC Senate, it was 1898. The GOP only controlled the House for a few years during that time period. The Democrats were in control of the Governor’s mansion the entire time that the sterilization program was in use. The GOP finally took over the General Assembly this year, the first time in 110 years. What were the Democrat, who had the GA and the Governorship the last 8 years, doing?

So, yes, the word “Democrat” fails to appear anywhere in the story. Nor does it appear over at Jezebel nor Shakesville (I’m betting my comment there get’s flagged and whacked in short order). You know if the Republicans had been in charge, that would have been screamed from the rafters.