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In a landmark action, North Carolina legislators have voted to spend $10 million to compensate men and women sterilized under the state’s 20th century eugenics program.
After years of debate, the Republican-controlled legislature included the reparations in a $20.6 billion budget bill. When Gov. Pat McCrory signed it last month, North Carolina became the first state to earmark compensation for people who were forcibly sterilized.
By demonstrating moral authority in a time of budget constraints, North Carolina offered a bold model for Virginia to emulate. About 8,300 Virginians were sterilized involuntarily under state law between 1927 and 1979, surpassed only by California, with more than 20,000 sterilizations.
Last year, a North Carolina governor’s task force staked out the moral grounds for action by declaring, “The compensation package we recommend sends a clear message that we in North Carolina are a people who pay for our mistakes and that we do not tolerate bureaucracies that trample on basic human rights.”
Twelve years earlier, the Virginia General Assembly issued a statement of “profound regret” over “the incalculable human damage done in the...
After years of debate, the Republican-controlled legislature included the reparations in a $20.6 billion budget bill. When Gov. Pat McCrory signed it last month, North Carolina became the first state to earmark compensation for people who were forcibly sterilized.
By demonstrating moral authority in a time of budget constraints, North Carolina offered a bold model for Virginia to emulate. About 8,300 Virginians were sterilized involuntarily under state law between 1927 and 1979, surpassed only by California, with more than 20,000 sterilizations.
Last year, a North Carolina governor’s task force staked out the moral grounds for action by declaring, “The compensation package we recommend sends a clear message that we in North Carolina are a people who pay for our mistakes and that we do not tolerate bureaucracies that trample on basic human rights.”
Twelve years earlier, the Virginia General Assembly issued a statement of “profound regret” over “the incalculable human damage done in the...