TO THE EDITOR:
The eugenics movement received overdue attention when Gov. Bev Perdue gave her support to compensate sterilized victims, making North Carolina the only state to move forward in amending its past.
More often than not, we fail to discuss our shameful past. I did not learn about the eugenics practices until my junior year at UNC when Professor Donna LeFebvre in her political science course, “Ethics, Morality, Individual Liberty, and the Law,” shared with us the chilling stories of eugenics victims. Maybe political officials feel that talking about state-supported mistreatments would bring unwanted attention: what price would you put on losing your ability to start a family?
Now is the perfect time for us to consider how we confront our nation’s history and view present-day controversial topics. By looking back on our mistakes, we may not only justly recognize the victims, but also reconsider how we view controversial topics today. When I look back, I cannot imagine sharing the majority’s sentiment that the sterilization of impoverished minorities was justifiable. Yet, more than 7,600 people were sterilized in North Carolina alone.
The fact that the eugenics movement was horrifyingly wrong is obvious today. But, how will present-day controversial issues be viewed another 39 years from now? The last recorded sterilization was in 1973. In 2050, how will we view same-sex couples’ marrying or raising children, the treatment of Muslim-Americans after 9/11, health care access or global warming?
We may not have an obvious answer today, but our grandchildren will. I just hope that when they look back, they’ll say that we made the right decisions.
Colby Allred
Class of 2011
