Eugenics

As we watched the first part of Smoke Signals yesterday in class, I kept waiting on someone in the movie to mention how Victor's mother was sterilized after his birth in the early 70s, but they never did. (Maybe it comes up later in the film. I don't know.) But it was mentioned in Sherman Alexie's book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven.

Lately, Eugenics has been in the news here in North Carolina, so it definitely caught my eye when I read about Victor's mother in the book.  Apparently, from 1929 to 1974, North Carolina's government decided to adopt a eugenics sterilization program. About 7,600 men, women, and children were deemed unfit to reproduce and their doctors were ordered to sterilize them by the NC eugenics board. One victim was raped at the age of 13, and when she gave birth to the baby conceived from that rape, she was sterilized for the given reasons that she was considered "feeble-minded" and "promiscuous".

You can listen to a report about Mecklenburg County, NC,  from NPR or read it here. "Only NC gave the power [to select who would be sterilized] to social workers. Most states left the choosing up to doctors."

North Carolina wasn't alone in its attempt to sterilize those the U.S. considered to be of lesser means. Thirty-two states in all adapted similar programs.

So, I set out to try and find something pertaining to the forced sterilization of Indian women, but I wasn't able to find a whole lot short of some scholarly articles on JSTOR and one short video on YouTube.

Forced sterilization is only one part of the genocide that was force upon Indians, and it was under the guise of eugenics.

The most upsetting thing about this, aside from Indian birth rates dropping in the 70s leading to a reduced population, is that these women were lied to. Either they were persuaded under false pretenses to sign a piece of paper, giving their okay for sterilization, or it was done to them without their knowledge.

Some women were told at the birth of a child that if they didn't give their permission to be sterilized, they would lose any and all privileges and assistance from the government for them and any older children that they may have. Other women would go into the hospital for another surgery such as an appendectomy only to find out years later that while the surgeons where operating, they performed an extra procedure, like they were running a buy one get one free special at the Rez.

It's sickening the things that I've come across. How can a civilization that claims in its constitution that "All men are created equal" kill off members of its own society? And that's exactly what they were doing. Fewer Indians born mean that their culture dies that much faster.