Victims of state's eugenics program win sympathy

RALEIGH -- For more than 40 years, Charles Holt swallowed the shame and anger of being sterilized by the state of North Carolina.

He thought he was the only one.

On Wednesday, Holt, 61, heard story after story of people who also know the pain of being denied the ability to bear children.

"It's there and will be there with me for a lifetime," said Holt of Kernersville.

From the 1920s to the 1970s, the N.C. Board of Eugenics oversaw the sterilization of nearly 7,600 people. The stories of about a dozen of them, including Holt, were told Wednesday to a state task force that will recommend ways to compensate them.

Most of the victims are no longer alive; some of their stories were shared by family members in a packed room at a Department of Agriculture office building.

Karen Beck of Winston-Salem spoke of her great-aunt, Dottie Virginia Bates, who was 13 when she was told that she needed to have her appendix removed. Years later, Bates went to the hospital with appendicitis and discovered that her Fallopian tubes, not her appendix, had been cut.

The state-funded Eugenics Board determined that certain groups of people - those who were poor, undereducated, mentally unstable - were unfit to carry on the responsibility of parenthood. The phrase it used to described them was "feeble-minded." Social workers were employed to coerce people into sterilization.

Former Gov. Mike Easley apologized to the state's eugenics victims in 2002, but no form of compensation has taken place.

Deborah Chesson's mother, Nial Ramirez of Washington County, gave birth to her when she was 17. A social worker convinced Ramirez's mother that it would be best to have Ramirez sterilized, since the surgery could be reversed later in life.

"I was lied to and butchered," Ramirez wrote in a letter read by her daughter, "I was being set up to be sterilized like I was some type of animal."

Ramirez was never able to conceive and suffered from chronic urinary infections.

Chesson, who lives in Georgia, questioned the possibility of compensation. Years ago there was talk about compensating each victim $20,000, but nothing came of it.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" Chesson asked. "Forty-seven years later, it's still being said to my mother, 'You mean nothing.'"

Gov. Bev Perdue and four state representatives attended Wednesday's session and thanked the victims for the courage of sharing their stories, but made no promises of compensation.

"I came here as a woman, a mama, a grandmama, and a governor of the state to say that it was wrong," Perdue said. "I'm here to tell you how important these hearings are."

Task force member and former journalist Phoebe Zerwick said the stories were "moving and humbling."

"I didn't hear anyone who was in a least bit feeble-minded," Zerwick said. "They were eloquent, strong, and educated. That drove home for me how tragic the eugenics program was."

Rep. Larry Womble, a Democrat from Winston-Salem and task force member, said he hoped his fellow legislators would agree to pass legislation that would allow eugenics victims to receive compensation as well as counseling and medical help.

"I hope something tangible will come out of this hearing," Womble said.

The task force must make its recommendations to the governor by Feb. 1. It will be up to the legislature to determine compensation.

Randon Pender, president of the Winston-Salem Black Chamber of Commerce, said she came to Wednesday's hearing to support the victims. She said she hopes to see the state take action soon.

"We're thankful for the apology," Pender said. "But at the end, compensation must occur."