Alexandra Minna Stern, director of the University of Michigan's Sterilization and Social Justice Lab, and colleagues have spent the last 10 years combing through thousands of records of sterilizations carried out in California mental institutions—which disproportionately affected poor and minority patients in the state.
Stern, professor and chair of American culture, can discuss the eugenics programs that were the law of the land in 32 states and the impetus behind the current California bill prompted in part by her research and her call for reparations to forced sterilization victims.
"This bill has been a long time coming," Stern said. "Fifteen years ago the governor and the attorney general in California apologized for the sterilizations; now those wronged by this program can receive material compensation."
The California bill, she says, is good but the eugenics sterilization compensation program would only compensate directly those survivors alive on Jan. 1, 2019.
"By that time, my team estimates there will be 631 victims alive," Stern said. "This process is racing against clock. Every year, another 100 survivors die. Time is of the essence."
Contact Stern: 734-763-1460 or amstern@umich.edu.
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