(News & Advance)
January 29, 2013
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express] Lewis Reynolds, 85, rose slowly to his feet Monday to tell a House of Delegates subcommittee about being sterilized at the age of 13 at the Central Virginia Training Center.
The 65 people in the room fell silent as Reynolds, of Lynchburg, told the lawmakers he still loves his country despite being deprived of offspring who might have helped him cope with his advancing years.
“I’m Sergeant Reynolds, United States Marine Corps,” he said to eight members of a House Appropriations subcommittee.
“I served in Korea and Vietnam for y’all’s freedom. I couldn’t have no family,” he said, because of the misguided science of eugenics, endorsed by Virginia law from 1924 to 1979, and practiced by sterilizing about 7,500 people in its mental-health institutions.
The subcommittee was considering a bill to establish a state fund to provide $50,000 to surviving victims of the eugenics practice. Five of the victims attended the subcommittee meeting.
Entire article:
Sterilized Lynchburg residents visit House panel, which delays action
http://tinyurl.com/ide0129132a
Related:
Bill Would Compensate Virginia’s Forced Sterilization Victims (WAMU)
http://tinyurl.com/ide0129132b
Virginia’s Eugenics Legacy (Inclusion Daily Express Archives)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/advocacy/vaeugenics.htm
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