In 2020, a whistleblower named Dawn Wooten exposed something shocking. As a nurse at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, she revealed that mass hysterectomies – surgical sterilization that makes victims FOREVER unable to have children – were being performed without consent!
But this actually takes us back to our history.
Forced sterilization targeting Black people isn’t new. In the 19th century, J. Marion Sims abused Black women in experiments that are actually the foundation of the field of gynecology.
But then it got even worse.
The U.S. eugenics movement pushed for people they deemed “undesirable” – like low-income Black people – to be sterilized. It was so effective and widespread, it even inspired the Nazis!
And it’s still happening.
States like North Carolina, California, Iowa and Michigan carried out tens of thousands of sterilizations. Over 60,000 people were sterilized – during the 20th century!
Much of this targeted Black people, for reasons we see carried out against us today in other ways.
In response to Wooten’s expose, 57 survivors of the unwanted operations came forward, filing a class action lawsuit against the facility.
But prisons and detention centers still perpetuate the genocidal, eugenicist idea that Black people aren’t fit to reproduce. Because they’re not about justice. They’re about harming us – and they still do every day.