The United States is a nation with a motto "In God We Trust." God counsels us in Proverbs 3:29 Amplified Bible, "Do not contrive or dig up or cultivate evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly and confidently beside you."
Sometimes instead of trusting God, our government becomes an evil neighbor. Thirty-two US states practiced eugenics programs that included forced sterilization of the disabled.
Kim Severson reports in the July 25, 2013, The New York Times article "North Carolina: Budget Pays Eugenics Victims" that the North Carolina state board ran a eugenics program from 1933 through 1977 that sterilized about 7,600; on July 25, 2013, North Carolina became the first state legislature to approve payment to victims of government-run forced sterilization programs. Ten million is to be shared by each victim through an one-time payment on June 30, 2015 (Lynn, Charlotte Observer, "N.C. budget would end teacher tenure, pay some private school tuition," July 22, 2013.)
Fear of the sexuality of people who are different is part of our past and present. The 1927 Buck v. Bell Supreme Court decision ruled that forced sterilization of people with disabilities was not a violation of their constitutional rights. By the 1970s, more than 60,000 disabled people were sterilized without their consent. Forced sterilization is illegal today, but the sexuality of the disabled is not widely celebrated.
Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs. Today he is married to Kanae Loida Vujicic-Miyahara. The couple have a son named Kiyoshi James Vujicic. As an adolescent Nick Vujicic says he experienced bullying about his sexuality. Vujicic writes in his book Unstoppable The Incredible Power of Faith in Action, "Day after day, he'd walk by me and shout out, "Nick has no --!""
God made our bodies, and we are to use them according to His design. 1 Corinthians 7:3 New Living Translation Bible says, "The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs."
A Nigerian proverb says, "Our children are living messages sent to a future we may never see." Kiyoshi James Vujicic is a child witness celebrating the sexuality of those with disabilities. Perhaps when he is an adult American society and other societies will think it common and not a point of criticism for people with all kinds of disabilities to marry and to have children.
Americans of Japanese and other Asian heritage were interned in camps during World War II. Starting in 1990 the US government sent survivors reparations of $20,000.00 each. Do you think other states should pay reparations to victims of forced sterilization? Write to:
Michele F. Jackson
P. O. Box 2106
Woodbridge, Virginia 22195
Follow Michele F. Jackson on http://www.Twitter.com/Michelelove30.
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