Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Encouraging the state of Wisconsin to apologize for the practice of sterilizing residents and pay restitution to any victims who are alive.
Body
WHEREAS, Wisconsin was one of many states that previously sterilized people during the eugenics movement of the 20th century; and,
WHEREAS, the practice of sterilizing residents of the Wisconsin Home for the Feebleminded (Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled) and the Wisconsin Hospital for the Insane (Winnebago Mental Health Institute) occurred from 1913 to 1963; and
WHEREAS, Wisconsin sterilized 1,823 "mental defectives" -- nine of 10 of them women, and,
WHEREAS, some states have apologized for the practice and one is contemplating payment to any of the sterilized who still live,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Madison Common Council encourages the state of Wisconsin to apologize for the practice and pay restitution to any victims who remain alive.