Reparation. It's a word that elicits gut reactions and knee-jerk commentary. It serves as a blanket to both cover our ills and comfort our transgressions. Yet its fabric cannot repair or replace broken dreams or tears shed long ago. History cannot be changed. But can the glaring holes in the blanket be stitched with inferior threads by a shameful country? Case in point:

North Carolina is now the first state to offer monetary compensation to victims of government-sponsored sterilization, the third state to issue an official apology behind Virginia and Ohio. It occupies a place in our past also populated by 31 other states.

The original legislation was enacted in 1929, but the NC Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in 1933, so the Eugenics Board of North Carolina (EBNC) was born. No pun intended. The functional changes made to the earlier law were to provide the person determined to be in need of sterilization notice, a hearing, and right to appeal. Simply put, the EBNC program allowed any state sanctioned institution to petition for the procedure to be performed on anyone suspected of "feeblemindedness, epilepsy or mental disease".

By the 1940's some bright folks -- aka The Department of Public Welfare -- decided that it should address issues such as poverty and illegitimacy as well. NC repealed the law(s) and the Eugenics Board piece by piece ... beginning in 1974 and removing the last vestiges of it from the books in 2003. A far better summary, including a stunning quote by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, can be found at: http://rt.com/usa/north-carolina-eugenics-program-932/ or: http://usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/08/21/eugenics-north-carolina-col....

In 2010, the EBNC morphed into the North Carolina Office of Justice for Sterilization Victims, created by Gov. Beverly Perdue (D). (Before her, in 2002, Gov. Mike Easley (D) formed a committee to look into possible reparations for victims ... unheard of, so consequently went nowhere.) In July of 2013, Gov. Pat McCrory (R) and the state legislature passed a budget including ten million dollars allocated for compensation. It is estimated that each qualifying individual (or legal guardian) may receive up to $50,000 to be dispersed in 2015. Monies budgeted but not dispersed will be absorbed by the program. Persons must file a claim through the Eugenics Asexualization and Sterilization Program by JUNE 30, 2014. http://www.sterilizationvictims.nc.gov/

Reportedly, about 200 or so women have applied. Think about that. Hard. Why so few? Consider why they were chosen in the first place. The state of North Carolina does not use the word "reparations", preferring "compensation". Does it matter? What's in a word?