Aftermath News: Plan to sterilize poor women brings to mind Adolf Hitler, David Duke, some say

LaBruzzo plan to sterilize poor women brings to mind Adolf Hitler, David Duke, some say
Louisiana Weekly | Sep 29, 2008
State Rep. John LaBruzzo reminded some New Orleanians of white supremacist and former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke last week when he told New Orleans CityBusiness of his plans to consider introducing new legislation that would pay poor women $1,000 to voluntariily have their tubes tied in order to avoid getting pregnant in the future.
After witnessing the long lines of Louisiana residents seeking food stamp assistance after hurricanes Gustav and Ike - and 2005’s Hurricane Katrina - Rep. LaBruzzo decided it was time to take drastic measures to reduce the massive needs that are taking the state’s Department of Social Services.
“I realized that all these people were in Louisiana’s care and what a massive financial responsibility that is to the state,” he told CityBusiness. “I wonder if it might be a good idea to pay some of these people to get sterilized.”
LaBruzzo is still researching the subject and is pondering the introduction of a bill during the next legislative session that would pay poor women to voluntarily be sterilized.
“If both the welfare and Social Security system keep growing, one day we’re going to have a small minority of people working to fund and finance everybody else who isn’t working or producing,” LaBruzzo told CityBusiness. “Our kids, who will be working, will be the minority and any vote of theirs will be canceled out. If your livelihood is based on government handouts, why would you ever vote for somebody who is going to lower taxes? They never would. So once we reach that breaking point there’s no return.”
LaBruzzo’s concerns about Louisiana’s neediest residents becoming an increasingly large burden on the Department of Social Services is unfounded. DSS records show that between 1990 and 2007 the number of Louisiana households receiving monthly food stamp benefits dropped from 258,768 to 249,343. During the same period, the number of families receiving welfare assistance was reduced from 280,177 to 13,504.
Not surprisingly, LaBruzzo raised the ire of some New Orleanians with his controversial remarks.
Shana Griffin, interim director of the New Orleans Women’s Health Clinic, told CityBusiness that Rep. LaBruzzo’s comments are reminiscient of eugenics, which is defined by the as “the study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding.” Nazi leader Adolf Hitler embraced this philosophy to justify exterminating six million Jews as part of his plan to create an Aryan “master race.”
Although not as widely accepted today, many white supremacist groups still ascribe to some of the basic tenets of eugenics, particularly the notion that nonwhite people are genetically inferior.
“If someone doesn’t have a car and needs city-assisted evacuation, that makes them a social burden?” Griffin told CityBusiness. “The fact that he feels so comfortable and entitled to make these statements is a reflection of our society, that we’re OK with the most vulnerable of our community being blamed for the social, economic and political crises that we’re experiencing. If we really want to improve the lives of people in our communities we should think about raising the minimum wage, holistic health care. improving labor laws, employment opportunities for all people and the educational system.
“Instead he wants to use a form of medical experimentation and forced sterilization on poor women of color, using their economic status as a way to make them more vulnerable to the offer.”
LaBruzzo, who was targeted for impeachment this summer by residents of his district after vigorously supporting the ill-fated legislative pay raise, told CityBusiness that he anticipated outrage from Blacks about his plan to do away with a welfare system that is out of control.
Full Story