Mediaboss Marketing

Breadcrumb Trail Links

Everybody's watching this proverbial canary in the coal mine

Author of the article:

By David Rosenberg and Krishen Rangasamy

Inflation watchers are interested in wages because it is the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Excessively high inflation has historically been accompanied by accelerating wage growth, over and above the trend in labour productivity.

Its true that between 1992 and 2000, wage growth picked up without a corresponding increase in actual inflation. But that was a period during which the U.S. dollar was surging, keeping import prices (and hence overall inflation) under wraps. So, could we have another wage-driven inflation spiral la late 1970s/early 1980s?

The latest data do not suggest an acceleration in the pace of nominal wage growth (and at a time when measured productivity is picking up at an even faster rate). And here we are talking not about hourly earnings data from U.S. employment reports which, as we have seen over the past year, can be distorted by composition effects as employment of lower paid workers fluctuates. Instead, were referring to the Atlanta Feds Wage Growth Tracker, which tracks reasonably well the private sector wage component of the Employment Cost Index and measures the growth of wages of the same group of workers over 12 months, making the measure less susceptible to compositional changes. According to that measure, wage growth seems to be levelling off at less than four per cent year over year.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

The loss of momentum for wages should come as no surprise considering still-significant amounts of slack in the labour market. While employment rose for the fourth consecutive month in April, there are still nearly 10 million Americans who are out of work. But looking beyond obvious cyclical factors, it is clear that structural forces continue to weigh on wages. Recall that towards the end of 2019, i.e., when the labour market was booming and the broad unemployment rate was near all-time lows, wage growth remained stuck in the three-to-four-per-cent range.

Back in 1999-2000, a similarly tight labour market generated much higher wage growth. Some will blame accelerated globalization, which moved up a gear in 2001 as China joined the World Trade Organization. Others will point to even earlier trends such as the decline in unionization rates the employment share of union members has dropped by half since 1984 which continues to limit workers bargaining power.

_____________________________________________________________

Sign up now for FPs lineup of free, in-depth newsletters: Energy, Economy, Finance, Work and Investor.

_____________________________________________________________

The level of skills/education may also be affecting the extent of wage growth. Research from the Atlanta Fed shows that wage growth after a period of unemployment tends to be positively related with education. The same research concludes that less educated workers face a double whammy in the sense they are more likely to lose their jobs and also experience slower wage growth once they return to employment. This is exactly what the U.S. labour market is facing over the next year or so, considering most of the job losses during the pandemic were experienced by less educated employees.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Also note that the pandemic has hurt part-timers (whose employment is down 10 per cent since February 2020) more than those with full-time positions (down less than five per cent). As such, the return to the labour market of part-timers (who also tend to earn less than full-time workers) is likely to keep a lid on overall wage growth in coming quarters.

While the outlook for wage growth is not exactly rosy, let us assume for a minute that firms suddenly feel compelled to dish out raises to workers. And here we are thinking of transformative policies by Congress to strengthen worker bargaining power e.g., increasing wage transparency, reducing the use of non-compete contracts, and reducing labour market monopsony.

Not necessarily. Historically, firms tend to pass on higher costs to consumers when wage growth outpaces productivity growth. There is indeed a clear positive correlation between the annual core inflation rate and the wage-productivity differential.

The good news is that cost-push inflation looks to be under control, with productivity growth significantly outpacing wage growth in recent quarters. It may be too early to assert with complete confidence that we are seeing a structural shift upwards in productivity, but latest data is showing a discernible breakout in trend (incredibly, to more than a four-per-cent rate at the moment).

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

While we hear constantly of labour shortages in the media and survey data, the silent majority of the corporate sector has learned to produce more with less labour input during the pandemic (with business expenditure on automation rising nearly 20 per cent in the past year at a time when total labour input is down four per cent). It does look like one of the effects of the pandemic has been to push the capital-labour ratio higher and that, my friends, is not the fundamental ingredient for any sustainable inflation cycle.

Join me on Webcast with Dave on June 15, when I will be hosting Lacy Hunt, executive vice-president of Hoisington Investment Management. Learn more on my website.

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

In-depth reporting on the innovation economy from The Logic, brought to you in partnership with the Financial Post.

Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the Financial Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Financial Post Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notificationsyou will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Continued here:
David Rosenberg: Is wage inflation getting out of control? - Financial Post

By Max Sullivan| news@seacoastonline.com

After fights broke out at a gathering of teens at Hampton Beach organized on social media last week, state police announced Wednesday they will make additional resources available to the town.

The New Hampshire Department of Safety announced that they will assist with operations throughout the summer season as part of an all-encompassing strategy between local, county, and state law enforcement agencies.

The news comes after residents started a petition on change.org calling on Gov. Chris Sununu to send State Police officers to Hampton Beach this summer for crowd control.

It was created by Hampton residents Rebecca Burlem and Nichole Duggan in reaction to a public disturbance May 26, in which police said 500 teens gathered and fights broke out at the beach.

Previous story: Police disperse 500 teens after fights break out at Hampton Beach

The crowd was dispersed with only one arrest and no injuries or property damage, according to Hampton Police Chief David Hobbs, but videos on social media of the fights that occurred left the petitioners unnerved. They argued there is severe potential danger to our town, dwellings, livelihoods and homes if there should be continuous gatherings such as last night.

The situation that occurred last evening, May 26, 2021, was uncalled for and a major safety concern, the petitioners wrote. We need to show unruly visitors we are not going to stand for such events to occur.

What's new at Hampton Beach in 2021: Shops, eateries, hotels, shows, more

Videos showed pairs of fighters squaring off in a circle of chanting spectators in the sand and on the boardwalk. One video showed an individual slamming another onto the pavement near the Seashell Stage. Duggan said she was uncomfortable with the twerking and dancing also shown in the video which she said was inappropriate for a family beach.

Duggan has lived at Hampton full-time for two years and has been here on and off for about 10. She said the May 26 event and other recent beach activity has led her to avoid the main beach when it is busy.

We tend to do things Monday through Wednesday, Duggan said. I dont want to bring children up to the sand any day from Thursday through the weekend.

New Hampshire State Police Lt. John Hennessey said there will be between six to 10 state police officers each week this summer starting this coming weekend and lasting through Labor Day.

The New Hampshire Department of Safety announced Wednesday that state police along with local and county law enforcement will make additional patrols along Hampton Beach and surrounding roadways.

Troopers will continue to provide enhanced staffing to the town of Hampton and Hampton Beach throughout the summer, said Col. Nathan Noyes. The safety and security of our residents and those that vacation in New Hampshire is our top priority.

Wednesdays announcement, he said, builds upon the enhanced staffing that the New Hampshire Department of Safety and Division of State Police have provided to the town of Hampton and Hampton Beach during high-traffic days and special events for the past several years.

Hobbs said the event that occurred May 26 was similar to other public disruptions that have occurred in the spring at Hampton Beach when fewer officers are patrolling the beach and part-time officers have not begun their summer season. In May 2016, an incident occurred in which three officers were surrounded by a crowdof people as they attempted to make an arrest, one officer being struck in the head with a football.

So much more to explore: Hampton Beachs Oceanarium expands with new rare sea creatures

The incident on May 26 was a planned gathering of mostly high-school-age students that was promoted on social media, Hampton Deputy Police Chief Alex Reno said last week. He said alcohol consumption led to small disorderly groups forming in which fights occurred, many of which were captured on social media.

Footage of a similar event at White Horse Beach in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on May 23 has led to speculation on social media that the incidents were linked as organized fight clubs, though Hobbs said he could not confirm whether there was any connection.

A similar event is reported to have occurred at Narragansett Beach in Rhode Island. Beach gatherings have been sparked by social media posts elsewhere in the country this spring with 175 people reportedly being arrested on May 22 in Huntington Beach, California, for joining a kickback party organized on TikTok. A kickback party also occurred in Seattle where a beach was closed by officials as a result.

Hobbs said despite staffing challenges faced by his department and many other agencies in recent years, he expects his department will deliver the best level of service this summer.

Hampton also gets assistance from the Rockingham County Sheriffs Department and police in Epping and the University of New Hampshire to keep their beach sufficiently covered.

More: Seabrook man charged with firing gun outside Hampton Beach bar faces 10-40 years in jail

Gov. Chris Sununu said in a prepared statement, Ensuring a safe and successful summer season for beachgoers and area businesses is a top priority for the state of New Hampshire.

My administration remains in close contact with town officials to address any additional needs as they arise, Sununu said. Hampton Beach is the jewel of New Hampshires Seacoast, and we remain confident that it will be a successful and safe summer season.

Here is the original post:
After Hampton Beach brawls, State Police will step up patrols throughout the summer - Seacoastonline.com

Are the partisan hatreds in politics nowadays mostly in the United States but sadly also to some extent in Canada beyond repair?

I ask because at least one Member of Parliament has come to the conclusion that politics has reached such toxic levels that he needs to do something different.

And hes a Conservative MP from Alberta.

Mike Lake has represented an Edmonton-area riding since 2006. In the last federal election, in 2019, he won EdmontonWetaskiwin by nearly 53,000 votes. Yes, he got 72 per cent of the votes cast. Its probably the biggest margin of victory in Canadian electoral history.

In other words, Lake could likely continue to be the MP for as long as he wanted, indulge in all the silly and mindless partisanship that passes for political engagement these days, and then move on to something else if it all became too much.

Maybe because he wins so big, or maybe because hes simply had enough of this charade, Lake has decided to create something new. Ever since the pandemic hit and hes been unable to travel or see stakeholders and constituents in the flesh, Lake has been holding political conversations with people on Zoom. They started off as 90-minute-long sessions with five to 10 guests, usually late on a Friday afternoon. He calls it Zoom Happy Hour. Participants, who come from politics, media, and non-governmental organizations, are encouraged to pour themselves a glass of something and come prepared to talk pretty much about anything.

You can count on TVO to cover the stories others dontto fill the gaps in the ever-changing media landscape. But we cant do this without you.

But heres whats different. Lake doesnt just invite fellow conservatives to his happy hours. He brings on people from across the political spectrum. And, rather than spending their time trying to score debating points, they inevitably end up talking about how to make politics less toxic.

The happy hours began as weekly efforts, but theyve become so popular, Lake and his staff now hold them as often as three times a week. Theyve done more than 70 of them, hosting more than 250 participants. The appetite for conversation in which the goal is civility is apparently significant.

Normally, the discussions and guest list are off the record so people can speak freely without fear of saying something that could damage their careers. Lake and I know each other pretty well because, over the years, hes been a frequent guest onThe Agenda. As a result, hes invited me to participate on a few occasions, and I have his permission to reveal some of the contents of our most recent session, which focused on finding the factors that can encourage people to love, rather than hate, one another.

The Agenda With Steve Paikin, May 23, 2017: Checking in with the Lakes

I believe North Americans are sick and tired of all this, Lake said during the call.People are thirsty for a different way of doing politics. The party that can offer them that first will win.

Lake first earned some public attention for these efforts back in February, when he gave a (virtual) so-called members statement in the House of Commons on civility.

Make no mistake, he said. Passionate political debate is foundational to a healthy democracy. But its most effective when we engage in conversations not only seeking to persuade but also open to being persuaded. He got a strong round of applause.

But whenToronto Starcolumnist Susan Delacourt praised his efforts on social media, the ensuing blowback against both of them, from the left and right, was intense.

It would be easy to be disheartened reading some of the negative replies to this positive @SusanDelacourt post, Lake tweeted. Instead, I hope the comments serve as a reinforcement to the point Im trying to make in my statement. Change will require significant effort.

Delacourt tweeted back: Don't lose heart, Mike. I see those comments the same way you do; as an argument for people to think about where they are in their lives if being angry on Twitter is their hobby.

One of Lakes guests during our recent Zoom session suggested 99 per cent of political discourse these days is designed to incite outrage and hate.

Theres a multi-billion-dollar outrage industry out there, said Timothy Shriver, whos been chair of the Special Olympics for a quarter century. His mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics; his father, Sargent Shriver, founded the United States Peace Corps.His uncle was President John F. Kennedy.

We live in a time when it seems the best way to advance our principles is by crushing yours, said Shriver, who also gave me permission to share his thoughts here. And the more outrage I can create, the better.

These days, social media is replete with examples of one side claiming outrage about something the other side is doing, then fundraising off it.

The Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene seems to be the most appalling current poster child for this phenomenon in the U.S.In case youve forgotten, shes the QAnon-supporting politician who insists that 9/11 was an inside job; that the mass murders at Sandy Hook, Parkland, and Las Vegas were staged; that Zionist supremacists are in charge of Muslim immigration in Europe in hopes of having them outbreed white people; that some Democratic party officials should be executed; and that Californias wildfires were caused by Jewish lasers from space.

She is a leading and popular figure in the Republican party these days.

While examples in Ontario thankfully dont typically rise to that level of crazy, were not immune. Our political parties feign outrage about things other parties or levels of government are doing, ask supporters to sign our petition to get their email addresses, then hit them up days later for financial contributions.

During NHL playoff games in prime time, the Ontario PC Party has presumably spent a small fortune taking out election-style attack ads against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The ads accuse the feds of a lack of strict border-closing measures. The Tories never fail to mention this in their daily announcements or in the daily proceedings of the legislature, despite the fact that epidemiologists say this kind of transmission represents only a small percentage of positive test cases. The government is mostly silent on the transmission that comes under their purview.

Lest you think this is only the practice of the right, there is also plenty of incivility on the left. Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca held a Zoom news conference last week in which he called Ford a liar three times. I remember a time in politics when it was enough to call somebody wrong. Former premier Bill Davis even made a joke of it, calling his opponents philosophically misguided. But the word liar would simply never be used. Now, the most ardent partisans on both sides think youre not trying hard enough if you dont call your opponent every nasty name in the book.

Back at happy hour, Shriver likes the old legend often attributed to the Cherokee that uses the metaphor of a wolf to explain this phenomenon.

Theres a good wolf and a destructive wolf, he said. Which one wins? The one you feed. Weve starved the good wolf. We need to nurture our positive instincts. At the moment, the bad wolf is obese.

The media clearly has a role to play in all this. While some outlets just cant help but amplify the most extreme, outrageous voices out there in pursuit of higher ratings or readership, others say they have learned from the Donald Trump years that theyre not obliged to hand a megaphone to the most irresponsible disinformants on offer. They intend to use greater judgment and discretion going forward. Presumably, the former presidents lack of access to social media will aid that cause.

It may have been Arthur C. Brooks, former president of the American Enterprise Institute, who coined the expression the outrage-industrial complex to describe the pickle were in. Getting out of this predicament may require demonstrating a level of enlightenment and mutual respect for which our political culture typically isnt known. Given the factional discipline politics seems to require these days, Shriver said he expects some politicians will have to give up or shorten their careers in service, adding,Theyll have to risk that.

Shriver is also founder and CEO ofa group called UNITE, which rejects the Us vs. Them approach to life and politics and tries to find common ground.

The most disheartening part of all this for Shriver is that a once-in-a-century global pandemic actually afforded us the opportunity to unite around defeating a common enemy. And, yet, much of the world seems to have ignored that opportunity and, instead, used it to exacerbate divisions among us over mask use, vaccine adherence, and the adoption of various public-health measures.

The status quo just doesnt work anymore, said Shriver. The U.S. cant hate the Chinese anymore. Whites cant hate Blacks anymore. The Germans and French hated each other for 500 years until they realized it doesnt work anymore. Theres no long-term horizon for this. We have to create belonging in communities without a common enemy. Othering just doesnt work anymore.

Can we build group identities without hating? It seems some, like Mike Lake, are willing to give it a try. Mr. Speaker: Do we have a seconder out there?

Correction: An earlier version of this article referred toArthur C. Brooks as the president ofAmerican Enterprise Institute; in fact, he is a former AEI president. TVO.org regrets the error.

The rest is here:
The outrage industry is out of control - TVO

BEAMSVILLE, Ontario, June 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control issued a release advocating for the implementation of a flavour ban and a nicotine ceiling in Quebec. The Canadian Vaping Association (CVA) cautions the Government of Quebec, that while these measures are well intentioned, they will result in increased smoking rates and harm public health.

For decades, governments around the world have relied on quit smoking hotlines, online resources, and low efficacy cessation products to end the tobacco pandemic. Despite limited success with this model, it continues to be the right way to quit smoking. Vaping could be the greatest harm reduction product of our lifetime if it werent for unfounded fears and the misinformation surrounding vaping.

Quitting smoking is very difficult and there is no right way to quit. Smokers who manage to quit, should be commended on their achievement, regardless of the method used. The CVA supports the use of all quit aids. However, the current tobacco control strategy ignores the reality of quitting smoking. On average, smokers make 30 attempts to quit and only 7% are successful. Public Health England recently declared vaping to be more effective than all leading nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products and has reaffirmed that vaping is 95% less harmful than smoking. If Canada is to meet its goal of 5% smoking prevalence by 2035, the current tobacco control strategy needs an overhaul, said John Xydous, Regional Chair of the CVA.

More than 90,000 Canadians have emailed their Member of Parliament, stating the importance of flavours for quitting smoking. The testimony of vapers is further validated by Yale researchers, who found that adults who quit using a flavoured product were 2.5 times more likely to be successful quitting smoking. The study concludes, While proposed flavour bans are well-intentioned, they have disastrous outcomes. Legislation on vaping flavours must take the facts of smoking cessation and harm reduction into account, and we urge legislators against the widespread implementation of such bans.

Additionally, there is little evidence to suggest that banning flavours would reduce youth experimentation. The idea that flavours are a primary influence for youth vaping is a common misconception that has been discredited by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to the CDC report, Tobacco Product Use and Associated Factors Among Middle and Highschool Students, 77.7% of young people indicated that they vape for reasons other than because e-cigarettes are available in flavours, such as mint, candy, fruit or chocolate. The most common reason for use among youth was, I was curious about them.

Recently, The Youth and Young Adult Vaping Project survey results were published. Flavours were not listed as a primary influence for youth and young adults in Canada. Respondents indicated that peers, followed by the desire to quit smoking and social media exposure were the primary motivators. Flavours continue to be scapegoated long after the data has found they are not driving youth use.

The QCTCs recommendations are not routed in science. The arguments to support their recommendations have all been debunked. Vaping is proven to be both effective for quitting smoking and 95% less harmful. Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control claims that vaping acts as a gateway to smoking, but the data suggests vaping is a gateway out of smoking. If vaping truly increased youths likelihood of smoking, we would have seen an increase in smoking prevalence among the young adults who were teenagers at the peak of vaping prevalence among youth. Yet, smoking rates continue to decline among all age demographics.

In QCTCs release, Madame Doucas states, One should not have to choose between prevention for young people and cessation for adult smokers. The CVA agrees that it doesnt have to be one or the other, we can balance youth protection with adult harm reduction. Canada has already implemented strong regulation to protect youth, but it has lacked consistent enforcement. Banning flavours will do little to protect youth and instead will push thousands of vapers back to smoking. Restricting flavours and high nicotine vape products to age restricted specialty stores eliminates legal access points for youth. Effective regulation should seek to restrict access and increased enforcement, while maintaining reasonable access for adult harm reduction.

For more information please contact :

John XydousRegional Director+1 (514) 701-7127jxydous@thecva.org

Link:
The Canadian Vaping Association: Quebec Coalition for Tobacco Control continues to deny the science on vaping - GlobeNewswire

Accusations of a physician in rural Georgia sterilizing women in a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement center came to light in 2020. While these procedures shocked many, women of color in the rural South have faced this reality at the hands of the state and individual physicians for well over 50 years. Like many of these women, the victims in the Georgia immigration center say they faced similar approaches to their ultimate sterilizationsand their alleged abuser and supporters use the same language and reasons to justify their violations of human rights.

In the 1950s, as the Civil Rights Movements momentum grew, southern politicians, local officials and medical personnel began embracing the use of sterilization to maintain their white-supremacist hold in the slowly eroding Jim Crow South. While maintaining a stranglehold on political power in the region, state legislators proposed sterilization bills that would, as Rep. Ben Owen of Columbus, Miss., put it, stop this black tide which threatens to engulf us.

The main argument legislators used to defend their legislation centered on early forms of coded language concerning who should and should not have children, specifically those on government assistance.

Both North Carolina and Mississippi passed forced-sterilization legislation. On two separate occasions, in 1957 and 1959, the North Carolina Assembly pursued sterilization laws that largely targeted Black women. State Sen. Wilbur Jolly introduced a sterilization bill that he argued would put an end to the profession of having numerous children out of marriage and receiving government assistance. The Senate defeated the bill 32-2.

Two years later, Sen. Jolly and State Rep. Rachel Darden Davis of Lenoir, N.C., a physician, reintroduced similar legislation that gave the state authority to sterilize women with more than two children out of marriage. While holding a public hearing on the bill, Sen. Jolly, pointing and shaking a finger at a group of African American audience members, proclaimed: One of every four of your race born in North Carolina is illegitimate. You ought to be concerned about it.

While the legislation gained pushback, it ultimately passed, but made having two or more children out of marriage a misdemeanor.

On three separate occasions, the Mississippi Legislature attempted and eventually passed sterilization legislation similar to North Carolinas bill. Mississippi legislators proposed bills that would force unwed mothers and particularly those on government assistance to succumb to forced sterilization by the State. While defending their legislation, the bills proponents rooted their arguments in deciding who and who should not have children by saying they sought to stop, slow down, such traffic at its source and to sterilize the mother of every baby delivered at state expense. None of them made it past cloture.

On the eve of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill that would have made having children out of marriage a felony. Violators of the proposed law would have to choose between serving a one-to-three-year prison sentence or submit to sterilization in lieu of imprisonment.

Much like the North Carolina legislators, those in Mississippi based their arguments on claims about who is fit to have children, specifically those on government assistance. Rep. Walter Meek of Eupora, Miss., said that the State of Mississippi is subsidizing illegitimacy through welfare payments, and that the moral structure has completely broken down in some segments of society.

After downgrading the penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor, and punishable by 30 to 90 days in jail and up to a $250 fine, House Bill 180 passed the Mississippi Legislature.

Even after the passage of civil and voting rights legislation, and the expansion of the federal safety net, women of color in the South continued to fall victim to state agencies and medical personnel. While President Lyndon Johnsons Great Society undoubtedly assisted millions of Americans, it fell victim to the same perils as the New Dealallowing continued state and local control of programsand ultimately hurting the same people it meant to help.

One of these programs was the federally funded Montgomery Family Planning Center in Alabama.

In June 1973, 12-year-old Mary Alice Relf, and her sister, 14-year-old Minnie Relf, underwent involuntary sterilizations at the hands of local health officials and surgeons associated with Alabamas MFPC, funded by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Office of Economic Opportunity. Even before their sterilizations, the Black girls, along with their older sister Katie, had been receiving rounds of Depo-Provera, a birth-control medication never formally approved for this purpose by the Food and Drug Administration due to producing cancer in test animals.

After Alabama officials coerced the girls illiterate mother into approving the sterilizations, they drove the girls to their fate. They then returned to the Relfs government-subsidized apartment attempting to coax Katie to also undergo an unwanted sterilization. Upon their arrival, Katie locked herself in her bedroom and told the local health officials that she wanted children. One official replied, I dont think you need any.

Weeks later, in Aiken, S.C., reports of numerous Black women on government assistance and pregnant with children out of marriage receiving sterilizations at the local community hospital arose. Dorothy Waters, a Black woman separated, pregnant and on government assistance, reported that Dr. C.H. Pierce coerced her into receiving a sterilization upon birth of her child.

Listen here, young lady, this is my tax money for this. Im tired of these ladies going around having babies. If you wont have this you can find yourself another doctor to deliver your baby, Mrs. Waters quoted Dr. Pierce as saying. Another woman, Mrs. Virgil Walker, a married mother of four children, corroborated Mrs. Waters story. Dr. Pierce threatened that Mrs. Walker would be taken off the welfare rolls if she did not consent to a sterilization upon the birth of her forthcoming child. While coercing women into sterilizations, Dr. Pierce also reaped more than $60,000 from Medicaid during an 18-month period from 1972 to 1973.

Supporting the actions of Dr. Pierce and two other obstetriciansDr. Niles A. Borop Jr. and Dr. Kenneth N. Owensa group of citizens in Aiken County named the Silent Majority, began circulating a petition supporting their actions. It read, We believe it is unfair to the taxpayers and the children of the welfare recipients for their parents to continue having children. We feel the children of welfare families would be better cared for if the number of the family were limited. We believe in such cases, sterilization should take place.

The group planned to get 5,000 signatures for the petition, then send it to local, state and federal politicians along with a request for enactment of legislation requiring sterilization of maternity patients on government assistance with three or more children. However, they were unsuccessful.

William R. Bland, a local pharmacist who headed the organization, argued that people like her (Mrs. Carol Brown, a victim of Dr. Pierce) should not have any more babies if the taxpayers have to pay for them. He continued, Taxpayers have the right to say whether their taxes will pay to support large welfare families.

Forty-seven years later in September 2020, reports of women in the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement custody in a rural Georgia detention center receiving unwanted hysterectomies by a local obstetrics and gynecology specialist came to light.

Dawn Wootena nurse who worked at the Irwin County Detention Center run by La Salle Corrections, a private for-profit companyfiled a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Homeland Security about the conditions, rate of COVID-19 among detainees and the hysterectomies that Dr. Mahendra Amin performed on immigrant women at a local hospital. With Georgia-based advocacy groups Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights in the South and the South Georgia Immigrant Support Network, Wooten filed a 27-page report alleging not just coerced sterilization, but also using immigrant women as experiments.

Weve questioned among ourselves like goodness hes taking everybodys stuff out his specialty, hes the uterus collector. Everybody he sees, hes taking all their uteruses out or hes taken their tubes out.

Fast forward two months later, and more than 40 other women detained at the center accused Dr. Amin of medical abuse. The women also accused the center of retribution, as severe as deportation, for speaking out on the unwanted hysterectomies and other medical procedures.

In their legal petition, the women were victims of non-consensual, medically unindicated and/or invasive gynecological procedures performed by and/or at the direction of (gynecologist Dr. Mahendra Amin). The petition continues that In many instances, the medically unindicated gynecological procedures Respondent Amin performed on Petitioners amounted to sexual assault. As one detainee noted, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like theyre experimenting with our bodies.

In response to these allegations, a supporter of Dr. Amin created a Facebook page with members including patients of whom he has delivered their children. Many of the posts center around selling merchandise in support of the doctor, personal stories and the group administrator warning others against talking to the media. Much like the Silent Majority that defended Dr. Pierce decades before, some of the members comments on the page vehemently defend Dr. Amin while flippantly dismissing the detainees serious allegations.

Furthermore, the pages administrator has referred to those at the detention facility as immigrants [sic] and inmates who were charged with crimes, implying justification for the unwanted hysterectomies and other procedures.

On Thursday, May 20, 2021, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, at the request of the Biden administration, ordered ICE to dissolve all contracts with the Irwin County Detention Center, which is privately run by the county, as soon as possible. One can guess that a major reason for ceasing all contracts center on the fact that the facility is under federal investigation for abuse allegations like forced sterilizations.

Secretary Mayorkas, in a memo to ICE, stated We will not tolerate the mistreatment of individuals in civil immigration detention or substandard conditions of detention. He added that the DHS has an obligation to make lasting improvements to our civil immigration detention system. Secretary Mayorkas finished his memo by reiterating the difference between the Trump and Biden administrations handling of immigration centers. This marks an important first step to realizing that goal. DHS detention facilities and the treatment of individuals in those facilities will be held to our health and safety standards. Where we discover they fall short, we will continue to take action as we are doing today.

The unwanted sterilization of women of color by the state and individual practitioners, defended by the coded language of who should and should not have children, has a long history in the South. The stories of these women at the rural Georgia detention center only reiterates this long, troubling history of controlling women of colors bodies, and viewing their fertility as a bane on society and the economy.

This MFP Voices essay does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an essay for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and factcheck information to azia@mississippifreepress.com. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.

Read this article:
The Troubling Past of Forced Sterilization of Black Women and Girls in Mississippi and the South - Mississippi Free Press