The U.S. launched a racist eugenics program in Puerto Rico in the 1930s — sterilizing about one third of Puerto Rican women by 1976, many forced or coerced.
It was just one chapter of U.S. colonial eugenics programs and medical experiments targeting women of color. 🧵(1/8)
The U.S. approved forced sterilization in Puerto Rico in 1937 for what it called "overpopulation."
U.S. land theft and exploitation plunged the island into poverty. Health workers coerced people seeking contraception — mostly targeting Black and brown women — into sterilization.
U.S. occupiers transformed Puerto Rico's economy to focus on sugar — for U.S. interests — after invading in 1898.
70% of Puerto Ricans were made landless by 1925. By the 1930s:
▪️ 1 in 3 people unemployed
▪️ 80% of land owned by 2% of population, mostly white
Some clinics refused treatment to women unless they agreed to "la operación" (hysterectomy or tube tying).
Many were falsely told it was reversible or they needed it to get work.
Many clinics that did it were owned by Procter & Gamble heir Clarence Gamble.
In the 1950s, Gamble and U.S. eugenicists began trials for birth control pills in Puerto Rico — targeting poor women, not telling them of side effects or that it was a trial.
Hormones were extreme doses (20x modern pills).
At least 3 women died, their deaths never investigated.
Birth control trials in Puerto Rico were led by Gamble and U.S. scientists John Rock and Gregory Pincus. Gamble believed in wiping out poor people to make way for "fit" populations.
They were backed by Margaret Sanger, who backed eugenics and wiping out "undesirable" people.
Puerto Rico's sterilization law wasn't repealed until the 1960s.
By then, the island had the highest sterilization rate in the world (10x higher than the rest of the U.S.) — a result of forced procedures or coercion.
Studies show many did not know the process was irreversible.
32 U.S. states also had eugenics sterilization laws, many of which targeted mostly BIPOC people.
About 100,000 Black, Indigenous and Latina women were forcibly sterilized in the 1960s and 1970s alone — many coerced by white doctors while seeking health care through Medicaid.
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The International Court of Justice has begun the hearing for South Africa’s case against Israel. In it, South Africa accuses Israel of eight different acts of genocide.
Here’s what they are 🧵
1 - Killing Palestinians
Israeli forces have killed at least 23,708 Palestinians since Oct. 7. 8,000 more Palestinians are missing.
2 - Causing serious bodily and mental harm
Over 59,410 Palestinians have been injured. More than 1,000 children have lost limbs.
BREAKING: A 6.3 earthquake hit the Turkey-Syria border, two weeks after the devastating earthquake.
No new casualties were immediately reported but witnesses report damage. Turkey has reported over 6,000 aftershocks since the February 6 earthquake killed over 46,000 people.
The Feb. 6 earthquake made over 1 million homeless in Turkey alone:
▪️ over 20,000 buildings collapsed
▪️ over 105,000 buildings need demolition
The government has been criticized for lax regulations. An ex-minister says that as of 2018, half of all buildings broke regulation.
Over 46,000 people in Turkey and Syria were killed by the February 6 earthquake.
Many are missing, but there is no official count.
The UN says:
▪️ Up to 5 million made homeless in Syria, many are already displaced
▪️ 350,000+ pregnant women need access to shelter, medical care
The UK and the U.S. forcibly displaced an entire Indigenous population from the Chagos Islands to build a military base.
Chagossians were never paid reparations or significant compensation. A new @hrw report accuses both countries of crimes against humanity. 🧵
The Chagos Islands are the UK's last African colony.
Most inhabitants were descendants of African and South Asian people enslaved or indentured to work on coconut plantations.
The UK evicted them in the 1960s to build a U.S. base in exchange for discounts on nuclear weapons.
Up to 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly displaced from their homes from 1965-1973.
The UK:
▪️ blocked supplies of food and medical care to starve the population out
▪️ blocked people returning if they traveled
▪️ intimidated residents by shooting or poisoning over 1,000 pet dogs
Deaths from the Turkey-Syria earthquake have now surpassed 17,500.
Rescuers say the window to find more survivors under the rubble has likely passed, but families are still digging.
Many are sleeping in the street in freezing cold, waiting for state help: "No one has come."
The first aid trucks entered rebel-held Syria, 3 days after the earthquake.
The area houses millions displaced by government airstrikes, who were already suffering from poverty, food shortages and cholera.
Survivors are sleeping in streets or fields: "Where else can we go?"
BREAKING: The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria has passed 19,300.
It is the deadliest earthquake in over a decade, with at least 16,170 deaths in Turkey alone. Rescuers believe hundreds of people — many of whom are likely refugees — are still under rubble.