joining me to discuss it is paul lombardo, author of "three generations, no imbeciles." "yew generalic "eugenices." also areva martin is a disability rights attorney and children's advocate. paul, it's stunning that this happened and in some places, i mean, anyone could suggest someone else should be sterilized. >> north carolina was unusual in this sense. most states required people to be in institutions, to be civilly committed before they could be operated on. but north carolina was wide open. a social worker, a doctor, the sheriff, the truancy officer or a teacher, anyone could make this recommendation to the eugenics board. >> and it could be just because someone was promiscuous? >> certainly sexual misbehavior was high on the list of things that people were sterilized for, not only in north carolina but other states as well. >> what's the likelihood that anyone will actually get compensated? how do you even put a dollar figure on something like this? >> you know, anderson, when i hear this story, it makes my blood boil. to hear the legislators saying we're sorry, as

joining me to discuss it is paul lombardo, author of "three generations, no imbeciles." versus bell. also areva martin is a disability rights attorney and children's advocate. appreciate both of you being with us. paul, it's stunning that this happened and in some places, i mean, anyone could suggest someone else should be sterilized. >> north carolina was unusual in this sense. most states required people to be in institutions, to be civilly committed before they could be operated on. but north carolina was wide open. a social worker, a doctor, the sheriff, the truancy officer or a teacher, anyone could make this recommendation to the eugenics board. >> and it could be just because someone was promiscuous? >> certainly sexual misbehavior was high on the list of things that people were sterilized for, not only in north carolina but other states as well. >> what's the likelihood that anyone will actually get compensated? how do you even put a dollar figure on something like this? >> you know, anderson, when i hear this story, it makes my blood boil. to hear the legislator

anderson cooper spoke with paul lom b lombardo and lariva martin. >> women were targeted and as we heardece, african-americans disproportionately impacted in a negative way by this state action, and that's what's so galling about this. this isn't private individuals. this is every branch of government, state legislature, the executive branch and the judicial branch determining that certain individuals and those without a voice in our society were not worthy of having children. >> paul, this was happening in 33 states, including puerto rico. north carolina, are they the only ones even talking about compensation? >> well, as you showed in your graphic, there were more than 30 states that actually had these laws but only seven of them recommended an apology, taken a position at all. there are still 20 some odd states that haven't even gone that far so the idea that the states will face this with compensation skips over the fact that many of them haven't even admitted that it happened. >> at least seven other states have issued formal apologies for similar eugenics programs. earlier this yea