<div class="xtend"><a id="pl.1.1"></a><var>1.1</var>A resolution<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.2"></a><var>1.2</var>apologizing on behalf of citizens of the state to all persons with mental illness and <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.3"></a><var>1.3</var>developmental and other disabilities who have been wrongfully committed to state <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.4"></a><var>1.4</var>institutions.<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.5"></a><var>1.5</var>WHEREAS, since the founding of the state hospitals, now called regional treatment <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.6"></a><var>1.6</var>centers, in 1866, tens of thousands of Minnesotans with mental illnesses and developmental <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.7"></a><var>1.7</var>and other disabilities have been removed from Minnesota communities and committed to live <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.8"></a><var>1.8</var>in state institutions, where many of these Minnesotans have died and been buried in unmarked <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.9"></a><var>1.9</var>graves or graves that bore only a number; and <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.10"></a><var>1.10</var>WHEREAS, some residents of these state institutions were forced to labor without <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.11"></a><var>1.11</var>compensation; and <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.12"></a><var>1.12</var>WHEREAS, some residents of these state institutions were subjected to medical <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.13"></a><var>1.13</var>experiments and procedures without their consent, including the routine subjection of women <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.14"></a><var>1.14</var>inmates to involuntary sterilizations; and <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.15"></a><var>1.15</var>WHEREAS, some residents of these state institutions were subjected to punitive shock <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.16"></a><var>1.16</var>treatments, frontal lobotomies, aversive treatments, and isolation; and <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.17"></a><var>1.17</var>WHEREAS, thousands of children grew up in these state institutions learning none of the <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.18"></a><var>1.18</var>comforts, joys, and cultural norms that are learned in family life; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.1.19"></a><var>1.19</var>WHEREAS, thousands of parents whose children required intensive care were forced to <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.20"></a><var>1.20</var>make painful decisions about whether to institutionalize their children or to provide all the care <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.21"></a><var>1.21</var>and education they required themselves, incurring in the process immeasurable financial, career, <br />
         		<a id="pl.1.22"></a><var>1.22</var>social, and familial burdens; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.1"></a><var>2.1</var>WHEREAS, parents of persons with developmental disabilities were advised by <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.2"></a><var>2.2</var>Minnesota's medical professionals to institutionalize their children, and to break their familial <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.3"></a><var>2.3</var>bonds by making them wards of the state irrespective of the family's and community's ability to <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.4"></a><var>2.4</var>support and nurture these children; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.5"></a><var>2.5</var>WHEREAS, these fellow Minnesotans were portrayed by Minnesota public officials as <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.6"></a><var>2.6</var>subhuman organisms, as deviant individuals to be feared by society, and as eternal children <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.7"></a><var>2.7</var>unaccountable for their behavior and incapable of speaking for themselves or shaping their own <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.8"></a><var>2.8</var>lives, which greatly diminished their fellow citizens' ability and willingness to accept them for <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.9"></a><var>2.9</var>their own unique qualities; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.10"></a><var>2.10</var>WHEREAS, institutional care for persons with developmental disabilities has been <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.11"></a><var>2.11</var>scientifically demonstrated to be detrimental to people's basic development, including social <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.12"></a><var>2.12</var>development, development of self-determination, and the development of the basic skills of <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.13"></a><var>2.13</var>daily living; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.14"></a><var>2.14</var>WHEREAS, Minnesotans once viewed this institutional treatment as acceptable and <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.15"></a><var>2.15</var>subjected tens of thousands of citizens to it, but now recognize how wrong this treatment was; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.16"></a><var>2.16</var>WHEREAS, Minnesota's state institutions are closing and, through this process, their <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.17"></a><var>2.17</var>history and the acknowledgment of our collective responsibility for it may be forgotten; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.18"></a><var>2.18</var>WHEREAS, people who were relegated to state institutions and their families have never <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.19"></a><var>2.19</var>received a formal apology from the state; and<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.20"></a><var>2.20</var>WHEREAS, the states of Virginia, Oregon, South Carolina, California, and North Carolina <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.21"></a><var>2.21</var>have apologized for similar actions towards people with disabilities in their own states; NOW, <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.22"></a><var>2.22</var>THEREFORE, <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.23"></a><var>2.23</var>BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota on behalf of the citizens of <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.24"></a><var>2.24</var>the state that the state apologize publicly to all persons with mental illness and developmental and <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.25"></a><var>2.25</var>other disabilities who have been wrongfully committed to state institutions, acknowledging that it <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.26"></a><var>2.26</var>regrets this history of institutionalization of persons with those disabilities, and that it commits <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.27"></a><var>2.27</var>itself in their memory to move steadfastly to ensure that all Minnesotans with those disabilities <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.28"></a><var>2.28</var>who in the future turn to the state for assistance will receive the assistance they need.<br />
         		<a id="pl.2.29"></a><var>2.29</var>BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.30"></a><var>2.30</var>directed to prepare an enrolled copy of this resolution and transmit it publicly to appropriate <br />
         		<a id="pl.2.31"></a><var>2.31</var>organizations of people with disabilities and to the news media.<br />
         		
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