Take My Hand

Civil does not look for a new job, but dresses as if she were going to work as she attends the trial daily. She imbeds herself more fully in the Williamses’ lives, picking up the girls from school some days and shopping for essentials with Mace. Mace is able to fix his truck through anonymous donations.

On Civil’s birthday, Ty and his family take her and Alicia to the Magic City Classic football game in Birmingham. Before she leaves for the game, her father comes to her room. He tells her it is not too late to attend medical school and chastises her for all the time she spends with Mace and his family. He asks her to imagine the kind of life she would have with Mace, and he reminds her they are not her family, and that the class divide is too wide. Although Civil is defensive, she also realizes everything in her house reminds her of the Williamses’ poverty.

The annual football rivalry, including a halftime Battle of the Bands, is an important event in the lives of most Black Alabamans, with all having ties to one school or the other. On the road, the Ralseys, Alicia, and Civil must be careful where to use the restroom; many places either don’t allow Black people to use their restrooms or the Black restrooms are in terrible condition.

Civil enjoys the spectacle and all the Black people there. Alicia wants Civil’s opinion about a new case at the clinic. The patient is a young girl with two babies who is caring for her younger siblings. She cannot take birth control because it makes her sick. Ty interrupts, reminding them of Civil’s birthday and that they have presents to give her. Alicia gives her a study guide for the MCAT, telling her she is gifted and should go to med school. Ty gives her a photograph of her with Erica and India, standing outside their hotel in Washington, DC. She realizes it is the only picture she has of the three of them together. As she looks at the picture, she thinks, “My girls. My little girls” (278).

Throughout the trial, Civil has noted that the judge is careful, taking notes and listening intently. She imagines the defense attorneys feel disadvantaged presenting their case in unfamiliar territory, but, at the same time, she realizes that the Williamses are at a disadvantage simply because they are poor, and “the system was not designed for poor people to win” (280).

On the Wednesday after her birthday, Civil is watching as Lou passes out a pamphlet of the HEW sterilization guidelines: He points out 25,000 copies were printed, but they were never distributed and remained in a warehouse, only discovered after the lawsuit gained national attention. This is a bombshell revelation.

Lou calls the former branch chief of the government department that drew up and printed the guidelines. He testifies that he drew up the guidelines at the direction of the deputy director of HEW, who approved them, and then they were sent to be printed. Community action agencies were asked to withhold funding for sterilization services until they were sent the new guidelines, but the pamphlets needed approval from the White House. During the four-month wait, he contacted the White House numerous times until he was reprimanded. He resigned after the reprimand because he believed the delay was causing a dangerous situation. After his testimony, Lou feels like he has had his best day in court.

Civil visits the girls and brings them groceries. Mrs. Williams tells Civil that when Constance died, the family that employed her for seven years barely noticed she was gone, hiring a new maid “before [Constance’s] body was even cold in the ground” (285). Mrs. Williams says she is thinking of going to work and hopes that family will hire her. Civil begins to offer to help Mrs. Williams find a different job, but Mrs. Williams tells her she’s done enough for the family.

When the girls come in, Erica shows Civil an old, almost completely used tube of lipstick. When Civil thinks to buy a new tube for her she realizes she is again helping them, but she thinks she is justified: “[Mrs. Williams] could say all she wanted to about me trying to fix things. These girls were my girls, too, and I was going to do for them what I wanted. Tomorrow I would pick up some new lipstick for Erica” (286).

Civil is sitting with Lou in an office in the courthouse. She says he must prove that sterilization practices only targeted poor women, and a way to do that is to look at the clinics’ locations. Lou agrees that is a good idea, but when she wants to tie the practice of sterilization to abortion, he says that is too risky. Lou comments that Civil never stops, and she realizes that is true.

In court the following day, Lou calls three doctors to testify. The first discusses a study on women who have been sterilized; they were given limited information and believed the procedure was a temporary, reversible form of birth control. The next doctor is a Black woman who is a director of research in Washington, DC. During her testimony, the judge sustains an objection that the doctor is being hyperbolic, and the defense objects when she gives statistics. The judge says he will not have his courtroom become a zoo and refers to the doctor as “Miss.” Civil realizes the judge’s words and actions convey racism and sexism, and she begins to wonder if the judge is actually impartial.

The judge allows only the most recent data to be presented, and Civil is horrified that over the few previous years, almost 150,000 low-income women were sterilized in the federal program. She feels like the bodies of poor women, women of color, and disabled women do not belong to themselves.

Lou rests his case at the end of October, and the court is temporarily adjourned. Civil wonders if the case has been strong enough.

When Civil gets home, her mother’s sister, Aunt Ros, is there with her father. Ros says Civil’s mother needs help—she is depressed and living in her studio—and criticizes Civil for being involved in the trial rather than working. When Civil says she cannot get a job in Montgomery, Ros tells her there have always been people who do not understand the “sacrifice of justice” (298). Civil wonders if Ros has been gone from the deep South too long.

Ros takes Civil’s mother home with her to help her heal. Before they leave, Civil clearly sees her mother’s depression for the first time. After her mother is gone, Civil’s father is relieved, but Civil stays in bed watching TV for most of the day. When Ty brings her notice of a job opening, she does not respond. Lou asks her to join him for lunch, but she declines. She wonders what it would feel like to be pregnant. She feels alone, unable to reach out to anyone.

The defense rests its case and makes a motion to dismiss, alleging the case was filed prematurely because HEW is already revising its sterilization guidelines. The judge takes the motion into consideration, and they wait for a decision.