About a year ago, a video went viral that showed a Black woman in a hotel with some 10 children and the woman was angry, pitiful, saying someone needs to help her. The comments ranged from “get off welfare” to questions about the father’s whereabouts. There was little that I saw about actually trying to help the woman. Granted, she came off as ignorant, like the world was to blame for her problems and they owed her. I was disturbed by her rant. As it turned out, though, her husband had been arrested and sent to prison. I do not believe the story mentioned the charges. Prior to his arrest, they had lived together and he was the primary bread winner and she a stay-at-home mother. With his income gone, she and her children were evicted. The video showed how their furniture was thrown outside in the front of the apartment. The children and youth agency of her state stepped in to help out and I do believe they helped her find a place to live. Now I do not recall why the woman was in court, perhaps it was family court, but she was held in contempt because she would not answer the question about whether or not she was pregnant saying that it was none of the court’s business. Absentee fathers have always been seen primarily as a problem of the Black community. Black women who have many children are, more often than not, thought to be welfare moms. I had to watch the entire video several times to be sure, but the woman was not, at the time of the video nor when her husband was home, on welfare. But the video went viral because this woman was “a disgrace to the Black community.” People ranted about how disgraceful it was to have so many kids and no ability to take care of them. They ranted about how they should not have to pay for “mistakes.” Most people assumed she was on welfare, had to be promiscuous with so many kids and her current predicament was “probably” drug related. While I didn’t read every comment, I didn’t find any that assumed she had been a stay-at-home mother who lost her husband and simply did not know what to do. She really did need help. She really was extremely angry. The situation was so far beyond her control and she had no one to turn to. I remember making several comments to the effect that she wasn’t on welfare and that she had depended on her husband for 10+ years and his absence caused a complete breakdown in her family life. I didn’t get any responses or likes that I recall. During the conference this past weekend, I was reminded of this video and suddenly I could make sense of what I felt was so wrong. In her presentation, “The Missing,” Danielle M. Wallacetold us about how the rate of incarceration of Black men affected the Black family and that the rate of arrest for Black women has been rising for at least a decade. The draconian drug laws, mandatory sentencing and other laws target Black and poor communities. In another presentation, I learned how property seizure in drug cases has become a kind of golden goose for police stations across the nation. Another presentation reinforced my knowledge of how the Black woman has been sexually exploited while at the same time accused of being promiscuous. In yet another presentation, I learned that prison education is almost non-existent but has been shown to dramatically decrease recidivism. The video of this woman with 10 children, no man around, the threat of losing her children hanging over her, the court wanting to know if she’s pregnant coupled with all the information I learned at the conference, I suddenly see how the system of slavery is still alive. Slaves, more often than not, did not raise their own children beyond a certain age. Most were sold off, never to be seen again. Women bearing children were profitable, calling the potential children “their increase” in wills. Educating slaves was against the law. The Criminal Justice System is a system designed to perpetuate slavery. And it is working as it was intended. Here is the video of a poem and thoughts I call by the same name
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