In 1962 Muslim leader Malcolm X gave one of his most famous speeches where he said, "The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the black woman".
On Mother's Day, the fourth annual black mothers march on the White House was held to denounce what they say is the way local and federal governments unfairly declare black mothers to be unfit, leading to shocking rates of children being stripped from black families.
Over 50% of black minors will experience a child welfare investigation, and nearly 10% of black children will be taken from their families and placed into foster care. Those are both double the rates for white children.
Imagine yourself creating life inside of you for nine months and then having your family torn apart.
It destroys families. So it's not necessarily just limited to these instances of, like, one person, and it ripples out and creates discord in the entire community.
Erica Nunn, African People’s Socialist Party
In the US and Canada, there has been some recent acknowledgement of the way children have been unjustly stripped from Native American families, but there is almost no societal discussion of the similar systematic destruction of African American families.
So it's really insulting to be subjugated on the premise of being incapable or incompetent in terms of being a mother. So yeah, and if you look at like rates of access to resources in order to provide for a family, and then sort of like this collage of information that shows these are all conditions that are engineered, it's no coincidence that people are being 'policed', not just by actual police.
Erica Nunn, African People’s Socialist Party
Marchers decried what they termed the family policing system, demanding the rescue of black children from state custody, and restoration of black community control over their own children.
Our demand really is to leave black families alone, essentially.
But really the meat of it is we really need to abolish the family policing system.
And what we mean is CPS, the Child Protective Services, because they really are not protecting the children that they take from their families.
Justice Gatson, Reale Justice Network
Protesters noted how the conditions of America's atrocious historical treatment of blacks helped create the current problem, and that they believe no one is coming to save them, but that they intend to save themselves.
Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses: