When It Comes To Black Children, The System Doesn’t Give a Damn
The horrific story about the six children of color (five were Black and one Hispanic) who were involved in a mysterious car crash after their SUV being driven by one of their adoptive parents plunged off a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean — has taken an even darker turn as investigators examine evidence that indicates “the crash was intentional.”
To be honest — there was never a time that I remotely considered that these poor children had perished in an accident. And even though I feel validated in my initial assumption and accusatory stance — I feel even worse that this disastrous tale is shaping up to be the prime example of how the system has been designed to allow Black children to fail.
How could two White women adopt six children of color — despite the fact that both adults had proven beyond a doubt that they were unfit parents?
The answer lies in the privilege of Whiteness and how that seems to overrule anything and anyone that threatens to challenge that level of power. As a result — innocent lives were sacrificed for the sake of upholding the purity of a mixed family with the politics of good faith and tolerance that normally accompanies such an existence.
Despite one of the “mothers” pleading guilty to a domestic assault charge in 2011 and having another charge of malicious punishment of a child dismissed — she was still able to successfully adopt not one but six children without complications.
These children were not White — which explains why they were so readily assigned — White parents. This belief that it can’t ever be as bad as it looks was what got the poor souls killed. The testimonies from neighbors and acquaintances is an entangled mess — as we muddle through it — and gather how abuse was evident in the ways some of the kids wandered to nearby houses begging for food and other supplies.
One of the girls flat out told her neighbor that she was being abused.
Then we have so-called friends who only kept in touch via Facebook — spewing out their truths based on the false identities that social media provides for the benefit of those who prefer to be duped by scheduled posts — that are meant to hide the betrayal leaking from the portraits.
Those smiles were never real.
Neither was the well-staged facade of two White women who were generous enough to take in six children of color who would’ve been royally screwed if nobody cared for them. Their lives would’ve been left to rot if they weren’t lucky enough to be invited into a family that represented the epitome of diversity and “a love so beautiful”— by their mere existence.
This is what led Devonte Hart (who is still missing) into the arms of the waiting White cop in the photo that immediately went viral back in 2014 — during the Ferguson protests. The Black boy offering “free hugs” was in no position to give away the very thing he was being deprived of — and it can’t be a shock to discover that his “mommy” forced him to perform the very act that would once and for all validate the fakery that eventually killed them.
When it comes to Black children, the system doesn’t give a damn.
And apparently neither does the media. Ever since the story made headlines — there has been very little attempt to push further into the possibilities — by scoping out sources and retrieving pertinent information that should lead us closer to the answers that are still pending.
But — things didn’t have to get this messy if only those kids had been given the chance at survival through the mercy of those who are paid to do their job. Somehow the glaring inconsistencies weren’t enough to force witnessing adults to take drastic action before it was too late — because it was hard to imagine that those kids were truly suffering in a household that seemed enviably progressive.
A former neighbor from West Linn, Oregon — gave the most damning and infuriating testimony when he admitted that the family rarely strayed outdoors “even in really nice weather.” He also suspected they were home-schooled since they never left the house — and based on that he guessed “privacy was a big thing for them.”
But despite the red flags he was certain that since they were brought up not to “eat sugar,” “to raise their own vegetables,” and “had animals and went on camping trips” — the kids were alright!
“There was enough positive there to kind of counteract the feeling that something maybe wasn’t quite right.”
The fact of the matter is that the system is clogged with responsibilities that aren’t being carried out for the betterment of lives — that are constantly hanging in the balance — and Black kids are bearing the brunt of this gross negligence that is also costing lives.
The two White mothers may have killed those children in theory — but it was the system that pushed that SUV over the cliff way before the speedometer registered the action of the gas pedal.
Those accused also include witnesses and Facebook friends who wanted to believe that the hippie vibes of a White lesbian couple who were experimenting with a new-age lifestyle — that required isolation, starvation and the cocoon of children of color as the main attraction — couldn’t possibly lead to a modern day tragedy.
And so — we discover that the kids aren’t alright.
And ever since the breaking news — we are still as confused as ever. Nobody knows shit. The updated articles keep recycling old shit and the new shit is shit we already knew.
The questions that need to be answered remain unanswered because nobody wants to dare venture into the cave of misconduct in case all the balls that were dropped are spread out so far — that gathering them would take more time and effort than anybody wants to expend.
The modern family turned out to be too good to be true. The White mothers were manipulators and the Black kids were props.
And now they’re dead.
