Court Sides with Hate, Control, and Discrimination Against Houseless Family
On August 27th the court ruled against this family who was torn apart simply for being houseless. The jury trial went on for 6 days. The testimony from the parents and community spoke clearly to how this family cares deeply for each other, works incredibly hard through the challenges of insatiable work and expensive housing to provide stability and safety for the kids, and lives intentionally stepping up to educate their own kids outside the mainstream school system. The testimony from the prosecution spoke clearly to rich white expectations of how families should live and educate their kids – presuming if a family can’t afford housing and must live in a van, that they should not be allowed to have kids period. And presuming that a black and transgender family definitely cannot be trusted to care for their kids or much less homeschool them.
The jury, all white and middle class, took the side of the prosecution. The court processes and questions they were given helped solidify this stance. Underlying this ruling is a bias of white middle class society to assume the State is in the right, to distrust black and trans parents, to believe kids should be controlled in schools, and to believe that being houseless is the families fault and far too unsafe for kids.
The opposite is true! Kids in a loving family being taken away from their parents is FAR less safe for the kids than living with their parents struggling through houselessness. These kids are now permanently traumatized due to the State’s tearing them from their parents. Now due to the State and society’s discrimination against anyone who is not white middle class and part of these systems, these 7 kids continue to be separated from their parents, and face endless control from the state over their lives.
But the fight is not over. The decision in the case was WRONG. And this family is going to continue and ramp up the fight for justice for their family. This family must be reunified!!^$ We cannot stand for families being torn apart for being houseless!!!
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