The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family Quotes

“Yet and still, from the very first month that I stepped foot out of prison that second time, I have been under constant threat of re-incarceration, but not for committing crimes. That threat comes from the U.S. child support system—the only area in my life where the real prospect of me returning to a prison cell has been a viable possibility.”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)

“The black man once was lauded as the head of the black family; now, in many if not most cases, the black family is headed by a "system" or a noncaring judge in a courtroom who has the final say on what happens or doesn't happen with regard to the family and child. Now they have convinced many people that black fathers need a punitive system, one that was created by racist white men and feminists, to police and monitor their parenting in the event the relationship that produced the child fails, to supposedly protect the interest and wellbeing of the black child and black mother. Yet, the typical outcome when the system intervenes is more damage being done to the future wellbeing of all parties involved, especially the children.”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)

“But it almost doesn't matter whether you are an ex-felon or not when dealing with the child support system; oftentimes black men who are unemployed or underemployed get hit with unfair stipulations and conditions that eventually lead to all kinds of punitive restrictions being placed on their lives, as well as incarceration. There are probably several hundreds of thousands of black men in America who have had extremely negative experiences with the child support system, for one reason or another, and who will tell you that the system has a way of turning a potentially amicable family situation into something bad or making an already bad family situation, worse.”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)

“I had learned firsthand from my first release from prison that living-wage-paying jobs and black ex-felons don't go together in America. (I specifically say black ex-felons because studies have shown that white male ex-felons oftentimes have better paying job prospects and offers than blacks males with clean records or even college degrees. 4)”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)

“I fathered a child, my first one, during those sixty days that I was a "free" man. My beloved daughter, Oryanna Elizabeth Davis (Elizabeth is my mother's name) was born on November 11, 2001 while I was serving yet another sentence of three and a half years in federal prison for something I did not do and could not have done, even if I had wanted to. And the judge, prosecutor, my probation officer, and the arresting Secret Service officers all knew it.”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)

“My beloved daughter, Oryanna Elizabeth Davis (Elizabeth is my mother's name) was born on November 11, 2001 while I was serving yet another sentence of three and a half years in federal prison for something I did not do and could not have done, even if I had wanted to. And the judge, prosecutor, my probation officer, and the arresting Secret Service officers all knew it.”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)

“You don't want the decisions about your children's lives to be in my hands or any other judge's hands. We don't know your kids, we don't understand your kids. You're five minutes on my docket. We're going to make the best decision we can, but we don't love them."–Judge Lynn Toler, from the Divorce Court TV show2”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)

“All black people should pause for a minute and ask themselves this question: Where does my "education" come from? If your education is not self-directed or directed by those who truly have your best interest at heart and are properly informed about the past as well as present-day reality, and are truthtellers, then you are not being educated; you are being purposefully MISeducated and TRAINED to serve those who are, in fact, educated because being truly educated is about being made aware of the truth.–Demico Boothe”
― Demico Boothe, The U.S. Child Support System and The Black Family: How the System Destroys Black Families, Criminalizes Black Men, and Sets Black Children Up for ... Varying Relationship and Experience series)