This… blows my mind.
The idea that you’d start carrying your child’s birth certificate around with you everywhere you go because people regularly accuse you of stealing a white baby is … uh, wow. Just wow, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.
I mean, white people clutching purses / wallets closer because black people “may steal their stuff”, is obviously not great, but it’s their stuff, and if they want to be afraid of a stiff breeze because they’re fearful small minded idiots, that is on them.
But accusing someone of stealing a got damn baby?
The hell is wrong with people?
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Ok fine, but on top of the horrendous racism, there is also a profound misunderstanding about gender dynamics if anyone thinks random dude X would generally want to get within 10 miles of a damn baby.
Run the other way, maybe.
Let me tell you, the types of sketchy vagabond druggy dudes who might possibly steal random crap are pretty much the exact opposite of the people who would want to be involved with a baby in any way shape or form whatsoever.
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It’s a problem that a lot of guys say they have when they’re out alone with their small children. And of course it’s compounded for this man because his kid is lighter than he is and people are racists.
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Are you saying all black men are deadbeat dads? That is so racist.
[/sarcasm]
Seriously though, that is pretty despicable behavior. Reminds me of this news story from a couple years back, in which cops responded to a report of a white man driving off with his own biracial children. The people who assume “kidnapping” in these situations aren’t just bigots, they also have a pretty odd idea of the logistics for a kidnapping. How many random kidnappers already have vehicles equipped with a car seat (or two, in the case of the white guy with biracial kids)? And why would they take the kidnapped child shopping with them?
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Hmm yeah I had not considered the men out with their older kids who also get the same stink eye based on race differences. Several people replied on Twitter with those stories.
Still, baby stealing? Really?
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If you think about it from the old adage – when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras – the fact that the most common, normal explanation people can come up with is not dad/uncle/caregiver but rather that the man must be a criminal, that says a lot about baseline assumptions.
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Also I should mention that the events in the tweets all happened in fairly progressive Santa Cruz, CA, not some backwoods area of Mississippi.
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Is it just me, or do the headlines suggest that actual legit baby thieves (in non-divorce cases) are typically childless women?
And never men? Of any race?
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Have not seen the data, but I would assume it is like all other child abductions, it is always always always someone in the family.
http://www.freerangekids.com/crime-statistics/
Of all children under age 5 murdered from 1976-2005 —
31% were killed by fathers
29% were killed by mothers
23% were killed by male acquaintances
7% were killed by other relatives
3% were killed by strangers
So yeah if you see some rando with a kid it is overwhelmingly likely to be family. And if you have any kids yourself, you will immediately know why this is true.
(also I read these stats to my wife and she interprets “male acquaintances” as “boyfriend of the mother”. I thought of it as random male acquaintance of the family, but I suspect she is right?)
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Murder is one thing, and kidnapping is another.
I can’t seem to locate it, but I’ve over the years seen that kidnapping is overwhelmingly parental (and in the U.S. divorce related).
Rule of thumb in my mind: if the kids don’t seem distressed, it’s probably fine.
Regarding random male acquaintances? I would wager boyfriends just based on proximity are the bulk of that.
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Did the parking lot lady apologize? Or wind up confronting her own unexamined prejudices?
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I heard the guy just drove over the curb to get around her crude vehicle blockade, presumably after showing her the birth cert he carries with him at all times. Man, I am so sorry.
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He can trade the baby for reefer with the gypsies DUH
What rock have you been living under?
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Neither is his job to even notice. Hungry Baby and all.
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If you head up into the hills around Santa Cruz you’ll find hippie communes, but you’ll also find a bunch of horrible white nationalist groups. It’s an odd mix.
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That isn’t usually what people mean by organised crime, no.
When I was about 9 or 10, a lady in Sears asked me if I needed help, because my father snapped at me that we needed to hurry up and go. I’m freckled with light brown hair and he is olive skinned with black hair and an accent. I said he’s my dad and she walked away. We had a good talk when we got home about racism and busybodies.
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Even people’s adages are racist! Zebras just aren’t normal, because they are from Africa. Aiiieee!
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