Parenting While White

Reporting on this sort of news story tends to get me in trouble. I know it will, but I’m going to do it anyway. Even though it will be used as yet more proof that we’re crypto-Nazis, or neo-fascists, or white supremacists, or whatever the preferred term is.

This Canadian woman lost custody of her children because of her political beliefs. That’s what’s important here.

Her beliefs may be — in fact, they are, at least to me — repugnant. But they are no more than political opinions. To the authorities it doesn’t matter if the woman is non-violent, obeys the law, loves her kid, and is a devoted parent. What matters is that she is setting a bad example by displaying a set of political beliefs which are not permitted. The state cannot accept that, and will use its coercive powers to attempt to eradicate them:

Mother Loses Kids After Sending Daughter to School With Swastika Drawn on Arm

A Canadian woman who describes herself as a white nationalist lost custody of her children after sending her daughter to school twice with a swastika drawn on her arm, the CBC reported.

The Winnipeg mother told the CBC she regrets redrawing the Nazi symbol after a teacher scrubbed it off. She is fighting the child welfare system to regain custody of her daughter, 7, and son, 2, who were removed from her home four months ago.

“It was one of the stupidest things I’ve done in my life but it’s no reason to take my kids,” the unidentified woman told CBC News. She is currently allowed to see her kids for two hours a week.

Child and Family Services workers were alerted after the second swastika incident at school, the CBC reported. When they arrived at the family home they found neo-Nazi symbols and flags, and proceeded to seize the kids.

The case has sparked a debate over whether the police and child welfare authorities can take children away because of their parents’ beliefs.

I think they’ve already demonstrated that they can and will do just that.
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But only certain selected beliefs will be targeted this way. There are children being raised by parents who hate Jews and consider other races to be demonic, yet their parents never lose custody of them. Why?

Because they’re not white.

Members of the Nation of Islam hold beliefs which are just as hateful and racist as those of any “white nationalist”, but they get a pass because of their skin color.

Black nationalists: OK, fine. No problem. We love diversity.

White nationalists: NO! NEVER! That’s racism, and not permissible!

The most effective way to control someone is to threaten their kids. That’s a method totalitarian systems often use to keep potential troublemakers docile. But the apparent docility is just a façade, and underneath is a simmering anger:

“I’m willing to jump through their hoops,” the woman told the CBC. “If they want me to deny my beliefs, I’ll tell them that, but at the same time, I’m not a traitor to my politics, my beliefs. I just want my kids back.” [emphasis added]

Congratulations, Winnipeg! You’ve just turned a mother and her kids into enemies of the system. None of her beliefs has changed; they’ve just gone underground. Now she’s a martyr to the cause.

It’s important to speak out against this kind of behavior by the all-powerful state, because any one of us might be the next victim.

This year it’s the white nationalists. Next year will be people who want to drill in ANWR. Then the opponents of mosque-building, or those who object to Islamic propaganda in the schools.

The government has arrogated unto itself the power to decide what beliefs are acceptable.

If the state can take away your kids because you hold certain political opinions, then you have lost your liberty.