Abstract
While watching the murder of George Floyd, one thing should have remained imprinted in everyone's mind: he was a father. This racist officer permanently separated a father from his children when he recklessly, yet intentionally placed his knee on Mr. Floyd's neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. When the Administration for Children's Services ("ACS") removes Black children from their homes for unjust reasons, it places its knee on the necks of Black families.
Breathing as a family involves parents and children inhaling and exhaling the love shown to each other. To separate a family means to obstruct that family's airway. Neither the children nor the parents can breathe until they can embrace one another again in their homes. Black lives do matter. Black families matter. Black fathers matter. Black mothers matter. Black sons and daughters matter. Black familial integrity matters.
Repository Citation
Shanée Brown,
"We Can't Breathe." Like George Floyd, Black Families in New York City have a Knee on their Necks
, 27 Loyola Pub. Interest L. Rep. 1
(2021),
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/1705
Included in
Family Law Commons, Law and Race Commons, Law and Society Commons
Previously published on SSRN .