"When the Welfare People Come": Race and Class in the US Child Protection System

Malcolm X, describing his childhood experience of “when the welfare people came” and introduced him to the US child protection system, called it “legal, modern slavery—however kindly intentioned.” That shocking characterization obscures some of the complexities of the state response to childhood poverty, but it reflects sentiments that are common among communities of color, where child welfare investigations are most concentrated. A radical assessment of institutional racism in the child we...