Dorothy Roberts (1) (1956–)

I have, through various pro bono initiatives, represented domestic abuse victims and provided other legal counseling and representation to individuals who were adverse to my state’s child protection agency in other custody related matter. Accordingly, I am not entirely ignorant of how potently coercive and just plain wrong the child welfare system can be. But Professor Roberts’s amply cited work had many disturbing revelations for me about just how large and omnipresent the system is show more particularly for those most in need of assistance, not what amounts to incarceration. While I might have reservations about some conclusions, overall, I embrace so much of the argument for abolishing the current child welfare system Ms. Roberts laid out so that those resources could be used to actually improve conditions in the lives of mostly poor, and mostly Black families caught up in the current system, then families could stay intact. Some of the ideals seem a little utopian, i.e., I don’t think poverty and racism are the only reasons people turn to crime, but obviously, our current monolithic system functions badly, even if its participants have good intentions. Highly recommended. show less

The author, born to a white father and Jamaican mother details the hundreds of interviews conducted by her father from the 1930’s through the 1980’s about mixed race couples.

The contents were intended to become a book that never materialized. There were some very interesting concepts that I never thought about before. For example, white women married to black men may have had different experiences than white men married to black women regarding housing, job opportunities and raising show more their children. Another thought provoking concept to me was the questioning of whether the various couples were attempting to further the civil rights cause with their union.

There were times when reading the various interviews became boring, but the author also included her personal experiences which were interesting. show less