Father Daughter Prison Dance to the Beat of Colonization of Parenting and Hetero-nomative Ideals

Here is a link to the article: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/06/virginia-jail-holds-father-daughter-dance-for-prisoners/

Followed by some of my many thoughts:

In ABC News headlining article published June 23 2013, author Steve Osunsami describes a father daughter dance put on by a Virginia jail. The article includes emotionally evoking photographs of black fathers dressed in suits holding young black girls. Osunsami writes “All of the prisoners at Virginia’s Richmond City Jail admit they made poor choices, and could be better father” (Osunsami, 2013). The article goes on to describe how children pay the price for the poor choices made by “troubled men” who miss out on raising their children (Osunsami, 2013). The article is inflammatory in several ways, the first being that it expresses concern on behalf of the state surrounding the well-being and togetherness of black families and communities. Despite practices of forcibly separating black parents and children from each other under slavery and sexual violence perpetrated by the state against black men and women, and ongoing slandering of black parenting, reducing black fathering to child support money; the article allows the state to pose as a guiding force for dysfunctional black parents.

            The article portrays the jail and larger criminal justice system as a benevolent but unfortunate solution to inherently criminal black behavior. The article portrays the state as paternal and caring for black girls, which is ironic in face of the fact that black women continue to be unfairly criminalized and viciously negatively stereotyped. Welfare discourses and practices and the Criminal justice system portray and treat poor black women as if they shouldn’t exist and as if they are a burden to society by state and federal programs. Welfare programs and the criminal justice system specifically target black women with mechanisms of shame and victim blaming. Furthermore, the article’s sad tone around unfulfilled black fatherhood responsibilities implies that black fathers are failures instead of acknowledging the ways in systematic oppression violates black family structures.

            Perhaps the most troubling undertone of the article is that it attempts to highlight an instance in which prison officials graciously provide black fathers with an opportunity to be fathers in a way that exploits their privacy and dignity. Further, father daughter dances are part of a white cultural phenomenon that falls into a specific socio economic culture and thus the article presents a white-washed ideal of what being a good father looks like. Furthermore, the jail’s efforts to provide a father daughter dancer should be questioned for their agenda in attempting to instill yet another hetero-normative and religious based notion of family onto black communities.