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Social Justice Event: Angela Patton

A Father Daughter Dance: From Prison

A Connection


This TED Talk was really something that opened my eyes to the injustices of families separated by a father's incarceration. I understand that a father that is in jail can put a huge strain on a family, in many different aspects. In class, we did an activity about privilege, and my group had many statistics on families with incarcerated fathers, and the affect it has on the family. One thing that stuck out to me the most was the increase of learning disabilities that these kids have because of their fathers being incarcerated. We also learned that it is a lot harder for fathers who have been incarcerated to find with again. We learned that this mostly affects Black males, due to institutional racism and disproportionality of their crimes.
No matter what the charge is, and no matter how long the sentence is, an incarcerated parental figure put a tremendous strain on the child's life, and I think the fact that Patton gave the girls' whose fathers were in jail a chance to get a dance of their own as well, was extremely noble of her. the girls will remember that moment for the rest of their lives. Although, I understand that is not the case for other families, that don't see their incarcerated family member for years.
Not seeing the family member has a negative affect on their life, financially, emotionally and in other areas. Financially because the mothers have to support their family, and might have to work more than one job in order to do so. Because of that, the mother may be absent too. It affects the kids emotionally because they obviously miss their father, and not seeing them puts a damper on their mood, as well as so many other areas of their life.

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