A Black Family Was Reportedly Stopped for Tinted Windows. Then CPS Took Their Kids.

[Jilly_in_VA]

Two Black parents from Georgia are reportedly fighting to get their five children back from the state of Tennessee, a saga that began when they were pulled over more than a month ago for tinted windows and arrested for possession of a small amount of cannabis.

Bianca Clayborne and Deonte Williams were driving to a funeral in Chicago on Feb. 17 when Tennessee Highway Patrol officers in rural Coffee County, Tennessee, pulled them over for “dark tint[ed windows] and traveling in the left lane while not actively passing,” according to the Lookout, a nonprofit news organization that broke the story and spoke with the family.

After the car was pulled over, police found a blunt and a small amount of cannabis in a bag, totaling less than five grams of weed, according to the Tennessee Lookout. Police charged Williams with a misdemeanor and arrested him, and gave Clayborne a citation.

But just six hours later, Clayborne—who was not arrested—reportedly had her five children taken from her and placed into state custody, after the state Department of Children’s Services sought and obtained an emergency order from a judge. Their youngest child is a four-month-old boy who is still breastfeeding, Clayborne told the Tennessee Lookout. The other children range in age from 2 to 7 years old.

The state, in court documents obtained by the Lookout, has reportedly accused the family of putting their kids in danger.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3yv9/tennessee-bianca-clayborne-dcs-traffic-stop

Coffee County is middle West Tennessee--plantation country. Questions?

[LostOne4Ever]

1. Plantation country...

Yeah no questions.

Never is when it comes to confederate states.

[Bayard]

2. What a nightmare for this family

"The Tennessee foster care system has long been recognized as one of the most troubled in the country."

A breast-feeding baby, and his siblings, traumatized for being black in a vehicle with out-of-state plates. Are tinted windows illegal in TN?

[Hugh_Lebowski]

3. Geez, and funeral's are almost always during the day, so it's not like they broke the Sunset Laws

or anything ...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. Family policing is designed to separate children from their families, particularly marginalized

families. It's a punitive, carceral system that wrecks community by design. In every state.

[Samrob]

5. Perhaps another millionaire black family in the making? nt

[cbabe]

6. One month and counting

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/18/police-stopped-a-couple-in-tennessee-then-they-took-their-children-away

Police stopped a Black couple in Tennessee – and took their children

Bianca Clayborne and Deonte Williams’ case fits pattern of child welfare services fueling disparities in who gets to remain a family

Edwin Rios
@edwin_d_rios
Sat 18 Mar 2023 12.31 EDT

Nearly a month ago, Bianca Clayborne, Deonte Williams, and their five children were on their way from Georgia to Chicago for Clayborne’s uncle’s funeral when a highway patrol officer stopped them in Manchester, Tennessee.

That moment – about 60 miles outside Nashville – has since upended their lives as Clayborne and Williams try to regain custody of their children after they say state authorities “kidnapped” them on account of a minuscule amount of marijuana in the car, the Tennessee Lookout first reported.

…more…

[Docreed2003]

7. This story is awful

But small correction...Coffee County isn't in West TN it's between Nashville and Chattanooga. It's where Bonnaroo will be held in June.

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. I said "middle west"

And it's definitely plantation country.

[Docreed2003]

9. Middle west is plantation country but Coffee county isn't west, it's barely middle

Coffee county is in the Eastern part of Middle TN