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<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="https://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=1811922554" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="offsite=true&amp;lang=en-us&amp;page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2Fwidenerlaw%2Fsets%2F72157648491192458%2Fshow%2F&amp;page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2Fwidenerlaw%2Fsets%2F72157648491192458%2F&amp;set_id=72157648491192458&amp;jump_to=" width="500" height="375"></embed></object></div>African American children comprise 15.1 percent of the child population in America, but 22% of the nation’s foster care rosters, according to <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesHbg/WilliamsStarla.aspx">Starla J. Williams</a>, Widener Law Commonwealth’s Director of Multicultural Affairs, Pro Bono Activities and Externships.<br><br>Pennsylvania’s population is 11.5% African American. Pennsylvania’s Executive Deputy Corrections Secretary Shirley Moore Smeal added, however, that black women make up 30 percent of the state’s female prison population.<br><br>These facts and more were presented at the seventh annual Dean’s Diversity Forum, “Why Rachel Weeps: Violence Against Poor and Minority Women and the Wounding of the Heart” featuring two panels on subjects not often discussed robustly in public – why African American women disproportionately experience both the criminal justice and the foster care systems, and the long-term impact on the high rate of violence against women of color. <br><br>The half-day session took place on October 14 at Widener Law, Harrisburg and was moderated by Widener Harrisburg’s Interim Co-Dean <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesHbg/MeadowsRobynL.aspx">Robyn L. Meadows</a> and Professor <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesHbg/KearneyMaryKate.aspx">Mary Kate Kearney</a>. <br><br>Discussing what she calls the “criminalization of black mothers,” panelist Professor Dorothy F. Roberts, George Weiss Professor of Law and Sociology and the Pace and Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania Law School said that “poor black mothers suffer from huge marginalizations, deprivations and disadvantages that we should be ending.” <br><br>Professor Williams built on Professor Roberts’s scholarship, highlighting that the growing rates of imprisonment of black women added to the disproportionate number of black children in foster care are a means to “control poor and low-income women by keeping them under intense state supervision.”<br><br>“This systematic state suppression of the parenting role of African-American women “naturalizes social inequality and obscures the need for social change” in their communities,” said Professor Williams, citing Professor Roberts. <br><br>In giving context to statistics on the state’s female prison population, Secretary Smeal pointed out that most women inmates committed nonviolent crimes and have untreated chemical dependency caused by history of abuse for which they do not seek help. <br><br>The panelists agreed that the social welfare system is quicker to remove black children from their parents than white children. As a result, black women are reluctant to seek help for their addiction and other problems. Secretary Smeal spoke about Pennsylvania’s recent efforts to reallocate resources in an effort to reduce incarceration for these kinds of offenders, saying that “women need to be able to reach out for help without fear of losing their children.”<br><br>The second panel focused on the high incidence of violence and abuse among women of color. Kelley Hodge, the Pennsylvania Safe Schools Advocate at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, said that black women are targets of violence because they are perceived to be at the lowest end of the value spectrum in our society. “The perpetrator feels he can treat the victim this way and society lets him get away with it,” she said.<br><br>Rebecca Balog, Project Manager from the Women of Color Network and an advocate for Native American women, said that the rate of violence against Native Women is two and a half times greater than that against other women. To make things worse, the criminal justice system on Indian land is structured heavily to women’s disadvantage. Not only do the tribes lack jurisdiction over non-Indian offenders, Balog said, there is a zero percent rate of prosecutions for abuse and rape on tribal land nationally.<br><br>Pennsylvania has a significant Native American population but no recognized tribal lands or reservations, according to Balog.<br><br>The forum was introduced by Pennsylvania State Representative Patty Kim, who recognized the social workers, social service providers and women’s advocates in attendance, thanking them for the critical role that they play in the lives of her constituents in Harrisburg.