Child Kidnapping
Have you ever participated in a kidnapping? Are you absolutely sure?
The overwhelming majority of us will say, ‘of course not!’ In fact, you’re probably saying this is an absurd question. Nevertheless, I need to ask because I need to dramatize a certain type of relational transaction many of us participate in daily without proper consideration of seriousness of our actions.
This subject should be of the deepest interest to any decendent of the Black people forced here to North America and made chattel slaves. The Atlantic Slave Industry used kidnapping as it’s prime supply tool. This kidnapping had the immediate effect of separating by force and deception families that had maintained lineages hundreds, and even thousands of years.
In this practice of kidnapping, children suffered the unthinkable – unexpected, unplanned and traumatic separation from parents. This continued throughout the 310 years of legalized chattel slavery in the United States. In fact, it was such a powerful tool that it was all too frequently used by slave masters as a threat toward defiant slaves. It would most certainly break the spirit of defiance of almost any parent in captivity and bring that slave back into the control of the slave master.
Today, it is reported by agencies of the U.S. government that: Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child becomes missing or is abducted.
Abduction, kidnapping is an act of violence and domination. It is a tool of control. It is often combined with emotional and psychological manipulation of the intended victim.
Have you ever participated in a kidnapping? Are you absolutely sure?
Let me help you think a little deeper on my question. Here are some addiction facts:
Based on the identity of the perpetrator, there are three distinct types of kidnapping: kidnapping by a relative of the victim or "family kidnapping" (49 percent), kidnapping by an acquaintance of the victim or "acquaintance kidnapping" (27 percent), and kidnapping by a stranger to the victim or "stranger kidnapping" (24 percent).
In the Black community, we often hear dialogue about relationship violence and abuse toward women that sometimes involves physical kidnapping or abduction. This is certainly an area of grave concern for all right minded people. And men must learn that violence toward women is totally unacceptable.
However, I want to ask you about a form of abduction that has become common practice, socially acceptable and legally sanctioned. In fact, it is so common that you may have unwittingly been a participant in its practice. It is a bad habit with high risk potential that occurs everyday, like drivers turning automobiles without using signals. This type of abduction is a common tool in present day relationships.
In fact, family kidnapping is committed primarily by parents, involves a larger percentage of female perpetrators (43 percent) than other types of kidnapping offenses, occurs more frequently to children under 6, equally victimizes juveniles of both sexes, and most often originates in the home.
Again, I ask: Have you ever participated in a kidnapping? Are you absolutely sure?
Frequently, we use our children as currency in relationship turmoil. Frequently, we resort to various forms of abduction of our own children as a means to gain control, make a statement of power, or inflict pain on the other parent of our children.
Most of us are products of a too negative environment, negative observational learning, toxic relationship models and faulty group thinking – we engage in relationship transactions using our children as currency.
There are too many parents who engage in emotional conditioning, psychological anchoring and passive aggressive strategies all designed to ensure that the mind and emotions of our child is only capable of seeing us as the legitimate parent. Once the child is positioned emotionally and psychologically this way, then the child can be used as a ‘cat’s paw’ to inflict pain, or extract reward, from the other parent.
I regularly counsel fathers who, along with their child or children, are the victims of this kind of family abduction. Another word for it is Tiger Kidnapping. A tiger kidnapping or tiger robbery involves two separate crimes. The first crime usually involves an abduction of any person or thing someone highly values. Instead of demanding money, the captors demand that a second crime be committed on their behalf. The second crime could be anything from robbery, murder, to planting a bomb. A person or item held hostage is kept by the captors until their demands are met. The goal of the captors is to have their risky/dirty work performed by another person. The victims of a crime like this are less likely to report to authorities since they just committed a crime themselves.
Police have identified highly organized paramilitary training camps that prepare potential tiger kidnappers; one witness stated that trainees operate so cohesively that they are comparable to a SWAT team.
Tiger kidnapping is also the taking a hostage to make a loved one or associate of the victim do something: e.g. a child is taken hostage to force the shopkeeper to open the safe. The term originates from the usually long preceding observation, like a tiger does on the prowl.
This can be a subtle process or an abrupt visceral event. When it is subtle it usually means that the child is indoctrinated to see one parent as positive and the other as negative. One parent paints the other as the cause of all pain and problems, which by default makes the other the source of relief. Often in this type of dynamic, the extended family or the ‘family of origin’ of the dominant parent is used to create a system of psychological isolation around the child. As the process unfolds, these family members are deployed as participants in the Tiger Kidnapping. Sometimes their movements and manipulations of the child are as coordinated and aggressive as a SWAT team.
I ask again; have you ever participated in a kidnapping?
Are you, or your children the victims of kidnapping?
We will go deeper in part two…
Min. Michael Muhammad
Have you ever participated in a kidnapping? Are you absolutely sure?
The overwhelming majority of us will say, ‘of course not!’ In fact, you’re probably saying this is an absurd question. Nevertheless, I need to ask because I need to dramatize a certain type of relational transaction many of us participate in daily without proper consideration of seriousness of our actions.
This subject should be of the deepest interest to any decendent of the Black people forced here to North America and made chattel slaves. The Atlantic Slave Industry used kidnapping as it’s prime supply tool. This kidnapping had the immediate effect of separating by force and deception families that had maintained lineages hundreds, and even thousands of years.
In this practice of kidnapping, children suffered the unthinkable – unexpected, unplanned and traumatic separation from parents. This continued throughout the 310 years of legalized chattel slavery in the United States. In fact, it was such a powerful tool that it was all too frequently used by slave masters as a threat toward defiant slaves. It would most certainly break the spirit of defiance of almost any parent in captivity and bring that slave back into the control of the slave master.
Today, it is reported by agencies of the U.S. government that: Every 40 seconds in the United States, a child becomes missing or is abducted.
Abduction, kidnapping is an act of violence and domination. It is a tool of control. It is often combined with emotional and psychological manipulation of the intended victim.
Have you ever participated in a kidnapping? Are you absolutely sure?
Let me help you think a little deeper on my question. Here are some addiction facts:
Based on the identity of the perpetrator, there are three distinct types of kidnapping: kidnapping by a relative of the victim or "family kidnapping" (49 percent), kidnapping by an acquaintance of the victim or "acquaintance kidnapping" (27 percent), and kidnapping by a stranger to the victim or "stranger kidnapping" (24 percent).
In the Black community, we often hear dialogue about relationship violence and abuse toward women that sometimes involves physical kidnapping or abduction. This is certainly an area of grave concern for all right minded people. And men must learn that violence toward women is totally unacceptable.
However, I want to ask you about a form of abduction that has become common practice, socially acceptable and legally sanctioned. In fact, it is so common that you may have unwittingly been a participant in its practice. It is a bad habit with high risk potential that occurs everyday, like drivers turning automobiles without using signals. This type of abduction is a common tool in present day relationships.
In fact, family kidnapping is committed primarily by parents, involves a larger percentage of female perpetrators (43 percent) than other types of kidnapping offenses, occurs more frequently to children under 6, equally victimizes juveniles of both sexes, and most often originates in the home.
Again, I ask: Have you ever participated in a kidnapping? Are you absolutely sure?
Frequently, we use our children as currency in relationship turmoil. Frequently, we resort to various forms of abduction of our own children as a means to gain control, make a statement of power, or inflict pain on the other parent of our children.
Most of us are products of a too negative environment, negative observational learning, toxic relationship models and faulty group thinking – we engage in relationship transactions using our children as currency.
There are too many parents who engage in emotional conditioning, psychological anchoring and passive aggressive strategies all designed to ensure that the mind and emotions of our child is only capable of seeing us as the legitimate parent. Once the child is positioned emotionally and psychologically this way, then the child can be used as a ‘cat’s paw’ to inflict pain, or extract reward, from the other parent.
I regularly counsel fathers who, along with their child or children, are the victims of this kind of family abduction. Another word for it is Tiger Kidnapping. A tiger kidnapping or tiger robbery involves two separate crimes. The first crime usually involves an abduction of any person or thing someone highly values. Instead of demanding money, the captors demand that a second crime be committed on their behalf. The second crime could be anything from robbery, murder, to planting a bomb. A person or item held hostage is kept by the captors until their demands are met. The goal of the captors is to have their risky/dirty work performed by another person. The victims of a crime like this are less likely to report to authorities since they just committed a crime themselves.
Police have identified highly organized paramilitary training camps that prepare potential tiger kidnappers; one witness stated that trainees operate so cohesively that they are comparable to a SWAT team.
Tiger kidnapping is also the taking a hostage to make a loved one or associate of the victim do something: e.g. a child is taken hostage to force the shopkeeper to open the safe. The term originates from the usually long preceding observation, like a tiger does on the prowl.
This can be a subtle process or an abrupt visceral event. When it is subtle it usually means that the child is indoctrinated to see one parent as positive and the other as negative. One parent paints the other as the cause of all pain and problems, which by default makes the other the source of relief. Often in this type of dynamic, the extended family or the ‘family of origin’ of the dominant parent is used to create a system of psychological isolation around the child. As the process unfolds, these family members are deployed as participants in the Tiger Kidnapping. Sometimes their movements and manipulations of the child are as coordinated and aggressive as a SWAT team.
I ask again; have you ever participated in a kidnapping?
Are you, or your children the victims of kidnapping?
We will go deeper in part two…
Min. Michael Muhammad