"Shaun King Says Anonymous Troll Has 'Weaponized' NYC Dept Of Child Services Against Him"
Shaun King, civil rights activist and columnist at The Intercept, says someone called Child Services on his family. King said he was about to watch his daughter perform in a musical when his building's doorman called to inform him that "a woman is here and she wants to talk to you about childcare for your kids." King asked the doorman to put her on the phone, and had the following exchange:
The woman on the other end then DEMANDED to see three of my children.
She called them by name.
And said that she had to see them immediately.
At this point, I literally tell her "Yeah the fuck right you are about to see my kids."
What she said next got me.
She said she worked for New York Child Services (ACS) and that a formal complaint had been filed that my wife and I had abandoned our children and allowed them to do drugs.
I kid you not.
Still I didn't believe she was who she said she was.
According to King, the ACS employee told him the report was made anonymously and they had no information on the person who filed it. ACS did not return our request for comment.
I asked the supervisor, "Who made this report?" And she literally said it was an anonymous report and that they had no information on the person who filed it.
Let me make something very clear in my next tweet.
Just as I said to them on the phone.
Under no circumstances will anybody from the NYPD or New York Children's Services be speaking to anybody in my family.
I'm going to have to be in violation of New York law, but you will not force my children to participate in a single interview over a false complaint. PERIOD.
Today he posted a message from his wife on Medium about the incident.
"That some white supremacist or disgruntled person would waste the city’s limited resources to randomly call in false information that severely puts my family in harm’s way, and drive workers away from their important work, truly baffles me. We live in a sick and depraved world...There are likely many thousands of people who are delighted to make my family’s life difficult simply because of the work Shaun does. So while I have no desire to suggest that ACS workers should not do their job, I hope I am not expected to submit my children to the emotional trauma of being questioned by agents of the government every time a white supremacist or random crazy person decides to make trouble. "
Since his tweets yesterday, others have come forward to share similar experiences.
