1955: It was the summer of 1955 when Emmett Till arrived in Mississippi from Chicago. His family had worked cotton for generations. The Murder of Emmett Till, PBS 2014
Emmett’s body had been weighed down. ibid.
The jury – all white men. ibid.
An international fire-storm. ibid.
If the facts as stated in the Look magazine account of the Till affair are correct, this remains: two adults, armed, in the dark, kidnap a fourteen-year-old boy and take him away to frighten him. Instead of which, the fourteen-year-old boy not only refuses to be frightened, but, unarmed, alone, in the dark, so frightens the two armed adults that they must destroy him ... What are the Mississippians afraid of? William Faulkner, On Fear, 1956
Somehow [Till’s death and trial] struck a spark of indignation that ignited protests around the world ... It was the murder of this fourteen-year-old out-of-state visited that touched off a world-wide clamour and cast the glare of a world spotlight on Mississippi’s racism. Myrlie Evers
Childhood doesn’t last. Nothing lasts. Boardwalk Empire s4e11, Havre de Grace, Jimmy’s mum, HBO 2013
Great kids come from great fucks. (Gangs US: Los Angeles & Child) Ray Donovan s1e4: Black Cadillac, Mickey, Showtime 2013
Kids don’t confront in my family. The Sopranos s1e7: Down Neck starring James Gandolfini & Lorriane Bracco & Edie Falco & Michael Imperioli & Dominic Chianese & Steven van Zandt & Tony Sirico & Robert Iler et al, Tony to Mr Melfi, HBO 200
I had a relationship once. It was very much like a marriage. We got pregnant. This was long time ago. [sighs] I remember getting up one morning and going to work. Just another day like any other, except it was the first day after I knew about … pregnancy. And I felt this fear for the first time ever. I remember thinking, ‘How can I bring a child into a world like this? How can a person grow up with all this around them?’ I told her I didn’t want to have it, and over the next few weeks, I wore her down. Se7en 1995 starring Brad Pitt & Morgan Freeman & Kevin Spacey & Gwyneth Paltrow & Richard Roundtree & Richard Schiff & R Lee Ermey & Mark Boone junior & John Cassini & Reg E Cathey et al, director David Fincher, Somerset
Nature’s little miracle – Christ! What’s the use of having a kid unless you got enough dough to take care of it. You intend to keep it? Yeah, why not drop another sucker in this mess? They Shoot Horses Don’t They? 1969 starring Jane Fonda & Michael Sarrazin & Susannah York & Gig Young & Red Buttons & Bonnie Bedelia & Bruce Dern & Allyn Ann McLerie & Robert Fields & Michael Conrad, opening scene, her to pregnant contestant
Kids – you give ’em the best years of your life and it’s like they never existed. Hard Men 1996 starring Mad Frankie Fraser & Vincent Regan & Ross Boatman & Layla Aldridge & Victoria Bensted & Keith Brown & Rocky Byron & Ken Campbell et al, director J K Amalou, Pops Den to Tone
I screwed my kids’ life up too. A Good Day to Die Hard 2012 starring Bruce Wills & Sebastian Koch & Jai Courtney & Yuliya Snigir & Mary Elizabeth Winstead & Cole Hauser & Amaury Nolasco et al, director John Moore, Willis
What is your worst memory of childhood? The Silence of the Lambs 1991 starring Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins & Scott Glen & Ted Levine & Anthony Heald & Brooke Smith & Diane Baker & Kasi Lemmons & Frankie Fraison & Tracey Walter et al, director Jonathan Demme, Lecter
I have invited you here to meet someone. This is Lal ... This is my child. Star Trek: The Next Generation s3e16: The Offspring, Data
I’ve never been particularly comfortable around children. Star Trek: The Next Generation s4e4: Suddenly Human, Picard
You bought a child? Star Trek: Deep Space Nine s3e6: The Abandoned, Sisko to Quark
Good morning, children. I am your new governess Mrs Davenport. Star Trek: Voyager s1e16: Learning Curve, Janeway’s holosuite program
I’ve thought about having children. But I must say I never considered having them with you. Star Trek: Voyager s2e15: Threshold, Janeway to Tom
Offspring can be disturbingly illogical. Star Trek: Voyager s7e12: Lineage, Tuvok to Tom
Now that your Borg implants have been removed you might think about having children of your own one day. Star Trek: Voyager s7e18: Human Error , Janeway to Seven of Nine, re Seven’s holosuite program
Another urgent measure is to send the children away to the countryside for safety. World War II: The Apocalypse: Collapse of France aka Apocalypse: The Second World War: Crushing Defeat, Sky 2009
Butler enters crime-ridden slums to challenge a form of exploitation common in Victorian cities – child prostitution. The British VI: Tale of Two Cities, Sky Atlantic 2012
Most parents would have lost one or more of their children. Robert Bartlett, Inside the Medieval Mind II: Sex, BBC 2008
They are so poor they are forced to have children simply to provide a cheap alternative to Turkey at Christmas. Blackadder III: Sense & Senility, Blackadder to Prince, BBC 1987
In reality children had never been more vulnerable. This was the great age of epidemic: tuberculosis, scarlet fever and typhoid killed thousands of children every year. No amount of money or prayer could keep death from the door. Jeremy Paxman: The Victorians: Home Sweet Home, BBC 2009
Rarely is the question asked, Is our children learning? George W Bush, South Carolina, January 11th 2000
I think back to what Camus wrote about the fact that perhaps this world is a world in which children suffer, but we can lessen the number of suffering children, and if you do not do this, then who will do this? I’d like to feel that I’d done something to lessen that suffering. Robert Kennedy
For the highest spiritual working one must accordingly choose that victim which attains the greatest and purest force. A male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory and suitable system. Aleister Crowley, Magick in Theory and Practice
The children now are signing what is called an assent form, not a consent form, but a passive consent form saying that they will be involved. They have all kinds of incentives to join ... Teen Screen is to ask them a number of questions ... Those questions then go into be analysed, and a diagnosis is made from those questions. Parents who have found out about this are suing; they are now very upset with the school systems. Joyce Riley, radio host and producer, interview One Nation Under Siege
In this country now we’re seeing drugs cradle to grave. In fact it’s not just in America, it’s other countries also. Children as young as two years of age are being put on certain types of drugs to decrease the amount of their aggressive tendencies ... The drugs are being used all the way through the adult period of life into the geriatric. ibid.
And of course to make sure that there’s a big market for Ritalin, then what you do is encourage the food companies to put as much Aspartame into the food as they possibly can; especially in food that’s targeted at young children ... Get them on the Kiddy Coke. I mean, Ritalin is like cocaine. I mean, the medical profession, the medical scientists, don’t even really understand how this works. Because Ritalin is a stimulant. But actually in a youth is has the opposite effect ... The British government by the way spent £28 million last year on Ritalin. In America 10% of all children of school age are prescribed Ritalin ... And of course the whole idea here is that Ritalin is the kindergarten for Prozac, one of the best-selling drugs in the world. Ian R Crane, lecture Liverpool 2008, ‘New World Order’
Big Brother is on the march. A plan to subject all children to mental health screening is underway, and the pharmaceuticals are gearing up for bigger sales of psychotropic drugs. Phyllis Schlafly
My kids’ idea of a hard life is to live in a house with only one phone. George Foreman
Society does not need more children; but it does need more loved children. Quite literally, we cannot afford unloved children – but we pay heavily for them every day. There should not be the slightest communal concern when a woman elects to destroy the life of her thousandth-of-an-ounce embryo. But all society should rise up in alarm when it hears that a baby that is not wanted is about to be born. Garrett Hardin
One of the ways we finance the growth of multinational corporations and big banks and the rise of the Dow Jones is by selling narcotics to our children. It’s one of the most profitable businesses in America. Catherine Fitts