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If there’s one thing that gets Black men in America absolutely incensed, it’s a discussion about child support. So many of them are committed to the idea that it is a way for the government to further disenfranchise Black men specifically and the community at large. And the pastime for these type of men is to highlight the astronomical amounts of money Black men have been ordered to pay the mother of their children.
They did it with Jesse Williams. And now, the latest discussion is about NBA player Blake Griffin. According to Radar Online, the Los Angeles Superior Court ordered Griffin to pay $258,000 per month in child support. The amount will go toward the two children, Ford, 5, and Finn, 2, Griffin shares with Brynn Cameron.
In court documents, Cameron alleged that Griffin broke off their engagement shortly after he started dating Kendall Jenner, when he was playing for the Los Angeles Clippers. Cameron said the baller kicked her and the children out of their $12 million mansion and she was basically homeless with only $100 in her bank account.
Cameron, who played basketball for USC, is currently unemployed and raising her children, including a child from a previous relationship with Matt Leinart, a former USC quarterback.
During their long custody battle, Cameron stated that because Griffin is “uber rich,” he should also pay her attorneys fees.
According to documents, Griffin brought in a total of $2.2 million per month in 2016. For the purposes of child support, courts determined that Griffin’s annual income was $35 million. Documents also state that Griffin is paying for the children’s medical insurance.
While the two share joint legal and physical custody, a judge ordered that both sides agree on school expenses and Griffin will pay for the children’s extracurricular activities.
The $258,000 a month—nearly $3 million a year— is about 9% of Griffin’s annual income after investments and endorsements.
In other words, he got it.
But let Black men tell it, the government is doing the most.
The point of child support is to ensure that your child has the same quality of life he or she would if you and the child’s mother were still living in the same home. And while $258,000 a month seems like a lot for us regular folks, it’s relative. It is 9 percent of his income. For the church-going folks that’s less than what you pay in tithe. The thought that you would spend less than 10 percent of your income on a child who didn’t ask to be in the world, a child you created is bare minimum. I can guarantee that custodial parents, single mothers who aren’t collecting child support, spend more than that to feed, clothe and care for their children. Run Ms. Cameron her check. Since most of the men complaining will never see Blake Griffin money, they can pipe down.
Peep the outrage and people with some sense on the following pages.
