Background

WSMV 7 News Blast

WSMV News 7 issues a news alert on television after Anthony Crum fraudulently reports Khaila to the Child Abduction Unit.

Police Alert on “Kidnapping”

Rutherford County Sheriff Office bulletin for Missing Children “Endangered Children” showing images of Iris Crum and Khaila.

Iris testifies about abuse

In a 2023 video recorded by Iris’ maternal grandmother. Iris talks about the scars on her body and how she got them.

• Khaila had sole permanent custody of daughter Iris Crum in 2020.
• On a visit with father, Anthony Crum, in 2020, Anthony took Iris and never returned her.
• From 2020-2021 (8 months), Khaila sought help to get her daughter back without success.
• From 2021-2023, Anthony moved Iris to various states, resulting in legal issues in each state.
• In May 2023, Iris’ school contacts Christina, Iris’ grandmother, to say Iris had been abandoned.
• This is the first time they had any news of Iris since 2021.
• Anthony eventually picks up his daughter and reaches out to Christina, telling her that he cannot take care of Iris because he does not have any money or resources.
• Anthony returns Iris to her grandmother, Christina, with significant signs of abuse: cigarette burns, hair missing and frail.
• Christina records Iris revealing that Anthony gave her those scars.
• Khaila calls CPS in California to report Anthony.
• The California courts ignore the evidence of abuse.
• Khaila also calls DCS in Tennessee, where she had been living at the time. DCS did not show up to an evidentiary hearing. Tennessee also ignores evidence of abuse.
• Anthony retaliates by calling the Child Abduction Unit (CAU) on Khaila, saying she kidnapped her child and brought her to Tennessee.
• The system ignores evidence of violence. Instead of protecting Iris, they take Anthony’s side. He is white.
• Tennessee and California issues warrants for Khaila’s arrest.
• Several news and police agencies blasts out a kidnapping alert and mugshot of Khaila; winning support from some people on social media to talk about the case.
• The media has shown that it will bend over backward to depict white men as heroes and Black women as villains.
• Khaila who was 5 months pregnant was arrested, extradited to California and held for 5 months on a $1.1 million bail.
• Iris is returned to Anthony Crum. Her location is unknown.
• Khaila and her mother, Christina, hired attorneys, spending over $50,000, to no avail.
• January 2024, Anthony Crum and Iris, are in a motor vehicle accident. Anthony Crum dies on the scene. Iris is taken to Anthony Crum’s father.
• California Family Code 3010 (b) states that upon death, the child must go to the other parent.
• Khaila immediately goes to Family court and is awarded custody.
• Khaila and ANWO members go directly to the home of Dale Crum, Anthony’s father. He is not there. Iris is not there.
• Khaila calls the Sheriff’s office for help, as directed to do when she was awarded custody. However, the Deputy did not help.
• When Khaila asked the Deputy to do a welfare check, he refused.
• Iris is still missing. Possibly hurt from the motor vehicle accident. Neither Khaila nor Christina have seen Iris since 2023.

ANWO Gets Involved

ANWO got involved in 2024 at the family’s behest. We attended criminal and custody hearings for Khaila and Iris. All down the line we have seen the demonization and criminalization of Khaila Czereda Wilks without cause.

The ONLY reason Khaila is still dealing with a criminal case and does not have custody of her child is because the colonial state sided with Anthony Crum, a known criminal in several states, who abused Iris and admitted his ineptitude.

Meanwhile, Khaila, a married mother of three, is prevented from caring for her daughter even after his death. California Family Code 3010 (b) is clear that when one parent dies, custody automatically goes to the other parent. However, the state still will not return Iris to her African mother.

Family Support

Khaila’s family at a criminal court hearing in 2024 to free a pregnant Khaila from prison on false allegations of kidnapping and child endangerment.

We have decided to stand with Khaila and Christina and demand that Iris be returned to her mother. This case is not purely custodial, this is clear bias where an African woman caught a felony kidnapping case and is currently labeled a threat to her daughter, at the behest of a white man.

Take Action

Use the letter linked below to demand justice for Khaila and Iris. Or send personalized statements to:

Attorney General Rob Bonta  openjustice@doj.ca.gov
cc: Public Inquiry Unit piu@doj.ca.gov
cc: mayortoddgloria@sandiego.gov
Call: (916) 210-6276
For TTY/TDD, call (800) 735-2929 

San Diego County District Attorney’s Office Conviction Review Unit 
CASRU@sdcda.org
cc: SanDiegoDA@sdcda.org
cc: mayortoddgloria@sandiego.gov
Call: (619) 531-4040

Take Action

More ways to Help

1. Share the hashtag #WhereIsIrisCrum #ReuniteIrisCrum #JusticeForKhaila #ProtectBlackFamilies on social media.
2. Email and call the key officials demanding immediate action.
3. Engage with media outlets to amplify this issue.
4. Participate in Twitter storms and rallies

This fight is not just for Khaila and Iris—it is for all African mothers and families facing the colonial state. Take action today!

Assets

Short email to key officials :

Subject: Urgent Action Needed – Justice for Khaila Wilks and Iris Crum

Dear Attorney General Bonta and District Attorney Stephan,

I urge your immediate intervention in the wrongful prosecution of Khaila Wilks Czereda, a mother unjustly charged with child abduction due to fraudulent legal actions, perjury, and prosecutorial misconduct in San Diego. Despite holding sole legal and physical custody of her daughter, Iris Crum, Khaila has been criminalized through the misuse of outdated court orders and suppression of exculpatory evidence. I am requesting the immediate dismissal of all charges, a full investigation into Attorney Nancy Wilson and the Crum family for fraud, accountability for judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, and the swift return of Iris to her mother as required under California law. This gross injustice must be corrected immediately—I look forward to your urgent response.

Regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Organization, if applicable]
[Your Contact Information]

Respectfully,
<signed>

Check back for additional assets.

These attacks run the gamut of social and economic assaults, meant to demoralize and cause crisis; such as revenge evictions, stoppages of social benefits , unannounced police visits, impromptu court appearances, and illegitimate Council tax levies, among other things.

From the outside, all of this could appear to be a string of bad situations or could even be summed up as something that is a result of Kushinda’s poor management; but hundreds of pages of correspondence to and from Brent Council says otherwise.

Over the course of 17 years Kushinda has been in constant battle with the state after initially filing a complaint against the school district for the treatment of her learning disabled son, Meshach Boland who was 12 years old at the time.

First, they cancelled her income benefits without explanation, then they denied her carer benefits and so on and so forth until the present day.

But all along Kushinda has fought for clarity. She has been in the courts, gone down to their offices, written extensive appeals, emailed and protested only to be met with silence or additional attacks.

The State retaliates after push back against police

In August 2015, everything started to escalate for Kushinda after Brent police sent a targeted letter to families following a stabbing in the African community.

The letter demanded that African youth attend a meeting to discuss the stabbing and warned that if the youth did not attend the meeting, Brent Police would heighten its efforts in the community.

Knowing the implications for black youth and even Kushinda’s learning disabled son, Meshach who is now 29- years old, the Uhuru Movement responded to the letter by writing our own letter which exposed the colonial nature of the police – the letter was published in a local paper; which elevated the issue.

The Uhuru Movement began organizing the community and building a resistance to the policy of police containment.

Only a few months later, in January, Meshach was involved in an altercation with a store owner – a result of his denied access to treatment for his learning and behavioral disabilities – which resulted in a warrant for his arrest and attempted criminal prosecution.

The African National Women’s Organization responded with the First they Fail Us! Then they Jail Us! Campaign which organized a mass call-in to Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) and a protest – led by Kushinda – in front of the Willesden Magistrate court on May 11th, the date of Meshach’s hearing].

This resulted in the court pushing back their attempts to incarcerate Meshach. It was a short-lived victory.

Economic Sanctions is State Violence

Brent retaliated against Kushinda with tax levies and eviction proceeding among other things; which temporarily prevented her from organizing.

We saw her become more isolated and depressed as the state’s agencies collaborated with each other to strengthen their attacks.

First Brent said she owed taxes on a business that never belonged to her, then they sent an eviction notice, next they levied her with additional Council taxes that came up to over two thousand pounds. Then they attempted to move her ailing mother from her home, then they tried to move Meshach’s hearing to an earlier date.

Kushinda and ANWO couldn’t respond fast enough to everything so we decided to go on the offensive. We decided to bring Brent Council’s dirty laundry to their front steps by organizing a daily protest during the month of August, to be held in front of their headquarters at Brent Civic Centre.

ANWO Takes the Offensive

There, Kushinda sat in front of their doors with her mouth taped and hands and feet bound surrounded by poster boards that read “Stop the Revenge Eviction of Kushinda Olanrenwaju”, “Black Lives Won’t Matter, Until we Get Black Power”, and “Stop Britain’s War on Oppressed People”. Everyday she was flanked by her sister Lorna and fellow comrade Antony, who served as agitators and security .

As soon as the protest started, Council representatives scurried to find a resolution so that they could move this “poor black woman” from in front of their shiny state-of-the-art building.

They came out to the street with her files in hand and tried to figure it out, right then and there. This was after Kushinda had been ignored for months. Within two weeks we had met with Council representatives and her eviction had been stopped.

We organized a committee who played pivotal roles in the demonstrations both locally and internationally. Nemequene Tundama and Awqa Colque, indigenous comrades who stand in opposition to colonialism and the oppression of African and indigenous people. We gathered support from Deepa Naik and her daughter Sunaya from This is Not a Gateway; Sister Steffney from London Campaign Against Police and State Violence (LCAPSV); and Sister Jacqui and Brother Cecil from the Pan African Community Society Forum (PACSF).

When we organize we win

By the end of the 20-day protest, we had collected 200 contacts, organized media coverage, recruited other African organizations and supporters to join the protest, held solidarity protests in Phoenix AZ and Washington D.C. and led a successful social media campaign with #DefendAfricanWomen.

We also saw CPS move to end their prosecution of Meshach and are currently working to throw out the case.

These are huge victories! However, we know that there is more to fight around Kushinda. Kushinda still does not have income or her carer benefits restored.

Meshach’s access to Brent Adult Social Care Services to meet his learning disability needs, is still being denied.

The Council does not want to consider their role in denying his access for 17 years. They want to start fresh in order to avoid the reparations they will have to give Meshach for the years of their neglect.

In the meeting we had with the council, in the first two weeks, the Adult Social Care Services Director, declared they did not have an Adult Social Care file on Meshach – which was a total lie since we have records.

So in response, on the last day of protest, we delivered a copy of the 515 page file to the Director of Operations for Adult Social Care – Ms. Helen Woodland.

This action served as an example of resistance for other African women who are currently suffering in silence. Kushinda was lifted out of isolation and empowered to action through organization. We encourage other African women who are struggling to join ANWO. Join a movement of African women who refuse to be isolated and targeted by the state. Let’s win it!

Local members in D.C. held up signs outside of the British Embassy that read #DefendAfricanWomen , Stop Britain’s Attack on Oppressed People, and Black Lives Won’t Matter Until We Get Black Power.

Drivers passing by honked their horns in support of our messages and a few stopped to get more detail about the campaign.  One N. American man on a bicycle was surprised to hear about the case because he says “England is a welfare state” implying that issues like this shouldn’t exist because of their system is supposedly set up to ensure the most vulnerable are provided services.

We were there to bust up that assumption, as England and most of Europe is often looked at as leaders in progressive policies. But lift up the covers you’ll see that African and other oppressed people are suffering the worst as Councils throughout the country make up arbitrary rules that usually leave many without access and in crisis  – just like Kushinda. ‘

We are calling on others to join Kushinda in the last few days of protest especially if you are experiencing issues that are related to state maladministration of your cases.

Since Brent Council refuses to recognize Meshach’s learning disability (for which he carries a Freedom Pass), he has been without specialized care for over 17 years and has suffered severe developmental delay – which means that at 29 year old Meshach functions as a 6 year old. What makes the problems worse is that Brent Police has targeted Meshach and have arrested him on charges related to his diability and seek to prosecute him criminally.

Following a protest led by Kushinda held on May 11th to expose this injustice, she received notice that she is to be evicted and that she owed thousands of pounds in council taxes. All of this is related to the benefits that were stopped without explanation.

Kushinda has been driven into deep economic and emotional crisis by these varied attacks, however instead of allowing the Council to drive her into isolation, she is bringing her own charges to their doorstep.

We are asking people to support her by:

1. Select your protest days to stand with Kushinda. Let us know which days, by signing up to participate.
2. Organize other people to stand with Kushinda by sending this message to your contacts and sharing with your family and friends
3. Show material support by donating to the campaign
4. Post a picture on Social Media with the hashtag #DefendAfricanWomen and tag @ANWOUhuru on Facebook and Twitter.

ANWO PHX was joined by 10,000 Fearless Men and Women of Phoenix. They stood in solidarity with us and also provided additional security to support African women stepping into political life.

In the first hour, the group of 20 made presentations about their personal experiences with local law enforcement and their feelings surrounding the recent deaths by state sanctioned violence against African and Indigenous community members. Emotions were high as discussions turned to our youth, specifically affected by the shooting of Korryn Gaines and her 5-year-old son by Baltimore Police Department.

Comrade Adele led the discussion on seeing and exposing colonial oppression of African people in the city of Phoenix. She expressed concern over the growing petty bourgeoisie movements in and around Phoenix, spouting reformist rhetoric that misinforms working class Africans of their political identity. She stressed the importance of “African first” when it comes to dismantling colonial and neo-colonial domination and parasitic capitalism worldwide.

Comrade Mystic educated the group on why Africans in Arizona  stand in solidarity with indigenous people. The native population,  of what is now known as the Americas, were decimated by European colonialism which is also responsible for the enslavement and colonization  of Africa and African people. We need principled unity among the oppressed so that build toward overturning our relationship to our common enemy.

Just as native people are struggling to reclaim their land, so are Africans. Once we are successful the entire system of parasitic capitalism will crumble and open up a new world for all of the oppressed struggling masses. African liberation and the support of African liberation is the first step in revolutionary action.

Comrade Bri provided real world applications of African Internationalism including the inevitable unification of Africa.