In it, a woman named Stacey Patton, who wrote the article, says that the beatdown by Baltimore citizen Toya Graham to her 16-year-old son, was a stereotype to stereotypes of mammies, angry and thwarting resistance to a system designed to kill their children--and when that happens, they get praised.
I have a question for her:
Ms. Patton, were you spanked or hit by your parents when you were a child, and hated the experience so much, that you’ll write an article saying that it’s setting back black people 100 years, using Ms. Graham slap fit as a major excuse to do so? Because that’s how I see it.
In part of her article, she explains why she believes that physical discipline is a bad thing when dealing with children. Also, she reveals that she herself was hit as a child (which explains my theory):
“The kind of violent discipline Graham unleashed on her son did not originate with her, or with my adoptive mother who publicly beat me when I was a child, or with the legions of black parents who equate pain with protection and love. The beatings originated with white supremacy, a history of cultural and physical violence that devalues black life at every turn. From slavery through Jim Crow, from the school-to-prison pipeline, the innocence and protection of black children has always been a dream deferred.”
If you think that physical discipline to kids corrupts them to commit terrible acts from temper tantrums to arson and murder, you have another thing coming. In the video, Toya Graham only hit her son, because he was participating in the Baltimore Riots, something that could’ve gotten him arrested, injured or killed, something Freddie Gray also received. I’m not saying Gray deserved the negligence under the police officers whom did this to him, but the same thing could be deserved to him for doing this willingly. Ms. Graham did right thing by snatching him away, because doing so has kept him away from danger, something a loving and caring mother would and should do in situations like these.
And another thing: white supremacy causes black parents to spank their kids? White supremacy didn’t do damn near shit to black kids’ decisions in their lives today. You do know that some white parents spank their kids too, right? So it doesn’t stay with blacks. (Also, Latino parents and parents of other races spank their kids, too) So make this another stupid part of this crass waste of my time.
Here’s another stupid excerpt of the article:
“Praising Graham distracts from a hard truth: It doesn’t matter how black children behave – whether they throw rocks at the police, burn a CVS, join gangs, walk home from the store with candy in their pocket, listen to rap music in a car with friends, play with a toy gun in a park, or simply make eye contact with a police officer – they risk being killed and blamed for their own deaths because black youths are rarely viewed as innocent or worthy of protection.”
She just doesn’t realize what she said. Many kids out there (especially in Baltimore--whether today or back then) are behaving terribly. Without their parents in their lives to teach them right from wrong, they’ll take anything else (rap songs, bad people, etc.) and use them to commit terrible things, such as the things she mentions. And now she has the gall to say that it shouldn’t matter how black kids behave??! But what does is how their parents treat them?! Woman...YES, IT DOES MATTER!! How kids behave (whether they are physically disciplined by their parents or not) does matter because that will determine how what they seen as later in life. Whether intelligent, cultured, and well bred or disrespectful, ungrateful and misinformed ingrates, or somewhere in between. Whatever they do will be used either in their favor or against them, for the rest of their lives.
And in one section, she parallels the situation in the viral video with the story of a teenager who was a gang member and was whipped by his uncle because of his ties to the gang he was in; unfortunately, this didn't help as the boy was later found dead. Why did you mention this? What that young man did then was his choice and something he should not have been doing. His uncle did the right thing to whip the boy, only because he was in fear of his grandson’s life and he loved him. Did you not realize the implication from your commentary, that since he had been whipped, the boy would’ve still been murdered, and that his uncle is at fault? What the hell makes you think a little spanking causes kids to do their shit again?! “Oh, boo-hoo, my uncle spanked me! Now, I’m gonna gang bang to prove to him what he did was wrong!” His uncle did all he could to keep him out of danger, and unfortunately, the child foolishly went and did what he shouldn’t have done in the first place.
It’s like blaming a person warning their child not to skateboard down a skateboard ramp without protective gear, but that child did it anyway and broke their leg. The child didn’t obey their relative’s warnings and now ends up hurt or dead. Yet you refer to this as discipline gone wrong, as the parents’ actions to stop their child didn’t stop a thing. The child did it to himself; he got himself killed by continuing to associate himself with the gang. It’s disgusting to refer to this to try to make your point and you failed.
Woman... who the hell do you think you are?!? This article does not make your case a good one in any way, but to remind us that kids, black or otherwise, will do dangerous shit, and will pay the consequences for their actions. And parents will react accordingly, whether with a talking-to, a grounding or a spanking (can't use belt specifically because some parents use other things for whippings), and there's nothing you can say to change their minds or their parenting. What we are doing as a race has nothing to do with white supremacy. It’s the fact that some of us did not learn the basics of decency and dignity to act this way, commit these acts and
You have the fucking nerve to ask us: “Why is America celebrating the beating of a black child?” Well, I’ll tell you why. It’s because this black child joined a dangerous and unnecessary uprising that members of our race caused because of the death of a black man thanks to police negligence, and risked his life to injure police officers, knowing that he would end up hurt or killed. His mother did the right thing in taking her son out it, and only slapped him in the head. She deserved all the praise she could get because she was being a mom--a loving, caring mom.
And I have a question for you: If a white child did the same thing that this young man did, and his mom did the same thing Ms. Graham did, would you ask “Why is America celebrating the beating of a white child”? Of course you wouldn’t; you’d look the other way! Because he’s not black, it doesn’t matter to you. Well I have some words for you: No one cares for people pointing out how . People physically discipline their children because children can sometimes act rowdy and out-of-hand, and never listen to their parents.
This article is crap and should not have been made. It was a waste of my time and sent me into anger and rage that I couldn’t get myself out of for days. I couldn’t wait to publish this post so I could get rid of it. I can’t deal with people making shit opinions on things and never get repercussions from them. Fortunately she did, as so many people responded in comments on how her statements are, and reading them made me feel much, much better. If you feel that physical discipline is not a good way to punish your children, that’s fine. Nobody will judge you; not everyone has the same parenting method. But if you want to voice your opinion about this subject, please be more well-informed. And not blame “white supremacy”.
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