I remember growing up and being disciplined if I dared to get out of line. I remember being sent to school with the corporal punishment “death warrant” as I like to call it because many kids’ egos were murdered in front of the class when the teacher had to get on them. I also remember the day I found out that my parents could no longer spank me because that was considered child abuse. I also remember the rude awakening I got when I came home and informed my mother about child abuse and threatened to call CPS if I got a whipping again. I don’t want to remember that “bonfire” that was set under my tail, but that’s etched into my memory as well. Let’s just say at a very early age, I realized CPS and the law was on some bull!
Much hasn’t changed since I came to that conclusion. The harrowing reality the law is still on some bull and so is society. Last year I watched people on social media tear Adrian Peterson a new one because he disciplined his child. I’m not saying I agree with the extent that was taken, but that was no longer the topic of discussion. It became an all-out dragging session on physical discipline versus non physical discipline. The epithets spewed were awful. Traditional media had a field day. I was under the impression that society was totally against physical discipline so imagine my surprise when traditional media and its following praised Toya Graham for smacking the taste out of her son’s mouth. No doubt that I would have done the same, but the irony is worth talking about. Ms. Graham has went viral for doing something that is frowned upon. If Ms. Graham was caught smacking her son upside the head for any other reason than catching him in the middle of a riot, somewhere her parental choice would have been dissected. However, because Graham’s son was essentially deemed as a nuisance to society and menace to those behind the shield, she was praised by the police commissioner of Baltimore as well as all of America; some revering her as “Mother of the Year”. By no means am I condemning Ms. Graham. I am a firm believer in parent doing whatever is necessary save her kids. I just notice the hypocrisy.
Society says it’s okay for our children to be slain if they run from an officer. Society feels its aright if they are beaten senseless for not obeying authority, but if you put a switch to their backside for not obeying you, the parent, it is a problem. The law is the law, right? If it was okay for Ms. Graham to break it that day in Baltimore, it should be okay for parents to break it so that it won’t be a Baltimore. And no I’m not saying whippings stop riots. Ending oppression and the social injustice will only stop that. What I am saying is that society is six brain cells away from insanity. It will tell you how to raise your kids until your kids become nuisances and the laws that restricted you as a parent won’t govern the authorities. Where was the abuse clause for Tamir Rice ( who is still unburied months later)? He was only 12 years old. Where are the abuse clauses for Freddie Gray or the next life that will become a hashtag?
I get why there are abuse laws. Some individuals take it to the extreme, however are we to continue to lose generations because the laws that govern us, but fail to govern authorities? I tip my hat to Ms. Graham. When I saw the video. I saw a mother fighting for her child and making him accountable for his actions.
She isn’t allowing society to raise her child. Neither should you.
-Niko Rose
