The Baltimore Mom

[BrownieMomma]

The one smacking her son. What do you think of this?

msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/mom-find-son-amid-protests-and-grabs-him-435596355946?cid=sm_fb_msnbc_native

[feministxtian]

I LOVE it!!!

[Wenny]

I hate that she is hitting him in the face.

[PrairieGirl]

She's mad.

[feministxtian]

I hate that she is hitting him in the face.

If the kid had stopped, taken off his jacket and mask and straightened up like his mama asked...

I showed that to my DIL (a lot of her family is from Balto)...and she said the kid was lucky to get off as seemingly light as he did.

[2 much chickenetti]

I blame adrenalin. I'm against corporal punishment but know that in that sort of stressful situation I'd behave the same way.

That being said, I used to teach in Baltimore (high school) and I know that corporal punishment was very common. There were parents we didn't like to call because we knew the child would be punished physically for whatever we were calling about.

[Antimony]

Thats fucking awful.

All angles of the current protests aside, how on earth is this good parenting? Certainly doesn't teach non violence and then the police pubically award this kind of act? The only violence I saw in that scene was her hitting him.

It's not funny. It's piss poor parenting and he responded calmly and nonviolently to it.

[Koala]

Perhaps her son was so quick to resort to violence BECAUSE he learned it at home.

[Koala]

Thats fucking awful.

All angles of the current protests aside, how on earth is this good parenting? Certainly doesn't teach non violence and then the police pubically award this kind of act? The only violence I saw in that scene was her hitting him.

It's not funny. It's piss poor parenting and he responded calmly and nonviolently to it.

Amen. If his mother will beat him in the head (and I'd bet the farm that's not the first time she's done it), then why on earth would we expect him to be any better????

[apandaaries]

What a scene! But I can also imagine her thinking, "I did NOT raise you all these years to lose you in the damn streets during a riot! WTF are you thinking, son?"

Raising a Black son (or boy of color) in the US is no easy feat. And in Baltimore, at least, even pregnant women and grandmothers of color can have serious, violent encounters with the police. No wonder the community is in an uproar over Freddie Gray. How do you raise a kid knowing that s/he's in danger every time s/he steps out on the street? Knowing that s/he's disproportionately profiled and targeted for attacks every time s/he walks out the door? Even Black Harvard professors have run-ins with the cops thinking they're suspects/perpetrators of violent crime. It's insane.

[apandaaries]

Don't know if others saw this, but Jezebel had an interview with gang members who'd come together for peaceful protests. They remind the viewers that they can't control EVERYONE on the streets, but they had stepped in to stop violence repeatedly. It's worth watching to see these men explain themselves and the problems they face as Black men in Baltimore. You KNOW it's serious when the gangs unite NOT to attack cops, but to try to seek peaceful justice for other men, women, and children of color: http://jezebel.com/watch-this-video-of- ... socialflow [link not broken bc Jezebel is a news source]

[anjulibai]

Honestly? I think she was probably terrified of the boy being arrested and perhaps killed himself.

[Mecca]

Amen. If his mother will beat him in the head (and I'd bet the farm that's not the first time she's done it), then why on earth would we expect him to be any better????

That was my first thought when I first saw the footage.

Look, I don't blame the mother for being angry with her child and taking him out of the environment, but I am not OK with her resorting to violence herself in the situation. I do not think teaching kids that physical violence is wrong while physically hitting them is productive or good parenting.

[Eater of Worlds]

Honestly? I think she was probably terrified of the boy being arrested and perhaps killed himself.

I would slap my kid upside the head if I felt he were truly in a life or death situation. I'd do it without a second thought.

[Anny Nym]

I just saw the video and replayed it a few times. And to me it appears that is is a very VERY special situation, where we all (as we are sitting in front of our computers) should be very VERY careful about jumping to negative conclusions about this mom too soon and only based on a youtube-video.

Given, what I know about the Baltimore Riots - or riots of such kind at all - is only from the news, but it appears to be a very scary and tense situation there and this mom was clearly scared out of her wits, finding her quite young son in such a dangerous place. IMHO she seemed stressed and mainly afraid for her boy´s safety.

[ladyamylynn]

I think it's kind of shitty that people are laughing at it. I'm not a believer in corporal punishment but this hardly seems like the time or place to debate that.

[DGayle]

I say good for her. She saw her son doing something EXTREME (only fools think that only kids who get spanked at home can become rioters), and she took matters into her own hands. What should she had done, begged him nicely to pretty please come home, and hope he didn't get killed if he didn't? His mama smacked him, and he listened and went with her. She may have saved his life. And it's not fair to say she's probably "violent" at home. Have you had a kid in a riot? Don't trick yourself into thinking there's nothing that could get your kids involved in them because they're good white kids who never got a spanking. That's white privilege. They live in a dangerous area, and there's a lot of emotional charge going on, and I bet almost no one thought their loved ones would get swept up in that. She's emotionally charged too, and acted in the heat of the moment, got her son out of there, and may have saved his life for it.

Drastic times call for drastic methods sometimes, and smacking a kid who never gets smacked could be a MAJOR wake-up call that, hey, I'm doing something that pushed mama over the edge!

Those of you against her: Realistically what should she had done? If just talk to him, what if he didn't listen?

Be glad that you're not a black mother of a black son in a country where police brutality against blacks has become common enough that it can take a few days to even recognize a new name of yet another black man killed by police.

I wouldn't hesitate to punch my kid out and drag his ass home if that's what it took to get my son out of a situation that could cost his life. I feel bad for kids whose parents would rather just talk to them, even when it's a life-or-death type of situation. This isn't mild and at-home misbehavior. It's only a matter of time before those black kids are going to get shot in those riots.

[Loveday]

Honestly? I think she was probably terrified of the boy being arrested and perhaps killed himself.

This. All I could think while watching that was, if that was me, and my son had gotten involved in a riot like that, I'd be absolutely furious. But underlying that fury would be utter terror that he might have been killed, and I think that's what was propelling this mother.

[feministxtian]

Having raised 2 sons...there are times when the boys get froggy and attempt to demonstrate their ability to get physical with someone to intimidate them. My sons did this with me (the principal parent). They both decided to challenge me physically after telling them no to something. I had no problem whipping both their butts in a big way. They chose to physically challenge me and found out that it doesn't work with me. Maybe this mom felt her son had done the same thing.

Teenaged boys are interesting creatures. Sometimes they have to learn the hard way. Both my sons learned in one lesson that they DO NOT pull that kind of shit EVER.

[momof2treasures]

This kid isn't 5 years old! He's nearly an adult doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous. She saw him on tv, went to riot and dragged him out. I don't think her behavior means she is always that aggressive. It's an extreme situation.

[formergothardite]

If it had been a teenage girl and a father who hit her in the head like this woman hit her son I doubt he would have been praised as being a great parent.

[Black Aliss]

Honestly? I think she was probably terrified of the boy being arrested and perhaps killed himself.

I thought I read that she had seen him on TV throwing rocks, so she went there to bring him home. I'm not saying smacking him was the right thing to do, but I understand her fear and frustration.

[Koala]

She was attacking him long after he walked away, and she did it all with an ease that practically screams, "I've done this before"

Has anyone considered that perhaps he resorted to violence because that's all he knows?????????

[Trynn]

Yes, if the kid is almost an adult, I WOULD try talking to him first.

If that didn't work, I could probably see myself afraid enough to hit him. Riots really can be dangerous.

[Koala]

My husband said he would have walked up to him, wrapped his arms around him, and said, "Son, I've gone wrong somewhere if you're in a place like this, but I'm here to make it right now. Let's go home, because I want better for you that this."

-Cosign, because violence begets violence and the last thing that young man needs is to be hit in the face.