Anonymous wrote:If you call that a beating you've never been beat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you here are so 1% suburban white that you squeak. This was the mother of a black teen in an urban riot. She sees her son with a black hood covering his face and about to throw a rock at police officers in riot gear and armed. She tells him to stop and gets between him and the police and he tries to go around her and raises the rock. After Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.and Freddie Gray all she can see is if that rock leaves his hand the next time she sees him will be in the morgue . Yes she snaps and. She uses any means at her disposal to stop that rock from leaving his hand. Including slapping some sense into him. I'm sorry if Ms white Bethesda thinks that the voice of doom is sufficient but you have never beenin a situation where your child's next action could cause her to be killed by a frightened.police officer in a racially charged situation and your suggestion is ludicrous.

"Voice of doom" poster here. White but not suburban and definitely live in a neighborhood with a lot of folks like Ms. Graham. I'm not condemning her. I'm condemning the people who are so convinced that she's never hit her kid for the wrong reasons and in the wrong time. I hope she hasn't. I hope this was a time where she was so scared that she reacted in an unusually violent way. But I don't know why so many white folks are so convinced that she must be mother of the year -- the implication from some commentators being that if more black mothers hit their black boys that the world would be safer.

I'm the "squeaky white" PP above. I understand your concern, but I think you're entirely missing the point. One of the major contributors to urban teen violence, and specifically to black urban teen violence, is lack of parental or adult attention. Most of the teens who get in trouble are children of inattentive parents for one reason or another (unfortunately, some of them have to work long hours or multiple jobs to make ends meet). What everyone is applauding is the fact that she saw her teen and she stepped in to stop him from making a violent mistake. If more black urban parents spent more time with or supervising their teens, there would be a decrease in black urban teen crime. There is a reason why programs like Big Brothers and Sisters, Midnight Basketball League, etc had a huge impact on decreasing urban teen crime. The adult interaction and attention made a huge difference in the lives of teens and kept many of them from making mistakes that they might live to regret.

Anonymous wrote:It was very trashy that she was screaming the F word at him.

Also, six kids and no husband. That's Mother of the Year material, sure.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you here are so 1% suburban white that you squeak. This was the mother of a black teen in an urban riot. She sees her son with a black hood covering his face and about to throw a rock at police officers in riot gear and armed. She tells him to stop and gets between him and the police and he tries to go around her and raises the rock. After Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.and Freddie Gray all she can see is if that rock leaves his hand the next time she sees him will be in the morgue . Yes she snaps and. She uses any means at her disposal to stop that rock from leaving his hand. Including slapping some sense into him. I'm sorry if Ms white Bethesda thinks that the voice of doom is sufficient but you have never beenin a situation where your child's next action could cause her to be killed by a frightened.police officer in a racially charged situation and your suggestion is ludicrous.

"Voice of doom" poster here. White but not suburban and definitely live in a neighborhood with a lot of folks like Ms. Graham. I'm not condemning her. I'm condemning the people who are so convinced that she's never hit her kid for the wrong reasons and in the wrong time. I hope she hasn't. I hope this was a time where she was so scared that she reacted in an unusually violent way. But I don't know why so many white folks are so convinced that she must be mother of the year -- the implication from some commentators being that if more black mothers hit their black boys that the world would be safer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was very trashy that she was screaming the F word at him.

Also, six kids and no husband. That's Mother of the Year material, sure.

I am highly educated and use the F bomb with my son! You do you, I'll do me. He knows that when I drop it, I am not playing with him. I am raising a very happy, immature 16 AA son in America. By whatever means necessary to get him through his teen years alive. And yes, I am married with a law degree.

Anonymous wrote:It was very trashy that she was screaming the F word at him.

Also, six kids and no husband. That's Mother of the Year material, sure.

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Anonymous wrote:I am Asian. I fully support how this mom was parenting her son. Sometimes tough love is required and she gave that tough love to him. She did this out of concern for his safety and morality.

Is it mostly White people who do not get this?

So Italians are not white?

My entire family supported her.

Swarthy Mediterranean types only became 'white' in the last 30-40 years. Especially most Italians that came to the US as they were from the south and not from the north (piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, etc).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No every kid is scared of the voice of doom. I'd say in critical circumstances a few slaps can be forgiven, and those of you who engage in sanctimonious preaching are just assholes who somehow think your rants validate your perfect parenting. STFU.

Actually I'm not condemning that mom since I don't know enough about her but I am wondering why the people who are praising her don't wonder whether she hits her kid regularly. If so, that's not being a good mom.

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Anonymous wrote:For all of you questioning what she did let's put one of your children in a situation where they are not only doing something they shouldn't, but they are in harms way. Let's get your adrenaline up and see how in control you are.

As best I recall she was hitting him with an open hand. A slap hurts but I doubt any of those blows would do significant harm. And no, not mentally either.

I so would not have had to hit my kid to make her leave. I learned long ago how to use the "voice of doom" to scare the piss out of her in those few instances where it was necessary.

That's what we'd all like to think, just like we'd all like to think our kids wouldn't fall victim to the mob mentality and always do the right thing.

No, she doesn't always do the right thing. That's why I use the voice of doom when needed. And based on my long experience with her, I think it's highly unlikely I would need to hit her. I mean, the point raised was how I would stay in control with my kid in harm's way and my adrenaline up and I think it's entirely possible that I would act like an asshole but still not likely I would hit her.

#yourkidsarenotteensyet

Ha ha - she's 21!

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Anonymous wrote:I think she did what she had to do in the moment to protect her son. I do not think of it as violence. I imagine she was terrifird and wsnted to knock sense into her son. Should she have hugged it out, put him in time out, counted one two three...

Yeah, what what she going to do? "Come over here and let's sit and talk." No. She wanted to get him out of there. And she did. This was not a "beating." I'm not so sure she needed to smack him in the head but hey, it got him out of there. His actions unleashed mama bear.. I wish we could have seen his face when he saw her. "OH F##K... MOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??"

She slapped him upside the head. If that's not "smacking the sense into someone" I don't know what is. I'm a white lady. I don't spank. But if my kid were in the middle of a riot, doing something idiotic that might get him hurt or killed, I would totally slaps some sense into him. He's not a toddler that she can just pick up and take with her kicking and screaming. She had to get him to come along. She did. You think you could do better? Hah.

I'm the PP above, didn't mean to respond as if I were disagreeing with you. I totally agree with you. Just was saying "and another thing" basically.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am Asian. I fully support how this mom was parenting her son. Sometimes tough love is required and she gave that tough love to him. She did this out of concern for his safety and morality.

Is it mostly White people who do not get this?

So Italians are not white?

My entire family supported her.

Anonymous wrote:Some of you here are so 1% suburban white that you squeak. This was the mother of a black teen in an urban riot. She sees her son with a black hood covering his face and about to throw a rock at police officers in riot gear and armed. She tells him to stop and gets between him and the police and he tries to go around her and raises the rock. After Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.and Freddie Gray all she can see is if that rock leaves his hand the next time she sees him will be in the morgue . Yes she snaps and. She uses any means at her disposal to stop that rock from leaving his hand. Including slapping some sense into him. I'm sorry if Ms white Bethesda thinks that the voice of doom is sufficient but you have never beenin a situation where your child's next action could cause her to be killed by a frightened.police officer in a racially charged situation and your suggestion is ludicrous.