Mom sees her son participating in riots..

[one_voice]

some people are calling her mother of the year. Thoughts?

[MineralMan]

1. She may well be saving his life.

Moms are like that.

[one_voice]

4. That was my first thought...

she was probably scare shitless when she saw him and reacted out of instinct.

Kids do some silly dumb things and have no idea how dangerous some of it really is.

[ChazII]

45. I have acted on gut instinct

and agree that is what she was doing. She was getting her child of harms way.

[Gormy Cuss]

24. Yup. n/t

[Warpy]

60. Yeah, I thought so too. She wanted him off the street so he'll grow up

I think she was doing what she had to do to get his attention, embarrass him in front of his buddies, and get him off the street and out of trouble.

I will never be confronted with that horrible scenario. I do think I get part of where she's coming from. I hope she managed to get him off the street and that he has a long life in which to be angry at her for it.

[romanic]

74. +100

I agree.

[LittleBlue]

2. Mama wasn't having that

Fantastic parenting. Good for you, mom

[snooper2]

3. she is obviously unaware of the massive change that will be accomplished by her sons actions

I recommend some DU'ers close to the city have a sit down to explain and justify how important his actions are-

[SickOfTheOnePct]

46. Yeah, there are going to be massive changes

as the result of rioting, looting and burning down buildings.

[uppityperson]

5. I wonder where he learned violence is an acceptable response.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. Me too.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. LOL!

Oh, the clarity. Thanks for that.

[DonCoquixote]

10. oh I do hope you forgot the sarcasm tag

Because this mother was saving his life from being taken either by the cops, or my the rioters who, like anyone else in a stampded herd, do things unpredictably (i.e. stampeded their own people).

[RedCappedBandit]

16. I'm sure this is the first time she taught with violence. nt

[LittleBlue]

17. Doesn't that assume she hasn't tried a nonviolent approach before?

Maybe she has and her son does not get it. The mother is trying to get it through his head that he'll get locked up or worse if he participates. She's seen generation after generation of black men spend their lives behind bars and decided her son wasn't going to be one of them.

I'd react the same way. This isn't a minor mistake like scratching the car. He could lose his life or freedom if he carries on this way. Thankfully he has a mother who cares enough to track him down and save him from himself.

[tblue]

35. Amen. We mama bears do what we have to do

to protect our cubs. I don't know what this kid had been doing before his mom got hold of him. But she did what she thought was best for him because she doesn't want him to be another statistic, which we all know he could easily be. All the moms in my neighborhood were strict with their kids because there was always that fear in the black community that you have so little margin for error.

[ChazII]

47. Let's hear it for the mama bears

here at DU. Thank you, tblu for your wise words.

[malaise]

32. Then you missed the most important thing on the video

Not once did he retaliate and hit his mother - we see what we want to see.

[JI7]

41. BS response

[madaboutharry]

6. Totally understand her.

He is lucky he has a mom who cares about him. Hopefully he learned something.

[seabeyond]

8. a mother fuckin scared to death for the life of her son. that is what i saw. nt

[DonCoquixote]

11. I saw that too

and I also saw where a lot of people would have been if they were in her shoes.

[one_voice]

12. Yes....like when they run into the street...

and you give them a little swat on the butt as your heart is leaping out of your throat.

I can count on one hand the number of times I 'swatted' both of my children and not use all the fingers for both combined. Running into the street was one....I totally get her reaction....

[Bonobo]

13. Do you think that is the first time she ever hit him? Nt

[bettyellen]

15. Wow lets speculate how evil this woman might be!!

Interesting theme emerges.

[boston bean]

19. He's already been on my ass, making all kinds of ridiculous assumptions

and then attributing them to me directly as if I had wrote anything of the sort.

Ignore him, is my best advice.

He's even got a mens room post going on about it. I refuse to respond to him directly on anything.

[bettyellen]

21. Ah the room, well Steinem has speculated that

"mommy was mean to me, and bossed me around" is a common root for any who hate and try to block female empowerment.
Makes a lot of sense.

[uppityperson]

27. are you really following Bonobo around, reading his posts and telling others to ignore him, because

he is awful?

Why do you not instead simply ignore him or out him on ignore?

[boston bean]

29. Are you kidding me.? Noticing that he responds with ridiculous assumptions multiple times

in one thread to ME is my following him around?

Noticing that he has a thread going on about me in the mens room is following him around.

I think you got some things backwards here.

[uppityperson]

30. ok, then why not ignore him or out him on ignore, like you advise?

Checking out the men's group for his posts, that is what I meant by following him around

[boston bean]

36. Why are you worrying about who I have on ignore or not... or my truthtelling me being stalked

on this board.

No, I won't ignore him using the tool, but I won't ever respond to him directly either.

[uppityperson]

38. why do you assume I am worrying? I simply read your post so thought I'd ask. nt

[boston bean]

48. Then why were you asking?

[uppityperson]

49. out of curiosity. eom

[boston bean]

52. Did I satisfy your curiosity?

If so, happy to help.

[uppityperson]

53. no. eom

[boston bean]

55. Sorry to hear that.

Thought I gave pretty clear responses.

[LanternWaste]

33. Bless his little heart, pat him on the head and move on.

He doesn't even seem to maintain the pretense of relevance anymore... simply throwing crap from a tree and hoping it hits someone.

Bless his little heart, pat him on the head and move on.

[Bonobo]

63. On your ass = demonstrating your support for parental abuse

If it is from mother to son.

Ignore it all you want, but it is a valid issue I bring up.

[lumberjack_jeff]

72. Then let's celebrate what you did say.

[DonCoquixote]

22. the irony is

as we are called to understand the people doing the rioting, we demonize a mother for how she reacted in the riot. There are a lot of armchair generals out there.

[seabeyond]

28. consistent with your outrage i used "our" with deaths of black men and boys, talking collectively.

you seem to be missing the point of the hostility toward black men and boy's lives, using them to attack me for whatever reason.

have you moved off baines, and now focused on me? this is like the third sighting of you coming directly to me, or insulting me. come on bonobo, you know that is a fail and why so often you end up running back to di talking about us meanie feminsits.

[Bonobo]

64. How personal!

Care to address the question of why a mother hitting a son is ok but not a father? Care to consider that one and how multiplied by a million it just may be a real issue in society?

[Scootaloo]

56. Same here

Didn't stop me from cringing greatly.

[7wo7rees]

14. If only more parents followed her lead . . .

maybe the National Guard would not be on the streets today.

Not Mom of the year but my vote is, good job!

[GusBob]

18. What was he doing? Throwing rocks? my old man whipped me for doing same

I wouldn't want to cross her that's for sure

[demmiblue]

20. I find it abusive.

Those are some very hard hits to the face/head. I also find it really strange that assault and battery is acceptable when it it directed at a child, but entirely unacceptable when it is directed at adults/strangers.

I bet she would have had the same result if she left out the abuse.

[DonCoquixote]

23. you cannot assume that

As much as we hate to admit it, this was a war zone, and that mother may have felt the need to do whatever it took to get her child out of danger. If the kid walked off and got himself killed, would it have been noble?

[demmiblue]

31. I can assume that, as you can assume that the child could have walked off and got himself killed.

It is still abuse.

[DonCoquixote]

37. and if he walked off and got killed

that would make everything ok, because she at least did not slap the kid..

[Telcontar]

40. And that is the reason little entitled bastards are burning down CVS stores

A few more spankings are what's needed, else we see more of the same.

[canoeist52]

54. Just wanted you to know that you're not alone in your thinking.

I can't believe the hero worship of a child abuser on a liberal site. Condoning violence at an anti-violence rally solves nothing.

[Renew Deal]

76. That's nothing compared to what the cops would do

[logosoco]

25. Hard for me to say here...

I would need to know more. Is he over 18? Has he been in trouble or is he risking his future (like college grants)? Was he planning something specific or just going with the crowd? Is he her only son? Did he have older brothers who got in trouble?

My son, at the age of 22 signed up for the Peace Corps. There is some danger in that, but he is also doing a good job that is positive. Now, if my son, even over 18, would have signed up for the bush/cheny war, I would probably be doing just like this mom here!

For the most part, I would have to say that I can understand the anger of these young people and can't exactly criticize what they are doing. There is some danger, but it looks to me like there is also a lot of danger for black men just walking down the street.

I'd rather see this young man get whipped by his mom than a cop. But it'd be nice if he could just live his life with out fear of either.

[one_voice]

26. Good thoughts!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

34. Mother of the year? Maybe not. Mother with a son who'll live another day? Yes.

[uppityperson]

44. that I agree with. Thank you. nt

[Gormy Cuss]

50. And we now know what she was thinking

In her interview with CBS she said he was her only son and didn't want him to end up as another Freddie Gray.

[840high]

68. Thank you.

[jwirr]

39. I thought the look on his face as he turns to look at her in the last part shows a loving son who is

very frustrated by his mother at the moment. She is a good mother.

[JI7]

42. it's the look of many kids who get caught

And know they are wrong.

If she was an abusive type she would have left him out there and not given a shit about any of this.

But instead she went to get him and bring him home.

[jwirr]

43. I agree.

[uponit7771]

51. If the kid was white it would've been called abuse, the kid is black OK to beat the crap out of him

[RandySF]

58. My kid is white..

And I have never spanked him. But if I saw him out there like that, I'd beat the shit out of him. It could have ended far worse for the kid on video. Could have been arrested and beaten by police. Could have been hit by a stray rock or bullet. But that worst thing that happened was he got smacked upside the head and lost his "street red". Pretty good outcome given the circumstances.

[Bonobo]

65. You nailed half of it.

The other half is the gender double standard.

But yes, there is racism involved in this "kinder" interpretation. Something related to the false expectation that violence is endemic to black culture I suspect.

[Yavin4]

70. Exactly.

That's what also pisses me off.

[Bonobo]

57. Elephant in room: what if that was a man?

Would you call it love or abuse?

Would you think it was habitual domestic violence?

Would you think the father a criminal abuser?

[alcibiades_mystery]

59. *That's* the elephant in the room?

Get help, homie.

[Bonobo]

62. It is an elephant, not the elephant.

You're right that in the context of this situation, it is not an important question.

But what is potentially important is the hypocritical attitude toward acceptable violence if it is mother on child as opposed to father on child.

[Buzz Clik]

75. It isn't. More dogwhistle bullshit.

No doubt, this poster feels that the most oppressed people in America are white Christian males.

[craigmatic]

61. no not mother of the year. if it were any other situation they'd call this child abuse.

[Stellar]

66. No matter what people say...she is the mother I remember as a child.

She will beat your butt if you got out of hand, until the government decided they would arrest people like her. But I say hurrah!


eta: love your signature!

[AnnieBW]

67. That kid is gonna WISH that he'd been arrested

when Mama gets through with him!

[Yavin4]

69. Bullshit! If she did her job as a parent, her kid would not be rioting in the first place.

Fuck that bullshit praise. She's a terrible parent. She has to resort to violence to control her son. Gee, I wonder how he will deal with conflict in the future?

[NYC_SKP]

71. Actually, unless we have lived in her and in his shoes, we are not equipped to pass judgment.

I see it differently, I think she's frightened and feeling like she needs to make a lesson sink in, not that this is a good way to do that.

But that might be how her life's path has taught her to react.

Let's not be too hasty.

[RandySF]

73. I think she was frightened more than angry.

There her kid was, in a situation where he could have been arrested and beaten by police or hit with by a stray rock or bullet.

[RobinA]

77. A Scared

frustrated mother who sees violence as the only resource she has. There's nothing good about this situation. System fail.