Natalie Bullock Brown<\/a><\/p>\nThis thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still at her desk, to the floor, by a grown man, and then dragged and thrown\u2026well\u2026 It\u2019s more than any child should have to endure, I don\u2019t care WHAT they\u2019ve said or done, or not.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve read a lot of comments from white people defending the officer and blaming\/shaming the girl. I\u2019ve read that she got what was coming to her. She shouldn\u2019t have been disruptive. She should have asked for help if something was wrong. She should have saved herself.\u00a0Even though these types of comments are mind blowing to me, I understand that white privilege and racism make it very difficult for blackness to be treated or viewed humanely.<\/p>\n
But how about the black folks who say and think the same thing? Who, like one black father whose comments I read, feel that a black child who endures the type of violence little sis in SC did deserves even more of the same once they get home? What does that say about our mentality? Are we so wrapped up in concerns about respectability, and control, and patriarchy, and power, that we really believe our children require, even deserve violence when they don\u2019t do as we say? I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about all of the things many of us like to say when our children don\u2019t behave (because these things were said to us): \u201cI\u2019ll hurt you;\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll slap the taste out of your mouth;\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll knock you into the middle of next week;\u201d \u201cI\u2019ll snatch you up,\u201d and so forth.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the difference between the violence we threaten and often mete out because of minor infractions committed by our children that challenge our sense of control and our manhood and our sense of safety and security, and the violence that was committed against that young SC teen? If we can be outraged by how she was treated, but back slap or punch our own children, what in the world are we saying? And if you\u2019re black and not outraged by what happened in SC, if you can\u2019t see that that young girl was abused and deprived of any type of love or understanding in the moments leading up to and at the point that police officer picked her up as if he were wrestling with an animal and body slammed her down; if that doesn\u2019t offend your sense of decency and compassion and humanity, then I don\u2019t know what to say other than you just may be a part of the problem.<\/p>\n
Our children are CHILDREN. Yes, they need instruction, and direction. Yes, they need to learn respect and to acknowledge and follow authority. But they also need our unconditional love and protection, even when they\u2019re wrong. They require and deserve that. And I\u2019m telling you, if we don\u2019t wrap our arms around our babies and at LEAST offer up home as that space in their lives where they KNOW they\u2019re safe, loved and appreciated, we\u2019re setting them up for trauma. In fact, we\u2019re their oppressors just as much as anyone else who might do them harm. Violence is violence. It\u2019s either ok all the time, or not at all. We can\u2019t have it both ways.<\/p>\n
Natalie Bullock Brown<\/a> is an R3 contributor<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown This thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still at her desk, to the floor, by a grown man, and then dragged and thrown\u2026well\u2026 It\u2019s more than any child should have to endure, I don\u2019t care WHAT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[262],"tags":[263,264,718,190,257,255],"class_list":["post-4258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-natalie-bullock-brown","tag-children","tag-corporal-punishment","tag-natalie-bullock-brown","tag-police","tag-police-brutality","tag-spring-valley-high"],"yoast_head":"\n
Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown This thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown This thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-29T12:35:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-30T12:55:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/543\/2015\/10\/Brown-Leather-Belt-for-Men.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"577\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"443\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html\",\"name\":\"Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-29T12:35:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-30T12:55:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown This thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?","description":"by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown This thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?","og_description":"by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown This thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2015-10-29T12:35:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-30T12:55:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":577,"height":443,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/543\/2015\/10\/Brown-Leather-Belt-for-Men.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html","name":"Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-29T12:35:22+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-30T12:55:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown This thing that has happened to this young black girl in SC continues to upset me. That video of her being slammed, while still","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2015\/10\/sparring-the-rod-are-our-children-safe-anywhere.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sparring the Rod: Are Our Children Safe Anywhere?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Brown-Leather-Belt-for-Men\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/543\/2015\/10\/Brown-Leather-Belt-for-Men.jpg\")
<\/a>by\u00a0Natalie Bullock Brown<\/a><\/p>\n