By now, most of us have seen "Baltimore Mom" Toya Graham take matters into her own hands when she saw her son participating in Monday’s rioting in Baltimore. The video of Graham going after her 16-year-old son went viral, making her somewhat of a celebrity, others would say hero. Many have applauded Graham and her actions, while some in the media – particularly in liberal outlets like Salon.com and The Washington Post -- have condemned those who praise Graham for having "…chased down, cursed and beat her 16-year-old son in the middle of a riot."
Take for instance, this gem from an absurd piece written by Salon editor-at-large Joan Walsh, who denounces the "hideous white hypocrisy" behind the praise of Ms. Graham:
The debate over the moment Graham says she “lost it” is complex. There’s a parallel black debate going on that, as always when it comes to racial issues, is richer and more nuanced. But anyone white who’s applauding Graham’s moment of desperation, along with the white media figures who are hyping her “heroism,” is essentially justifying police brutality, and saying the only way to control black kids is to beat the shit out of them.
What Graham did to her 16 year old son wasn’t a beating, as concerned moms of every color can attest. But Walsh, perhaps because of the elite liberal circles she travels in, seems to think “white folks” eschew corporal punishment when it comes to their kids:
The hypocrisy of the white mainstream applauding Graham is sickening. Let’s be honest: many white folks are reflexive critics of the greater frequency of corporal punishment in the black community.
Well, this white Irish-Italian Catholic grew up in a household that practiced corporal punishment and I fail to see why giving a kid a spanking or a rebellious, backtalking teenager a slap across the cheek is racial in any way.
On the other hand, we shouldn’t be so shocked that Walsh would hack out such nonsense over at Salon. The Washington Post, liberal but far more rational than Salon, is a little bit different.
Stacey Patton, who is a senior enterprise reporter for the Chronicle of Higher Education, wrote a story for the Post titled, "Why is America celebrating the beating of a black child?" Patton, who is black, admitted that her “adoptive mother… publicly beat me when I was a child,” so it’s not hard to see why she would take issue with Graham’s actions.
But rather than addressing why she feels such actions are counterproductive, she launched into a leftist tirade.
Black mothers, Patton complained, only get praise when they “fulfill stereotypes of mammies, angry and thwarting resistance to a system designed to kill their children.” Patton continued by offering a history lesson of “black mother beatings” for her readers:
The beatings originated with white supremacy, a history of cultural and physical violence that devalues black life at every turn. From slavery through Jim Crow, from the school-to-prison pipeline, the innocence and protection of black children has always been a dream deferred.
To laud Ms. Graham, Patton insisted, only serves to “[distract] from a hard truth: It doesn’t matter how black children behave… they risk being killed and blamed for their own deaths because black youths are rarely viewed as innocent or worthy of protection.”
Surely Patton is aware that people of ALL races (yes, including African-American) are praising the “Baltimore Mom,” but, you see, she insist that white supremacy has brainwashed people of all races and backgrounds, including Ms. Graham, who, “Rather than embracing her son Michael, rather than hearing and seeing his pain and assuring him that she’s got his back, Graham beat and shamed him in front of the world.”
Seriously?! Would Patton have rather Ms. Graham had tried putting her son in time-out?
As infuriating as Patton and Walsh’s absurd left-wing drivel-filled arguments are, they are serving a purpose: reminding us all that it is liberals who are out of touch with reality, completely clueless about the parenting experiences of everyday Americans liberal or conservative, black or white.
