Incarcerations in Black and White: The Subjugation of Black America by Christi M. Griffin

Author:Christi M. Griffin [Griffin, Christi M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780982119013
Google: qsvmnQEACAAJ
Amazon: 0982119011
Barnesnoble: 0982119011
Publisher: C Griffin Publishing Incorporated
Published: 2013-08-15T05:00:00+00:00

Despite our advancement in science and technology, this society is so quick to punish for even the most minor offenses that often it fails to explore possibilities. Centuries after escaping the oppressive rule of other countries, the United States has not evolved beyond primitive rule. “Do as I say, or else.” While children are taught that practice makes perfect and repetition is encouraged as a means of correcting mistakes in sports, music or the arts, jail is often the response when a Black child errs in his way. Of course, there are over zealous parents who introduce punishment in those arenas as well, castigating their less than perfect child for failing to perform with perfection, but for the most part, mature adults patiently and intelligently guide a child to practice, practice, practice. A mistake is turned to precision not by inflicting penance, but by praising that which is good and correcting that which is not. While adults are encouraged to “find the good and praise it” as a means of redirecting the misguided behavior of middle class children, those of less fortunate means are not only impugned but detained.

Finding the good With a prison system that has wreaked a massive human toll, it is critically important to seek a healthy balance to achieving a society that respects not only the rights but the freedoms of others. Beginning in the 1950s, modern psychologists examined the abuse exacted in classrooms, detention centers, mental facilities and group homes and took the removal of punishment beyond a reasonable measure.166 Educators and psychologists alike agree that “finding the good and praising it” is a far more effective means of achieving changed behavior than inflicting pain, though pain is often necessary when inept parenting creates a more resistant child. Recently several concerned parents made headlines when their methods of constraining their teen’s behavior crossed the proverbial line; a father shot up his daughter’s laptop and posted it on YouTube after discovering her YouTube tirade about his parenting. Two other parents chose to create T-shirts that gave public notice of their teenager’s inclinations to steal or use drugs. Lacking more effective tools, each parent thought humiliation would result in needed change. Misguided in the eyes of many, the decisions of these concerned parents do no more than reflect the pervasive attitude toward error, castigate.

Based on the public responses to the aforementioned incidents the jury seemed to be split on the appropriateness of public humiliation to bring about positive change in a child’s behavior. But as extreme as the actions of these parents may have been in the eyes of some, they at least exhibited concern and made an effort to discipline their child. Many do not. The converse of these parents who engaged in non-conventional methods of control are those who do nothing. Those who allow their children to rule the roost and force them to continue to act out until some boundary is set. Unfortunately for many, those boundaries do not come until prison bars are used.

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