Belt Therapy: Do Whites And Blacks View Spankings Differently?

Teaching aid or child abuse?

To be clear, there are no absolutes (on either side) but I am wondering if generally there are cultural differences that make us look at certain situations differently?

When I first posted this video of a black man disciplining a young boy by giving him a jacked up haircut, spanking him with a belt, and making him do boot camp style excercise, I asked the question, "Is this child abuse?"  From reading comments on this and other blogs, posts on  Facebook and Twitter and talking with my black friends it seems that most can relate to the video as a deterent to misbehaviour. As one commenter said, "There is a fierce battle going on to save black boys." To be clear, not all black children were/are  raised in households where spankings  or "whippings" were options, but from my experience and that talking to my thirty-something year old friends (and especailly the older generations) spankings (usually called "beatings") where definetly on the menu.  Many can recount our encounters with the belt -  or switch if you were from down South. I have rarely heard of a black person recounting tales of being put in "time out" but I remember the horrified expressions on my white friends faces when us black folks would recount (and oddly somewhat fondly) our experiences with Mr. Belt and Mr. Switch. (It wasn't until years later that I wondered if they realized my slave ancestors received whippings at the hands of overseers, so who really started the spanking trend?)



I recall my aunts and uncles on my father's side recounting (again fondly) receiving their "whoppers with cheese" at my grandfather's hand.  The more severe the whipping, the more condiments, a "Whopper with cheese" was bad but a "Whopper with cheese and extra pickles" was to be avoided at all costs.

With that in mind, it seemed that the overal perception (at least initially) from the black community was to applaud this man, Devery BrooX (still unclear if  he is the father,) on taking a stand and trying to prevent this young boy from ending up another jailhouse statistic, another lost soul, another cautionary tale.

Now the video has gone viral, and has gone from outside the confines and safety of the "community of color" to the wider and more diverse audience. The applause has turned into outrage and the man, Devery BrooX, a poet, vocalist, and mentor has now been labeled a heartless child abuser.

Which assessment is correct? Is he all those things? Is this a cultural misunderstanding? Maybe it is more generational than cultural?

 I don't know. But I do think there is more here than meets the eye and I think we would be niave not to think that our culutural and familial experiences don't in some way play a part in what we regard as appropriate discipline and what falls in under the heading of "child abuse."

Has the pendulum swung too far or not far enough? Please weigh in and if possible give some background on your personal history. Personally I think there is more to this story (to any story) than soundbites.

Including the spanking video shot by Mr. BrooX, a recent CNN report, and video of a Mr. BrooX spoken word event.

Warning: The spanking video has coarse language.

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