NOT to think this woman should be "mom of the year"?

[ender]

Washington Post link
She was upset and angry and lost control, perhaps understandable under the circumstances. But no reason to repeatedly beat her 16 yr old son round the head. It looked like he would have gone home with her without all that.

Better she beat 'him around the head' than he got shot by the police when he joined the riot, surely?

Well, she indeed could have strongly admonished him, and told him how disappointed she was. That would have worked very well indeed...

She did what she had to do and he will thank her for this later.

So when she spotted her teenage son engaging in a little light rioting she should have sat him down to talk about his feelings, right?

Don't judge her, at least not until you've stood in her place ie on the edge of a riot in a country where the police shoot/kill African American men with impunity. We can't begin to imagine how terrifying that must be for a mother.

If he'd have gone there for a teddy bear's picnic then her actions would have been unreasonable.

He didn't though, and she acted how most mothers would if they knew their child had placed themselves in a potentially life threatening situation. I would, anyway.

I'm not going to judge her for slapping him round the head. She was trying to save him from much worse. I reckon I'd have done exactly the same.

All right, IABU, Mom of the Year it is then.

I wouldn't call her mum of the year, but she did what she felt she had to, to stop him being the next victim. I won't judge her until I have been enough in that situation. Which I hope I never am.

And I don't think he would have gone home.

Go be a black mum of a teen boy in Baltimore then see how you feel.

I don't agree with her smacking him around the head - but can understand why she did it.
Like others said - It is better than what could have happened to him.

It's just not the same in the US as it is here. Black men are shot without any provocation at all on the street every single day in the US, and a young black male with his face covered during a riot? Any mother would have done the same.

We live in a safe country. Non-white Americans do not.

Read this:

"Just last month, in the 31 days of March, police in the United States killed more people than the UK did in the entire 20th century. In fact, it was twice as many; police in the UK only killed 52 people during that 100 year period."
Think Progress report [[http://thefreethoughtproject.com/american-cops-killed-people-month-march-uk-entire-20th-century/#O4dVjc2ylETG8ifi.99]]

Link fail, sorry.

I am a White English Mum and I would have done the same. Skin colour is not what this is about.

I highly doubt he would've come home if she had just gone up to him and told him to do so. At least she took action for her young son rather than having to bury him at 16 which is the reality for many black families in America

Mind you, enders, you might have a point in one sense. Many white suburban Americans watch stories about black deaths on the news and think "Oh dear, that's awful. Thank goodness we don't live in a city/are black!" and then turn away. But when it gets more in your face, like Ferguson or Baltimore, there is a risk that hardcore cultural reform might have to happen, which white Americans just don't want to face.

Taking a story like this one, and turning into a "Mom of the Year" byline neutralises the horror of what's going on, and reduces it from something deadly serious and important to a "human interest" story, so that people say "Oh, God love her. What a great mom she is!" instead of "WAIT. Why are thousands of (mostly black) men dead here? What's going on?"

Take a look here - can you imagine this going on in the UK? Or anywhere else?

Jeez that link is appalling.

I'd hope that a Mom of the Year would have brought her son up to have stayed away from the riot

But desperate times call for desperate measures and once he was there I reckon I too would have done anything necessary to get him home

Altinkum - yes, gun control is a big part of it, but black people only make up 13.7% of the population in the US, but make up 31% of those fatally shot by the police, and 39% of those not attacking while killed.

Also, look at the weapons the police have in the US - it's just so disproportionate to the "threat".

I thought she was bloody brilliant. I don't condone thumping your children but I think if my child was rioting, throwing things at police etc I'd be livid.

Velvet rose she forced him home to stop the police from murdering him

Mom/Mum of the Year awards are a daft idea, so in that respect YANBU. Otoh, if any of mine had behaved that way I would have probably done the same.

I don't agree with her whacking him around the head but she definitely did the right thing.