Black Parents, Put Down Massa's Whip...You Are Suffering From Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome!

In the film Roots, Rebellious slave Kunta Kinte is beating by the White overseer until he accepts his new name of Toby. This is the same "conditioning" that African American parents use when discipline their children. We need to be cognitive of the origins of our actions.

An ugly Facebook debate ensued when one of my friends posted a Huffington Post Article on Greg Hunt . Hunt is an Ohio father that whipped his daughters so severly that he caused welts and bruises on their bodies. He beat them with a cord after he found that they made a “twerkin”  (suggestive booty shaking) video. Different African American friends of mine on Facebook praised his actions and stated, " they are going to learn today". Later, they were angered that the police arrested Hunt and charged him with child endangerment and corporal punishment after welts and bruises were found on his daughters' bodies, by their mother.

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I hate NIGGERS! I see niggers as anyone who uses violence instead of their minds to resolve problems. I find that beating children is a NIGGER reaction, a good parent would talked to the children and explained why the "Twerkin" videos were harmful. A good parents fostered opportunities to improve their child's self -esteem so they would not make "twerkin" videos.

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I tried vehemently to explain the connection between slavery and the abuse that we inflict upon our children and ourselves. No one listened, instead they defended Hunt's actions with:

My parents beat me and I turned out better for it! - Black woman

The Bible Says ' spoil the rod and spare the child.' - Black man

I would not tolerance disrespect for any child or my child. I would whip them too!- Black woman, who identified herself as a teacher

The police are fascist. How can America say that Black men are not good fathers and when a Black man properly disciplines his children, he is arrested?- Black man

White people don't "whip" their kids and look at them. - Black woman

I must first start by saying this....Religion has been used as a form of mind control since the beginning of time. People fail to realize that the Bible is full of parables that require you to think beyond the surface level. People that look at the surface will say, " the Bible condones beating my child with a belt or a cord" instead of disseminating the true meaning. They want a quick fix!

All of the comments listed above show me one thing- African Americans are suffering from P.T.S.S. ( post traumatic slave syndrome). The African Americans that commented on the status seemed to revert to old and familiar ideas of abuse. The language that they used " the bible says" and " my parent beat me so" show their willingness to hold on to cycles of abuse!

As the P.T.S.S. theory states these ideologies are adaptive survival behaviors or coping mechanisms, that exist as a consequence of multigenerational oppression of Africans and their descendants resulting from centuries of chattel slavery. Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome includes extreme violence against self, property and others, including members of one's own family. I want to take it a step further and say that abuse is a learned behavior. The Black woman that said that her parents beat her, chooses to beat her children because she has learned that violence is the only way to achieve desired results. Her children will beat their children, who will beat their children and the vicious cycle of abuse will continue until someone stops and asks the right question, " why am I doing this"?

The man that beat his daughters for a "twerkin" video was no different than the White overseer that beat Kunta Kentei. It is all a form of classical conditioning. I wonder if African Americans question the origins of their actions! BECAUSE "beatings" and " whippings" are something that we have learned from our ancestors, who learned it from the White overseers.

So much of our existence is still tied to slavery! The solution is to abolish our old ways of doing things. We need to talk out more of our issues. We need to teach our children, a new way. We need to shower them with love, understanding and education!