Health

The Practice of Parents Posting Child Beatings Online Becoming More Common

Published

11 years ago

February 10, 2015

by Jamaal Abdul-Alim
Special to the NNPA from the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint

Back in the days when a Black child ran afoul of his or her parents or elders, the child might be asked to go retrieve a “switch”—a thin branch from a tree or a bush—in order for the adult disciplinarian to use to beat the child as punishment for a particular infraction.

“That’s some hell of a psychology, right, to make you go get a switch to beat your own ass with, right?” the legendary comic Richard Pryor observed once in his famous 1979 “Live in Concert.” These days, the “switch” may be largely a thing of the past, but it’s been replaced by a new form of punishment that is just as unnerving—if not more—than being asked to retrieve a tree branch that one knows will be used to inflict pain on one’s own hide. Instead of asking misbehaving children to retrieve a switch, a small but growing number of Black parents are retrieving video cameras in order to record themselves whipping their children, then posting videos of the whippings on social media websites, such as Facebook, to embarrass their children to get them to discontinue any non-desirous behavior.

In the cases of boys, the parents were often upset over their sons’ involvement in gangs or similar criminal activity. In the cases of girls, the parents were typically upset over their daughters being sexually promiscuous or representing themselves as being older than they actually were. Consider, for instance, the titles of the following videos, which can be found easily online:

“Father Slaps His Son For Trying To Be In A Gang ‘My Son Will Not Be In A Gang Who Ever Has A Problem Come See Me!’”
“Mama Don’t Play: Mother Whoops Her Daughter For Being A Thot!” (A “thot” is a contemporary slang term for a promiscuous girl.)
“Father Whoops On His 13-Year-Old Daughter Dressed Like Beyonce After Going Missing For 3 Days!”
“Father Gives His Nephew An Old School Azz Whoopin On Webcam For Acting Hard On Facebook”

The practice of posting videos of child beatings online is so disquieting for some Black scholars that some declined to comment for this article. And those who did speak did so hesitantly out of concern that highlighting cases in which Black children were purposefully beaten on camera might perpetuate false notions that Black parents are more violent than parents of other ethnicities when it comes to the disciplining of their children.

That’s a valid concern when you consider the fact that these videos—often just a few minutes or less—are generating millions of views online and thus saturating large segments of American society. All of the Black scholars contacted for this article condemned the practice of combining corporal punishment and social media as counterproductive. They also urged Black parents to try to find alternative means of disciplining their children.

“I oppose the practice,” said Dorothy E. Roberts, a professor of law and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. “I think they’re humiliating their children and I don’t think it’s going to help,” Roberts said. “If anything it’s going to make the children resentful. I think that humiliating children can be as painful as the physical harm.”

Carletta N. Perry, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Saint Leo University, said putting discipline methods on social media can increase negative attention-seeking behavior. “This is the opposite of what parents want,” Perry said. “They want their children to stop whatever negative behavior they are involved in, but sharing the discipline on social media is not the way. “Embarrassment may be one of the goals to stop the behavior, but, in fact, this type of behavior is an embarrassment to the family, the culture, and society,” Perry said.

It’s also legally perilous. In several cases parents were arrested for the beatings that were captured on videos and posted online. Both Roberts and Perry suggested that the practice of putting child beatings online appears to be indicative of parental frustration. They sought to make it clear that they did not want to bash the parents. They also sought to broaden the context in which the videotaped beatings took place. “I don’t just condemn these parents,” Roberts said. “I also condemn the situations that they and their children find themselves in.”

“As a psychologist, I have worked with parents who struggle to keep their children out of dangerous situations and in line on a day-to-day basis due to outside influences,” Perry said. “Unfortunately, I have also seen parents cry out for help to the police, to the courts, and to the community but many times their cry is unheard, unanswered and they feel alone in parenting during difficult situations.”

One important thing to understand about some of the cases in which Black parents beat their children and then post videos of the beating online is that some of the children’s misbehavior was perpetrated online. You might think of it as parents going to the playground where they were misbehaving and beating their children in public—only now the “playground” is the Internet.

Girls, for instance, may have been caught flirting with boys or older men online, and so their parents meted out the punishment in the same venue. Boys, on the other hand, may have bragged about gang involvement on their Facebook pages, and so their fathers or uncles post videos online of them beating the boys and forcing them to renounce their gang ties publicly.

Roberts questioned the premise of whether the practice of parents putting child beatings online is actually confined to Black parents and urged a reporter to search for cases in which parents of other ethnicities had done the same thing. While it’s difficult to collect and assess all cases of videotaped child beatings, a recent unscientific web search turned up one apparent distinction between cases of White parents and Black parents where videos surfaced of them beating their children online.

That is, in several cases where White parents had been videotaped beating their children, the video recordings were unintentional or surreptitious. That is to say, the White parents had simply been caught beating their children on video. Black parents, on the other hand, had put the videotaped beatings online on purpose. And sometimes they defiantly expressed blatant disregard for the legal repercussions or ramifications of doing so.

For instance, a Flint, Michigan mother who—along with her mother—made a video of them beating her 11-year-old son for claiming to be a “gangster” and not doing his school work actually looked into the videocamera and defiantly and daringly said: “Please call CPS (child protective services) if you want to. Watch this ass-whooping this ‘gangster’ gonna get.” The boy is made to apologize to his mother, asked about his grades in school and made to tell the people on Facebook: “it’s not cool to be a gangster.”

Illustrating how corporal punishment has been a longstanding institution within the family, the boy’s grandmother tells the boy she would “do just like my mama …. Walk and then come back and whoop your ass some more if I feel like it, you understand?” Perry—without speaking directly to the aforementioned case—said it’s important to “speak life into your children and tell them who they are, where they come from and where they are capable of going in their bright future.”

“And, always speak with love in your heart and never in angry moments,” Perry said. “Remember to pause before you speak because your actions and your words are the lessons they will remember.”

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Activism

Rep. Kamlager-Dove Introduces Bill to Protect Women in Custody After Reports Detailing Miscarriages and Neglect

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

Published

1 week ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) on May 7, reintroduced updated legislation aimed at strengthening protections and healthcare standards for pregnant and postpartum women held in federal custody, including in immigration detention facilities.

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

The legislation builds on a bipartisan version previously passed by the House during the 117th Congress. The updated bill includes new standards for healthcare access, mental health and substance use treatment, high-risk pregnancy care, family unity protections and increased federal oversight.

“Proper pregnancy care is a human right, regardless of your immigration or incarceration status,” Kamlager-Dove said in a statement. “It’s unacceptable that there are virtually no legal safeguards for pregnant women in federal custody.”

The bill would also limit the use of restraints and restrictive housing for pregnant women, improve data collection on maternal health in custody and require additional staff training and enforcement measures.

Supporters of the measure said the legislation is intended to address long-standing concerns about maternal healthcare and safety in detention settings, particularly for Black women and low-income women who are disproportionately impacted by incarceration and health disparities.

“Pregnant women in custody should never be subjected to dangerous and inhumane treatment that threatens their health, dignity, or the well-being of their babies,” said Patrice Willoughby, chief of policy and legislative affairs for the NAACP and a longtime public policy and government affairs strategist, in a statement.

A 2021 report estimated there are about 58,000 admissions of pregnant women into U.S. jails and prisons each year. Kamlager’s statement also cited a recent investigation by NBC News and Bloomberg Law that identified allegations of severe mistreatment or medical neglect involving at least 54 pregnant women or families in county jails between 2017 and 2024.

Federal policy under the Department of Homeland Security restricts the detention of pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants except in extreme cases. However, the agency reported that ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum or nursing women between January 2025 and February 2026, including 16 recorded miscarriages during that period.

The bill is cosponsored by several House Democrats and backed by organizations including the NAACP and the Vera Institute of Justice.

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Bay Area

How Is AI Affecting California? The State Wants You to Share Your Story

The program marks the first time the state has opened the platform to all Californians. State officials said the effort is designed to give residents a direct role in discussions about how AI should be regulated and used as the technology rapidly expands across industries.

Published

1 week ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced May 7 that California is expanding its Engaged California digital democracy initiative statewide, inviting residents to help shape future state policies on artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on jobs and the economy.

“We’ve got to be clear-eyed about this moment: AI is moving fast, bringing enormous opportunity, but also real risks,” Newsom said in a statement. “Californians deserve a seat at the table as we shape what’s to come.”

The initiative will roll out in two phases. Beginning immediately, Californians can sign up online to share how AI is affecting their work and communities and provide ideas for possible government action. Later this summer, a smaller group reflecting the state’s workforce demographics will participate in live discussions focused on developing policy recommendations.

State officials said the goal is to identify areas of agreement among Californians and provide policymakers with public feedback as the state develops future AI regulations and workforce strategies.

Engaged California is modeled after digital democracy programs used in Taiwan and is intended to encourage structured public discussion rather than social media-style debate. Officials described the effort as a form of “deliberative democracy” aimed at helping residents engage directly in state decision-making.

“The more Californians are engaged in the democratic process, the better able we’ll be to confront the challenges we face together,” said Nick Maduros, California Secretary of Government Operations, in a statement.

The statewide launch builds on two earlier pilot programs. One pilot gathered public input following the Los Angeles firestorms to help guide recovery efforts, while another collected ideas from state employees about improving government operations.

California has positioned itself as a national leader in AI policy and development. Since 2023, the Newsom administration has introduced initiatives focused on responsible AI use in government, cybersecurity protections, workforce training and regulations targeting risks such as deepfakes and AI-generated robocalls.

The state has also partnered with companies in Silicon Valley — including NVIDIA, Google, Adobe, IBM and Microsoft — to expand AI education and workforce training programs across California schools and universities.

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Activism

California Launches Free Diaper Program for Newborns Statewide

The initiative, called Golden State Start, will provide 400 free diapers to every newborn delivered at participating California hospitals beginning this summer. The state is partnering with Baby2Baby, a California-based nonprofit that distributes essential items to children in need nationwide.

Published

1 week ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that California will launch a first-in-the-nation program providing free diapers to families with newborns, part of a broader effort to lower costs for parents and improve infant health outcomes.

The initiative, called Golden State Start, will provide 400 free diapers to every newborn delivered at participating California hospitals beginning this summer. The state is partnering with Baby2Baby, a California-based nonprofit that distributes essential items to children in need nationwide.

State officials said hospitals participating in the program will give families the diapers when they are discharged after birth, helping parents leave with an immediate supply of newborn essentials.

“Every baby born in California deserves a healthy start in life,” Newsom said in a statement. He said the program is part of California’s broader affordability efforts, which also include free school meals, universal preschool for four-year-olds and expanded after-school programs.

The announcement comes ahead of Mother’s Day and is tied to the administration’s broader CalRx initiative, which aims to reduce costs for essential products and medications. State officials said California is also exploring ways to lower diaper prices by challenging high costs from major brands.

The first year of the program will prioritize hospitals serving large numbers of Medi-Cal patients, with plans to expand to additional hospitals and birthing centers over time. Officials said the effort is intended to reduce financial pressure on low-income families and improve infant and maternal health by ensuring parents have access to clean diapers.

“California families deserve to feel supported during one of life’s more exciting, yet vulnerable transitions,” First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom said in a statement. She said the program would allow parents to focus on caring for their newborns instead of worrying about basic supplies.

According to Baby2Baby, one in two families in the United States struggles to afford diapers. The organization has distributed more than half a billion items to children over the past 15 years through partnerships with shelters, hospitals, foster care programs and schools.

State officials said Baby2Baby will oversee diaper purchasing, warehousing and distribution through its existing hospital and community partnerships across California.