“This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.” “Stop crying before I give you something to cry about” These are common phases used in young adult literature to describe the parenting of people of color. Why do authors portray people of color as tending to perpetuate the cycle of child abuse through corporal punishment in young adult literature? Why do modern authors highlight the physical abuse of children of color when in “real life” the school shooters that young adults have to face, until now, have not been black? White mass shooters make up 65% while Black mass shooters make up only 19%. The reasons why families of color tend to use corporal punishment, why corporal punishment in black communities is so rooted in history, and the effects of corporal punishment are all linked to slavery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The goal of parents of color should be to protect, love, and care for their children. However, because of the dangers society poses to people of color, parents tend to go to extreme measures to ensure their children's protection. Corporal punishment is deeply rooted in black tradition due to the legitimate fear for their child's safety from society. Black parents tend to use corporal punishment to prevent their children from “turning bad” (turning to gangs, drugs, pregnancy, etc.). This type of harsh parenting is illustrated in the story The Man Who Was Almost a Man by Richard Wright when the main character, Dave, his father asks him about his job and when Dave does not automatically answer, his father asks him s 'he can't hear and why. he doesn't listen. Dave then responds by saying that he plows more than anyone there, and instead of encouraging him, his father responds by saying that he should keep his mind on what he's doing. Dave responds by saying “Yessuh” as if talking to a master. In his conversation with his father, we can see that Dave's father is strict when it comes to his performance in society. Dave, knowing what would happen if he misbehaved, complies. We see this again in this story when Dave is caught killing his boss Mule but refuses to tell the truth due to the consequences that will ensue with his father. That night Dave lay in bed and thought about the beatings he was going to receive and remembered the past beatings and his back shivered. Dave, very angry, said that he was only working and was being treated like a beaten mule. Here we can see that Dave's father uses corporal punishment to resolve his bad actions. However, instead of rehabilitating him to become more obedient, he becomes more irritated and angry. In black culture, we tend to use corporal punishment as a tactic to deter our children off the streets, out of gangs, out of prisons, and out of sight of the police. The reason corporal punishment continued was to prepare black children to deal with the prejudice they would face day in and day out that could potentially lead to their death. If a child took a wrong step in those days, they risked being killed. However, this leads to negative outcomes, such as lack of academic success, resentment, anger, and placement inhost family. In a study by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, it is stated that African American children constitute 38% of the population in foster care while they only represent 16% of the population general infantile. These percentages are dangerous because black children represent only a small percentage of the general population, while black children represent a high percentage of the foster care population. The foster care system is known as a conduit to juvenile detention for children of color. So, while most black children are placed in foster care systems; they are more likely to end up as juveniles. Another reason parents of color tend to use corporal punishment to correct a child's wrongdoing is because that's how they themselves were raised. Corporal punishment has been so normalized in the black community that if a parent does not use corporal punishment, they are seen as weak, unable to control their children, and setting them up for failure. Now why is this so deeply ingrained in our culture? In order to understand why corporal punishment is so deeply ingrained in culture, we must understand the historical roots of corporal punishment. In an American Psychological Association article, Stacey Patton explains that the practice of corporal punishment was adopted by African Americans from white slave masters. Europeans used corporal punishment on their children for over a thousand years before coming to the New World and colonizing Africa. Patton continues to explain that before colonization, West African societies did not use corporal punishment, but rather held their children in higher esteem. In West African societies, children were believed to be reincarnated gods or ancestors from the afterlife. Hitting a child was not allowed because they thought it would strike fear into their souls. However, due to colonization, slavery and genocidal violence, parenting skills have become more difficult. Another reason why this practice was adopted was that the captives taken were young (between 15 and 20 years old). Because they were so young and faced with the violent repression of West African culture, their practices and culture (such as child-rearing practices, languages, and religion) disappeared. Patton explains that after the emancipation of slaves in 1865, the structure of racial customs and ritual whippings became the new type of Southern labor system. These labor systems depended on black children working, so whites encouraged corporal punishment to ensure they were served for the same reason as when they were free slaves. In Dr. Willaim H. Gier and Dr. Prince M. Cobbs' book, Black Rage, they remind us that black people learned to use corporal punishment on their children from slavery. The book explains that corporal punishment has psychological roots in slavery. Although this is known, black parents tend to continue to use corporal punishment because it was once done to them. Because it was done to them in the past, they may believe it is right to continue this form of discipline, but they are blind to seeing that they are perpetuating the cycle of oppression and abuse carried out by the masters. white slaves. This affects the child physically, but it also affects them mentally for years to come. In the novel Push by Sapphire, the main character,.