Adrian Peterson Still Uses Corporal Punishment

It is tough to be a football fan this year. I normally cheer for the Dallas Cowboys but this year I just cannot muster the enthusiasm to root for Dak, Zeke and the rest of the Cowboys. Jerry Jones’ ridiculous embrace of Trump and his war on NFL players kneeling during the anthem started my turn against the NFL. Knowing what we now know about concussions, it is also hard to watch the game without thinking of the damage to the players. So, it is difficult to get up for any NFL game even the Redskins and Cowboys on Thanksgiving.

The Redskins did not win the game but running back Adrian Peterson had a good day. I watched him barrel through the Cowboys’ line and could not help but wonder how this huge, strong, man could think beating his little child was appropriate discipline. According to his latest interview in BleacherReport, Adrian Peterson is still using corporate punishment to discipline his child.

In 2013, Adrian Peterson’s two-year-old son was beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend. My heart went out to Adrian, this child’s mother, and their families as they suffered in a horrible tragedy that no parent should have to go through. Even after this tragedy, Adrian Peterson did not stop using corporal punishment as discipline for his other little boy. In the interview, Peterson claimed he used a switch on his child in the beating that put him in the spotlight and cost him a year of his career and his sponsors. This 6’1, 220-pound man hit his child so severely the child had cuts and bruises all over his back, legs, ankles, even his private area.

After blow back from pretty much everywhere, the NFL suspended Peterson for a year in 2014. He later returned to the Vikings and the Redskins picked him up this season. Unfortunately, he has learned nothing. Four years after the beating that should have ended his career, Peterson claims “I had to discipline my son and spank him the other day with a belt…There’s different ways I discipline my kids. I didn’t let that change me.” Just think about that. Losing one child to violence did not change him. Hitting his other child so badly that it left welts and lacerations did not change him. “Spankings are necessary” he claims. Because that’s how he was raised.

I will never understand why parents in the Black community use corporal punishment as discipline. N.E.V.E.R. And, I do not accept that the legacy of slavery is to blame. Yes, our ancestors were beaten when they made mistakes and/or at the whims of the slave master. Yes, our ancestors wanted to keep their children safe so they thought beating them would make them obey and that would keep them alive. But we do not have to continue this legacy of whippings and switches and belts. We can do better and we need to.

As a parent, I remember the snickers from some of the Black parents when I said I would never spank my child that I instead put her in time out. The claims that time out is for White kids infuriated me. The implication was that Black children are so bad that other forms of discipline did not work on them. They have to be beaten into submission even for the smallest infractions.

And look, I understand the dilemma as a Black parent. The Black children are looked down upon when they make mistakes as if it is some indication that they will grow up to be a thug or criminal. White children are not seen in a negative light when they make mistakes as children. But Black parents cannot live our lives in fear of what others think of our children. Black parents need to ensure that our children know making mistakes are a part of life. That their childhood mistakes do not determine future behavior.

I can only image how Peterson’s son felt getting beaten with a switch for whatever he did as a four-year-old; how much of his self-esteem was chipped away just by the overreaction. Now imagine how he would have felt had his father simply hugged his little boy close while explaining what he did wrong. Black children have a right to their childhood. And Black parents have a responsibility to make sure they are treated as children.

Further in the interview, Adrian Peterson claimed corporal punishment made him the man he was today. And on that, I agree with him. Violence begets violence. It is a vicious cycle that Peterson is unwilling to break. But I hope other parents end this practice before another child grows up to be just like him.

source: https://medium.com/we-know-what-we-know/adrian-peterson-still-uses-corporal-punishment-3c11b3c7df3e