Shar-key-sha. Before I even glanced at my co-workers smart phone I knew that whatever Sharkeisha was doing or about to do wasn't anything good. As a matter of fact I knew that it was going to be pretty awful.....and it was. After a quick rewind a saw the video of two young girls standing face to face. When suddenly one of then threw a vicious sucker punch nailing the other and causing her knees to buckle, followed by more kicks and punches once she was down. While a third girl, presumably the cell phone "videographer", yells the now infamous name.....Sharkiesha!!!! As it turns out Sharkeisha attacked her now former friend Sharmichael over an unidentified boy who was not at the scene.
I must admit, the fact that thousands of Internet voyurs actually seem to be amused by this violent video is disturbing to say the least. But it is typical in a society where spontaneous consumption is at our finger tips, and most media has become entertainment. The ability to peep into the lives of others has given us the ability to objectify those that we are watching. It has a desensitizing effect. They become no more than characters so far removed from our lives that in the minds of some of us they are void of humanity. The viewer doesn't see one teenage girl punching and kicking another teenage girl. They see a spectacle, or an event.
As of this writing there is a rumor that Sharkeisha Tiesha Thompson has been arrested for the assault. While her victim Sharmichael Manuel has only recently spoken out about this embarrassing viral video.
This was a dispicable act. With equal amounts of savagery and brutality and there is no reason why this should have happened. The fact that Sharkeisha is African-American has sparked a renewed rehatching of what has now become an age old debate about why there is violence of epic proportions in the Black community. I've written blogs about gun violence in Chicago, the "knock out" game, and the problem with young black men. But there comes a time when we must stop discussing, pontificating, and over analyzing the causes of the problem and focus on implementing solution oriented goals. It is no secret that 75% of African-American households are headed by a sole matriarch, or single mother.
This may or may not be the reason for Sharkeisha's behavior, and there is a lot to be said for personal responsibility. However, 75% indicates that she does have a least one parent at home, and while I agree with the notion that absentee father's have played an integral role in the near demise of the Black family, a single mother cannot and should not use the lack of a co-parent as an excuse for their child's behavior. It has almost become common place to attribute violent adolescent behavior to the lack of a father figure.
I often wonder if this reason is used to assuage the guilt of some mothers, or shift the focus from others who are not skilled parents.
There are some mothers who are forced to play a dual role, and rise to the occasion. Then there are others who birthed babies and left child rearing in the hands of fate, putting in minimal effort for a maximum requirement.
No, I have no idea how hard it is to be a single mother. But I do know how easy it is to make excuses. If there were no excuses perhaps the Sharkeisha's of the world would be conversationalist's instead of urban warriors without the slightest clue as to how to be a young LADY.
PR
LOL Preston and we did talk about childrens names at work craziness man
ReplyDeleteWe sure did! lol
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