Richard O. Jones

Most of the violent adults in and out of prison were severely beaten as children, according the U.S. Department of Justice. Being misled by Old Testament Scriptures, many religious cults beat children nearly to death. Even in modern times, some Black parents considered beatings as a means and method of exorcising the devil out of their children. I personally remember my mother's angry words, "I'm going to beat the devil out of you!"

Black children of the baby boom generation regularly received so-called ‘good whippings.' The verb ‘whipping' comes from the noun ‘whip.' A whip is a long leather cord typically used on animals and of course on slaves. Nearly all my friends and all of my cousins suffered the same form of discipline - whippings. Although a bit mischievous, most of us went to church on Sunday where our parents were further encouraged by the scriptures from Proverbs, believed to be predominately written by King Solomon, that spoke of raising children harshly, such as:

Proverbs 13:24 - He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Proverbs 23:14 -Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

Black parents left church feeling justified in beating their children nearly to death. And Black children left church afraid to go home. However the preacher seldom dwelled on the scripture spoken by Jesus Christ in the New Testament that seemed to rebuke or reverse some of Solomon's earlier emotionally and physically abusive teachings. Certain scriptures spoken by Jesus never seemed to resonate such as: Mark 9:42 - And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. St. Matthew 18: 10 - Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.

Statistically 80% of African Americans are Christians in the United States compared to 70% of Whites and 40% Latinos. Yet, according to a 2003 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, African-American children had the highest rates of victimization at 19.9 per 1,000 children while White children and Hispanic children had rates of approximately 10.7 and 10.4 per 1,000 children.

Although King Solomon was very wise in many things, he was not as wise as Jesus. The fact that he had 700 wives and 300 concubines represents the likelihood of too many children to properly train them with patience. No wonder he beat them. African Americans, and nearly everyone else, protest the laws that prohibit the physical whipping of children. However I say thank God for child abuse laws.

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