When I finally move my site, Casually Observing will be glorified blog category where I post short commentaries on the issues of the day. However, I do admit in this post I largely digressed from this planned model; hopefully, you will take the time to read it anyway.
Time for me to play amateur sociologist and social commentator again. You better line up your criticisms of this piece!
You have probably seen by now the infamous video of the cussing black toddler that was shot and later posted on Facebook by a known gang member in Omaha, where it was found by the Omaha Police Department, who later reposted it on their website. Not surprising, the fact that the toddler was cussed at by the three off screen adults and prodded to say vulgar things back as well as the OPD posting the video and saying that the video served as an example of the start of the "thug cycle" was met with widespread outrage.
While the OPD claimed that the point of posting the video was to ignite discussion in the community, which may or may not be completely true, others saw it as police blatantly trying to degrade black parenting. It's universally agreed that the parenting of that child is pretty abhorrent. Ultimately, Omaha's children protective services ultimately removed the toddler and his siblings from the home, as more issues surfaced and it became obvious that the children's welfare came into question.
I could sit here and join the chorus of criticism, but I would probably not offer much beyond what has already been said. But I will make a point about what was actually seen: this was less about a "thug cycle" and more about a child's environment.
Whether it is the wealthier suburbs or the poorer parts of more urbanized areas (I'm no longer going to use the term "inner city" as a metonym for "poor areas" because that is no longer truly accurate if you consider the gentrification of the past two and a half decades), a child's environment shapes their upbringing and ultimately the direction that they go in their life. It's a pattern that repeats itself, considering that the parents' environment while they were growing up shaped their direction in life, including how they raise their children. The video was a prime example of that: whatever environment they grew up in shaped their adulthood, and in their adulthood, they found it appropriate to video themselves cussing at a child and coaxing the child to cuss back, and post it on Facebook as crude, minstrel-like entertainment.
Of course, this could be an instance of spur of the moment bad judgment, but most of the time it is not: this has probably happened many, many times before and they just now decided to catch it on video. As evidenced by the removal of the toddler and the other children in the house (including reports that the toddler was actually injured by shrapnel from gunfire), it was an all around poor environment.
This is well known among child psychologists, criminologists, and sociologists, however, in the general public, analysis and learning at least about cause and effects of the social environment are eschewed in favor of quick judgment, derision, and dismissal. And that's fine -- something like that video should be met with derision; but we don't really learn and appreciate why it's wrong until we actually look at why and what led to that even happening.
Am I trying to sound the alarm? Not exactly; I think it would be criminal of me to make this into a microcosm more than I already have; yet, I will say that environments almost act like a circuit when in conjunction with social norms. Social norms, are of course, are beliefs that govern society, at least in regards to acceptable and unacceptable conduct in that said society. More often than not, suburban areas, wealthier urban areas, and those with comfortable incomes, would often emphasize stability more so than survival (at least, what they consider to be "survival"), because the latter has already been achieved. Impoverished areas, crime-ridden areas, and lower-incomes will value survival more, considering survival is not perceived to be guaranteed. As such, the environments that fuel "stability-first" and "survival-first" personal worldviews will govern social norms, which will then continue to fuel that given environment.
Of course, the obvious question is what the fuck does social norms and social environments have to do with a kid that was cussing on a cellphone video that went viral?
The answer?
As I mentioned earlier, how a child is reared is going to be determined by an interchange of social norms and social environments. If a child is being raised in a climate that the environment and norms is geared towards survival, the outside observer that values stability above all is probably going to see a parenting style that will be looked at as either less than ideal or absolutely despicable. Believe it or not, it would be looked at the same vice versa; and is part of a greater explanation of why sometimes when populations from poorer areas move into more affluent areas, the survivalist-worldview cultivated in a less stable environment will follow them.
For the children's sake that was removed from the home, I hope that it will lead to a more stable home, either by way of the family doing what's necessary to improve the environment of which these kids were raised, or by way of the state placing them somewhere that they can be stable.
But of course, I'll save that part for another post.
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