Did you hear that the ‘saint’ Creflo Dollar has been arrested for simple battery and child cruelty for allegedly punching, choking and hitting his daughter with a shoe? That’s pretty bad, right? But you know what’s worse? Black folks defending his actions as a “spare the rod, spoil the child” horse-crap defense. Madame Noire reported on the incident, and some of the comments speak to the dysfunction that is so much a part of the black community:

“The choking and punching are only alleged at this point. If it’s proven or he admits to choking and punching her, that would definitely be excessive. I’m not a fan of how Dr. Dollar handles his church finances and I have no religious beliefs to speak of, but that doesn’t sway my observation. Like Lakisha said, the man is still a father. As a person who grew up in a household with a willful sister who constantly tested my own father, I’m gonna withhold any blame on Creflo until I can hear more facts…lol :)”

another one said,

“Man of God or just a regular lay person, if we have children, we have issues from time to time. The situation seems to have gotten out of hand and the police was called. Disrespect me and I whoop your behind, nuff said.”

It’s time black folks stop using arse whopping as the the Alpha and Omega of discipline. We beat our kids more than any other race and have the worst results. Despite all the beatings, we have a high percentage of black boys locked up in prison. In spite of Ma-Dea making her grand kids go fetch a green switch for their own whippings, we still have the highest out-wedlock rates, highest unemployment, high black-on-black crime, high drop out rate…need I go on?

Why are African Americans so invested in giving their children beatings, when they clearly DON’T WORK? This is a hunch, but I think many parents perpetuate beating children because they want a sanctioned excuse for taking out their frustrations on their kids. Heck; life’s hard. Who has time for a parenting class when I can just whomp on my child’s hindquarters? Whippings are a legacy of slavery, just like colorism. Are we so infantile that we as a people can’t adopt some varying parenting skills? Is “time out” for white people?

I have four kids, and I won’t sit up here and say I haven’t spanked my kids. I have. But we don’t reach for the belt at every minor infraction. We use a few tactics, and spanking is a last resort and saved for the really bad stuff. And after 8 years old, our kids don’t get spanked AT ALL, and we certainly don’t brag to our friends and family about how I beat the tar out of them, like I often hear some black parents do.

I’m glad this happened to be honest. Not that this incident will sway the Creflo zombies, who might go choke their kids, throw shoes at them, and call the police in protest.