Last week, a power outage in our area left us with no cable television.  It was a little early for my children’s bedtime so I popped in a DVD —  Challenge of the Super Friends featuring The Legion of Doom.  The LoD is sinister bunch of villains who constantly do evil against the good will of mankind.  Their plans always go awry and the LoD is always defeated by the Super Friends.  I got to thinking about the various stories I have seen in the news about children getting hurt or killed by the boyfriends or new husbands of the mothers.  There is a certain category of women around whom children are doomed.  Most children are not safe around them due to poor parenting or lack thereof.  So it is appropriate that I call these women the Legion of Doom.   This in no way absolves the men who kill children of blame or guilt.  But women endanger their children by allowing these DBR types around them in the first place.

This issue deals with women of all races though we may see more black mothers in the media.  The Legion of Doom does not discriminate.  I recently saw a white mother of two on Dr. Phil who let her new husband mistreat her son.  She realized that it was a bad situation, but admitted she did not want to be lonely so she allowed her son to be mistreated.   The world heard about NFL player Adrian Peterson’s 2 year-old son being beaten to death by the boyfriend of the toddler’s mother.  The alleged perpetrator, Joseph Robert Patterson had a history of domestic violence against women and children but the mother still allowed him to “watch” her baby.  A young Latino boy here in Southern California finally succumbed to injuries after months of torture and abuse inflicted by his mother’s boyfriend.  Again, women of all races many times put men before their children — especially if the woman feels she will lose the man.  This Cinderella Effect is considered by some to be precisely what happens in these relationships.  The stepparent or boyfriend abuses or sometimes or kills the stepchild or girlfriend’s child.  The Cinderella Effect is a controversial label, but it seems fitting for some of these cases.  I witnessed a man manhandling a little girl whose mother simply chose to literally look the other way.   Unless there is some kind of intense intervention and supervision, that little girl is doomed.  Some of these mothers do have mental illness but why are not being supervised by family mental illness is truly the case?  Why are they having babies?  Where is the support from the fathers of these offspring?  Where are the bio fathers?

There are some other LoD members who themselves inflict the abuse.  Sometimes this is done with physical acts or neglect.  Either way, the children are doomed.  Remember little Shaniya Davis murder from 2009?  On October 19, 2013 her mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis was sentenced to 17 years after pleading guilty for her role in Shaniya’s murder.  Davis admitted to allowing convicted killer Mario Andrette McNeill to take Shaniya to settle a $200.00 debt.  Her baby was worth only $200.00.  McNeill was sentenced to death in May 2013.

Legion of Doom membership is also open to relatives and friends of the mother.  Most heartbreaking is a case from Detroit where Darnell Cheatham is alleged to have abducted little 5 year-old Mariha Smith from her home.  He took Mariha to an abandoned home in the area, raped her, crushed her skull then set her on fire.  That was almost too much to read at one time.  The police arrested Cheatham and the girl’s aunt Quanita when this first happened 2 years ago, but did not have enough evidence to hold them. But new evidence leading them to Cheatham came to light and now Cheatham will stand trial.  Mariha’s mother Konesha Smith was passed out as she had been to a party earlier which means she was unable to supervise or protect her children.  In this situation, these children were doomed.   You have to know who you are bringing into your home around your minor children.

Another story from 2009 has been circulating online lately.  It is another LoD story.  This time the mother Melodia Dunn and Aunt Marilyn Wilson left two toddlers home alone.  A fire broke out and LaDareon Dunn, 3, and his brother Catereon Dunn, 2 perished in the fire.  Melodia Dunn eventually plead guilty to child neglect and reckless homicide.  She was sentenced to 14 years probation provided she go to a mental facility and get ongoing mental health counseling.  Dunn stopped taking her medications, she stopped going to therapy, had another baby and went on the run but was captured was the last update I found.  The video is extremely hard to watch.

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