The stories about domestic abuse in the NFL were bad enough. The video of Ray Rice dragging his unconscious then-fiance from an elevator provided the visual that enraged us. The second video of him landing the blow that knocked her into the raid and knocked her out somehow changed everything in the discussion of the culture of violence surrounding that already violent sport.
As abhorrent as someone as big, strong and powerful as a professional football player hitting a woman who is most certainly stronger and weaker than he, the news that one of these brutes brutalized his child and defended his actions by saying “it’s discipline” and “my father did it to me” is just plain sickening.
I am not a perfect parent, but I am, without a doubt, not a child abuser.
I never imagined being in a position where the world is judging my parenting skills or calling me a child abuser because of the discipline I administered to my son.
I want everyone to understand how sorry I feel about the hurt I have brought to my child.
Those statements were made by pro football player Adrian Peterson after the news broke that he had whipped his four-year old son with a “switch,” “recklessly or by criminal negligence cause bodily injury”
The “whooping” – as Peterson put it when interviewed by police – occurred in Spring, Texas, in May. Peterson’s son had pushed another one of Peterson’s children off of a motorbike video game. As punishment, Peterson grabbed a tree branch – which he consistently referred to as a “switch” – removed the leaves and struck the child repeatedly.
So, if Peterson is doing it with a switch, it’s a “whooping” not a “whipping”?
CBS’ TV affiliate in Houston reported on the text exchange between Peterson and his child’s mother after the incident:
Peterson then texted the boy’s mother, saying that one wound in particular would make her “mad at me about his leg. I got kinda good wit the tail end of the switch.”
Peterson also allegedly said via text message to the child’s mother that he “felt bad after the fact when I notice the switch was wrapping around hitting I (sic) thigh” and also acknowledged the injury to the child’s scrotum in a text message, saying, “Got him in nuts once I noticed. But I felt so bad, n I’m all tearing that butt up when needed! I start putting them in timeout. N save the whooping for needed memories!”
In further text messages, Peterson allegedly said, “Never do I go overboard! But all my kids will know, hey daddy has the biggie heart but don’t play no games when it comes to acting right.”
His son seemed to disagree.
According to police reports, the child, however, had a slightly different story, telling authorities that “Daddy Peterson hit me on my face.” The child also expressed worry that Peterson would punch him in the face if the child reported the incident to authorities. He also said that he had been hit by a belt and that “there are a lot of belts in Daddy’s closet.” He added that Peterson put leaves in his mouth when he was being hit with the switch while his pants were down. The child told his mother that Peterson “likes belts and switches” and “has a whooping room.”
As if that wasn’t enough…. yesterday, just hours after the Minnesota Vikings announced that they’ll start this monster next Sunday, the other shoe dropped: Peterson injured another of his sons last year. This child (from a different mother) was also four years old at the time.
Earlier Monday, a top law enforcement official confirmed knowledge of the allegations by the mother of Peterson’s son back in June 2013. Photos, which the KHOU I-Team obtained from a source, show a head wound to a boy identified as Peterson’s four-year old son. It is a wound that weeks later, left a scar above his right eye.
Sources claim it allegedly happened while the boy, who lives out-of-state, was visiting Peterson at his gated home in The Woodlands.
The source provided a string of text messages allegedly exchanged between the Peterson and the boy’s mother. They contain numerous grammatical errors:
Mother : “What happened to his head?
Peterson: “Hit his head on the Carseat”.
Mother “How does this happen, he got a whoopin in the car”
Peterson: “Yep”
Mother: “Why?’
Peterson: “I felt so bad. But he did it his self.”
The text messages go on to show Peterson saying he was disciplining his son for cussing to a sibling. Also in the text messages, the mother asks “What did you hit him with?”
Peterson never answers directly but writes “be still n (and) take ya (your) whopping, he would have saved the scare (scar). “He’s aight (all right).”
The exchange continued:
Mother: “I’m real sensitive about my baby and him being hit.”
Peterson: “You tripping if you want him, come get him. I’m not about to be getting questioned down like you (you’re) CPS.”
Sources confirm to the I-Team that the mother did file a report with Child Protective Services, but CPS declined to discuss the its investigation.
Some Neanderthal on Twitter took me to task for saying Peterson beat his kids. He says there’s a difference between using a switch and beating. Right.. I’ll say using a switch – A WHIP – is probably worse. And if any group of people should be appalled at the idea of using a whip on another human being, it should be African-Americans. Instead, I’m hearing many in that community defending the barbaric practice as tradition, cuz their daddies did it to them. SHAME ON ALL OF THEM!
On the show today, I was joined by the always-brilliant investigative journalist Lee Fang who has a new must-read piece up at The Nation: “Who’s Paying the Pro-War Pundits?”
As I always say, always consider the source!
And if it’s Tuesday, it’s GottaLaff, now my partner in prose here at Radio or Not.. Although we spent most of our time today commiserating about the horrible child abuse that’s somehow being excused, we touched on a few other topics as well.. but you’ll have to listen to find out what they are!
Finally, I mentioned the heartbreaking story in today’s New York Times about the indifferent and inexcusable way the families of James Foley, Steven Sotloff and the two other Americans being held captive by ISIS were treated by our government. I shared some of the excerpts, but wanted to make sure I posted the link. It’s sad, but something we should all read and understand.
I’ll be back tomorrow.. Susie Madrak joins me on the third anniversary of the start of Occupy Wall Street. Talk to you then, Radio or Not!
