What About Our Daughters

Today we interrupt my two-week blogcation to morn the beating of Lilianna Goodmann.:

A 14-month-old girl who police said was severely beaten by her mother's boyfriend died Friday afternoon.

Lilianna Goodmann had been at the Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent since Wednesday. She was taken off life support at 3:30 p.m. on Friday after a scan showed no brain activity, said Indianapolis police Sgt. Paul Thompson. SOURCE

This story was sent to me by WAOD reader Lorraine.This baby was beaten by her pregnant 21-year-old "Mother's" ( I use that word loosely) boyfriend who was 18-years old. What is more ri-dayum-diculous is that this child was beaten for 4 hours while other adults in the apartment did nothing. The mother was injured when she tried to intervene...when in hour 1, 2, 3 or 4??

The War on Black Women isn't about us being "Offended" by raunchy lyrics or videos. Its about a culture that devalues human life. All human life. Here we focus on the devaluation of the lives of Black women and girls- and we're unapologetic about it! We won't be silent to make folks feel better.

Whether its because someone wants to make a profit or demonstrate their superiority by beating the hell out of a defenseless baby - its devaluing another human being's life. No one apparently was living out the greatest commandment in that apartment which is to LOVE. To be willing to lay down your life for a friend... or a 1 year old baby being beaten for FOUR HOURS. Its called 9-1-1. Was dialing three digits too much to muster.

There will be no marches marking this child's passing. There will be no demands from the local Black community for justice for this child. In fact, the most vocal members of the community will be those defending the accused and at some point you can expect them to talk about his poor downtrodden life and the fact that he's an 18 year-old expectant father as mitigating circumstances.

To everyone who is saying "this is the most horrible thing I've ever heard in my life," you haven't been reading this blog very long (RIP Ebony Dorsey and Daniyah Jackson). Apparently this scenario is quite common:

Female offenders are usually biological mothers, whereas male perpetrators are usually de facto or step parents to the child victim (Alder & Polk, 2001). [in other words "mothers" of the world, your choice of partner may increase your child's likelihood of death or serious bodily injury]It has been found that de facto or stepparents kill children in their care at a much greater rate than biological parents, with many more stepchildren killed by stepfathers than by stepmothers (Daly & Wilson, 1994; Strang, 1995). The greater rate of harming by stepfathers is in part due to small children rarely residing with biological fathers and stepmothers (Daly & Wilson, 1994).There is evidence that men are most often responsible for child deaths that result from physical assault (Ewing, 1997). A characteristic of these cases is the apparent attempt to punish or discipline in response to the child's behaviour (e.g., crying), rather than an intent to kill the child (Adler & Polk, 2001).National Child Protection Clearinghouse.

I'm not enabling comments on this post so we can go through the same ritual we always go through when I tell you about another horrific under reported death of a little Black girl. If you want to do something here are some options. This list is not exhaustive:

1. Make a donation to a battered women's shelter and support mother's who make the decision to run for their lives with their children.


2. Call up MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS and ask them why they have only reprinted the AP wire blurb and haven't' explored this with a segment about the increased danger to young children by non-biological male family members ( ie Mama's boyfriend)


3. Or you can write a letter to the FCC to stop another Weapon of Mass Destruction from being unleashed on Black women everywhere with the full backing of the American Tax Payer.

Don't be the like degenerates who will watch a baby be beated for four hours and look away and do nothing. The cost of silence is too high.