Sunday
Aug302009
Walker, the father: 'heart broken' hearing Dunbar Village assault details
Sunday, August 30, 2009 at 8:00AM The Blogmother Every day, Nathan Walker was in Courtoom 11H of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, at the trial of his son of the same name, who was convicted Friday on 11 of 14 counts of burglary, assault, rape and kidnapping in the infamous Dunbar Village sexual attack on a mother and her son two years ago.
In an interview the next day, he described trying hard through the years “to be in son’s life,” while fighting his own drug addiction with the help of Christian-based rehabilitation centers such as the one which which he has been affiliated for years.
Asked his speculation of the mindset of the up to 10, then-teenaged boys whom the mother said brutally tormented her and her child:
“I really can’t, I really can’t answer that question I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out the mindset that they had. I’m still puzzled about any of the kids the mindset that they had, especially my own child. It’s a puzzle to me when it comes down to that.”
With regard to the victims of the assault:
“A lot of it was the first time me really actually hearing in detail, in court, what went on. And I could hardly hold back tears back. And I really, I was telling some friends. I really do feel for what happened to the mother and the child. Nobody should endure such things.
“Even that, what was going through the kids' heads? I can’t imagine what was in the kids’ heads. Nobody should inflict that kind abuse on someone.
“So I really sympathize with what happened to them. My eyes were …my heart was broken. For the first time my heart was truly broken.”
He described his pain at not being in the courtroom as the verdict was read, after the jury’s late-breaking, end-of-day verdict was announced, when a friend who, in such an event was supposed to called him back from the library in the City Hall complex across the street, failed to do so.
He also ended as he began, by stating why he had been in the courtroom most of the day each day:
“I love my son.”
The day after the trial: still boarded units in Dunbar Village on Saturday.C.B. Hanif for WAOD:
Every day, Nathan Walker was in Courtoom 11H of the Palm Beach County Courthouse, at the trial of his son of the same name, who was convicted Friday on 11 of 14 counts of burglary, assault, rape and kidnapping in the infamous Dunbar Village brutality on a mother and her son two years ago.
In a telephone interview the next day, he described trying hard through the years “to be in my son’s life,” while fighting his own drug addiction with the help of Christian-based rehabilitation centers such as the one which which he has been affiliated for years.
Asked his speculation on the mindset of the up to 10, then-teenaged boys whom the mother said viciously tormented her and her child:
“I really can’t. I really can’t answer that question. I don’t know. I really don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out the mindset that they had. I’m still puzzled about any of the kids the mindset that they had, especially my own child. It’s a puzzle to me when it comes down to that.”
With regard to the victims of the assault:
“A lot of it was the first time me really actually hearing in detail, in court, what went on. And I could hardly hold back tears back. And I really, I was telling some friends, I really do feel for what happened to the mother and the child. Nobody should endure such things.
“Even that, what was going through the kids' heads? I can’t imagine what was in the kids’ heads. Nobody should inflict that kind abuse on someone.
“So I really sympathize with what happened to them. My eyes were …my heart was broken. For the first time, my heart was truly broken.”
He described his pain at not being in the courtroom as the verdict was read, after the jury’s late-breaking, end-of-day arrival of it was announced, because a friend who in such an event was supposed to call him back from the library in the City Hall complex across the street, failed to do so.
He ended as he began, by stating why he had been present in Courtroom 11H most of the day, on each of the trial's seven eight days:
“I love my son.”
(More of the interview to come.)
On a blisteringly hot Saturday, the view south...
...and to the north end of Dunbar Village's main thoroughfare.
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Reader Comments (10)
"Trying to be there for your child" sounds like a rehash of the conversations we had regarding women raising children alone. At least this person expressed some legit compassion and not the excuses the other "parent" did.
Yes, ain't that something. We are having to give him points for expressing SOME compassion because Mama Walker couldn't find it in her. So he left his son to be raised by what appeared to be an amoral cyborg.
Thanks for this; I have been really wondering where are the fathers of each of the teen terrorists. Just as I suspected, this father had a substance abuse problem. And like you just said, it's interesting the father had more compassion than Walker's mother, who herself is a rape survivor, twice over.
My friends and I have been talking about DV for most of this weekend. One thing we agreed on; even if the various organizations, institutions, government officials, etc., don't do their job of providing much needed services for youth and their families, at the very least, a parent(s) can give their children curfews. Why the $%^& is a 14 yr old, a 15 yr old doing out at 10:30 pm or so at night? You give your children a curfew and you don't start it when they are 14 yr old, but when they are 3 yr old. "You better have your #$% on the front porch by 8 pm or when the lights come on outside, whichever is soonest . . . so if something happens somewhere, say 10:30 pm and the police come and try to accuse you, I can say no, my child was in the house by 8 pm like I always tell her (or him) and I was looking right at her (or him) at 7:55 pm." "Constitutional rights . . . in my house? NONE!"
:) :)
I was thinking along these lines. I mean my mother barely left me breathing room, much less free to roam time.
But, even here in Mississippi in small cities, it's not unusual to see small groups of children roaming about...sometimes the youngest will be in diapers, and the oldest (the caregiver) will be around 9 or 10.
Sometimes they're even running errands for parents...there are little stores (with higher prices than real stores within walking distance) with grown a%& men hanging around outside of them. I'm sorry...this aggravates me sooooo much.
My father used to try to send me to the store for cigarettes when it was still legal...but my mother banned that nonsense.
I also didn't realize how much "prostituting" was done for utilities and groceries until I met some older "church" women who would talk about their youth. There was no pimp...just men who knew for a few dollars for groceries they had a sex partner. All of these women had children (grown now, of course).
But, you have to wonder. How does that affect your opinion of women when you're a child and you've figured out all of these friends of Momma's aren't real friends.
"At least this person expressed some legit compassion and not the excuses the other “parent” did."
Yeah, sure, it's always easy for some irresponsible guys to express "legit compassion" as a way to look like the good guys, when really he should've been grilled as to just how much his drug addiction and off-and-on absence as a father made him just as guilty of this crime as his son.
Like I said in a previous post, the circumstances surrounding the lives of the perpetrators of this crime made it almost a given that they would act out in this way, or in a similar way in any other situation.
The lack of any semblance of civilization in these kids (or their parents)lives is what led to this crime. A mother raped numerous times as a child with no recourse and who thus came to accept it as normal and passed this mentality on to her kids, a partially absentee father addicted to crack or some other mind-altering substance who claims to have "tried to be there" but obviously wasn't "there" enough to raise a decent son. Train wreck just waiting to happen. And that's exactly what did.
Until we recognize that we have allowed the loss of civilization (and yes we Black people are ALL guilty of accepting too many low standards in many areas over time) in too many of our communities, we can keep locking up the individual perpetrators ofcrimes, but the results will remain the same over and over again.
I can't even come close to hating these criminals right now. I see absolutely no point in it. Yes, they need to pay the ultimate price for their barbarism, but the problem is so much bigger than Nathan Walker and his gang of thugs. So much bigger. All the jail cells and electric chairs in the world won't end these problems until we make some serious changes in our overall community.
@gem2001; "he left his son to be raised by what appeared to be an amoral cyborg."
so if the mother is an amoral cyborg, what does that make him, being that he left his son with her and was too strung out to care? i think they both carry equal weight in blame for how walker turned out. Just because one parent knows how to blow smoke up the media's arse and hide his dysfunction to some degree, and the others dysfunction is openly on display for all to see, doesn't make him any better than the mother.
There is a entire generation of kids who have fathers and mothers like Walker who have spent their entire childhood on drugs. That is the world that many kids are living in.
The crack epidemic has been the single most devasting event in the black community (at least during my lifetime) I didn't live through the civil rights era.
You don't know how this happened? Really? Seriously?
Well Mr. Walker, you have reaped what you have sown. It was YOUR responsbility to teach your namesake right from wrong.
YOU made the CHOICE to f- Ruby. YOU made the CHOICE to pick up that pipe. YOU made the CHOICE to walk away.
Take a look in the mirror. This one's on you buddy.
What number was Nathan Jr. out of the 13?
What the hell does "tried to be in [his] son's life" mean exactly?
Is he genuinely sympathetic to the victim or tormented by the fact that he LEFT his son in the projects to rot?
The other thing is that Nathan Walker was 16 when this happened; I was 16 once too. Even then I knew the difference between right and wrong. Nathan Jr., even with all of the dysfunction that was his upbringing is still responsible for his actions. His mother and father can both be crackheads, but that doesn't change the fact that their son made a DECISION to rape and attempt to kill a woman and her son.
These people... from the stellar mother, to the father of the century deserve no understanding or sympathy from anyone. I'm glad to see their wretched son heading to prison.
First of all, thanks for calling me out and forcing me to clarify.
Both parents are equally culpable for being selfish self absorbed locusts.
My initial comment was basically issued in the spirit of "well at least this idiot knows what NOT to say."
Unlike mother Lawson who basically said "problem? what problem?"
Again, I gave him credit for "saying" the right thing even he never did the right thing. For that I accept your chiding. His words are worthless.
Its so sad that I'm happy if anyone associated with this madness exhibits normal human reactions. He's the closest I've seen. But alas that is the soft bigotry of Low expectations.