Written by Love Isn’t Enough guest contributor Lisa; originally published at Sociological Images
Leontine G. sent in a troubling example of the framing of children’s deviance, and their own complicity in this framing. While we usually try to keep text down to a minimum on SocImages, this one needs to be handled with care. So please forgive the unusual length of this post.
Leontine included two links: one to a Today show story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police, and one to a CNN story about a 7-year-old boy who took his family’s car on a joyride and got caught by police. Different 7-year-olds. One white, one black.
The white boy, Preston, is interviewed with his family on the set of the Today show. Knowing his kid is safe, his Dad describes the event as “funny” and tells the audience that if this could happen to a “cotton candy all-American kid like Preston,” then “it could happen to anybody.”
When the host, Meredith Vieira, asks Preston why hid from the police, he says, “cause I wanted to, and she says, “I don’t blame you actually.” With Preston not too forthcoming, his Mom steps in to say that he told her that “he just wanted to know what it felt like to drive a car.” When Vieira asks him why he fled from the police, he replies with a shrug. Vieira fills in the answer, “You wanted to get home?”
Vieira then comments on how they all then went to church. The punishment? Grounded for four days without TV or video games. Vieira asks the child, “Do you think that’s fair?” He says yes. And she continues, “Do you now understand what you did?” He nods and agrees. “And that maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing?” He nods and agrees. “You gonna get behind the wheel of a car again?” He says no. Then she teases him about trying out model toy cars.
They conclude that this incident just goes to show that “Any little kid, you never know what can happen…” and closes “I’ll be seeing you at church buddy boy!”
The video:
All in all, exactly what you’d expect from the Today show: a heartwarming, human interest story with a happy ending. The child is framed as a fundamentally good kid who was curious and perhaps a bit impetuous. When he has no answers for Vieira’s questions, she slots in innocent ones. And the mild punishment is seen as incidental to the more important idea that he learned something.
This story contrasts dramatically to the CNN story about Latarian Milton, a black 7-year-old who took his family’s car on a joy ride. I’ll put the video first, but be forewarned, it’s disturbing not only because of the different frame placed on the boys actions, but because of the boy’s embracing of the spoiled identity:
With an absolutely polar introduction of “Not your typical 7-year-old,” this story is filmed on the street. Whereas the Today show screened the chase footage in real time, this one is sped up, making it seem even more extreme.
The interviewer, off-camera, asks Latarian why he took the car. He replied: “I wanted to do it ’cause it’s fun, it’s fun to do bad things.” The interviewer asks further, “Did you know that you could perhaps kill somebody?” And he replies: “Yes, but i wanted to do hoodrat stuff with my friends.”
The interviewer asks him what punishment he should receive and Latarian offers a punishment very similar to Preston’s: “Just a little bit… no video games for a whole weekend.” The reporter then explains that the police plan to go forward with charges of grand theft against him. While he’s “too young to go into any type of juvenile facility,” he says, “police say they do want to get him into the system, so that they can get him some type of help.”
The implication here, of course, is that this child is not innocent or impetuous like Preston, he’s a pre-criminal who needs “some type of help.” The sooner they get Latarian into “the (prison?) system,” the better. No cotton candy kid this one.
Unfortunately, Latarian says all the right things to make the narrative fit. He says he likes to do “bad” things, calls himself a “hoodrat,” and seems unremorseful, even defiant, for at least part of the interview (he looks a bit sheepish in the end when he finds out his grandmother is going to have to pay for the damage he did to other cars).
One way to interpret this is to say that Latarian IS a pre-criminal. That he DOES need to get into the system because he’s clearly a bad kid. Someone inclined to believe that black people were, in fact, more prone to criminal behavior could watch these two videos and feel confirmed in their view.
But there is good evidence that people, beginning as children, internalize the stereotypes that others have of them. As Ann Ferguson shows in her book, Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity, black children, especially boys, are stereotyped as pre-criminals; not adorably naughty, like white boys, but dangerously bad from the beginning. And studies with children have shown that they often internalize this idea, as in the famous doll experiment in which both black and white children were more likely than not to identify the black doll as bad (see this similar demonstration of white preference on CNN and a discussion of the original doll experiment at ABC). So I think this terribly sad story of Latarian is showing us how children learn to think of themselves as deviant and bad from the society around them. Latarian, remember, is seven, just like Preston. They’re both children, but they are being treated very differently, as these programs illustrate, and it is already starting to sink in.
Latarian’s view is very sad. But, in my opinion, it is equally sad that Preston’s behavior is being so easily dismissed. He is not a cotton candy all-American kid. Four days without TV and video games for stealing a car, putting people’s life in danger, fleeing from police doesn’t fit the crime. Rather than being labeled as pre-criminal, both of these children need more structure and supervision from the adults in their lives.
This is a great albeit sad example of white privilege. This type of non-equity in the treatment of white and black boys is the cornerstone of systemic racism. The inconsistencies in the justice system extend to school infractions (black teens are punished at a higher rate for the same infraction), drug sentencing laws, and an overall higher rate of black men being stopped by the police.
Not to rattle on but, before the civil rights bill was passed two-thirds of inmates were white and one-third black. After the civil rights movement a shift occurred and the numbers reversed. I think this behavior should be called out as it is-systemic racism that has caused far reaching damage among the black community.
I don’t know how I feel about these two stories. On one hand, I understand the obvious differences in how the boys are being treated by the media – one story told by the nuclear family, sitting in the brightly lit studio, while the other is filmed in a parking lot, on the street, sped up simulation of the joy ride. But on the other hand, there are real differences in the two stories that *could* account for the differences in the treatment of the two boys. Judging only from the stories as they are presented, Latarian caused a lot more damage than did Preston. Preston was alone; Latarian had the audience of another 7-year-old (where was his supervision?) that smoked cigarrettes. The fact that Preston ran, to me, shows that he had some sense of fear and guilt for what he’d done; Latarian showed none of that – he knew he was wrong as soon as he got into the car and found the entire experience to be “fun to do bad things.” Preston’s parents took him to church afterwards, while I’m sure that after the cops left and the camera turned off, Latarian’s grandmother whooped the fool out of that child.
While I understand the negative connotations of getting a child “into the system” so they can get services, (and I may eat my words for saying this) the juvenile system in many places is the only place a lot of kids actually do get services. Whether it should be that way or not is a normative question of what should be, but what IT IS is that the juvenile system provides kids with counseling and other services they would not get if they were not in the system. Latarian needs those services. He needs a social worker that monitors his family life. Preston appears to have a more stable family life, with parents who are now more aware and on top of his behavior. I didn’t see that in Latarian’s situation.
I understand the want to say that Latarian’s embracing of a “bad” identity is due to race or systematic, institutional racism but this is just one story – making that leap is not justified based on one story. Perhaps systemic racism plays A role, but it doesn’t seem to me to be the predominant role here. I don’t deny that systematic racism is playing in other ways here – of course in residential segregation, etc, etc. I believe that race is a central organizing principle in our country, in our world.
I just think the situations presented here are too different to warrant a comparison that concludes the major difference is the direct effect of systematic racism regarding how black boys are assumed criminal.
I think the videos show why Black children don’t have the luxury of breaking the law and being seen as adorable but made a mistake. And one of the boys acted like he has no remorse. That is a bigger problem in his future as lack of remorse can indicate deeper issues than just a child making a mistake.
Sidenote: Which meaning did you mean? “Deviating or departing from social norms” or ” Rebellious, insubordinate” ?
The earlier is the definition of “deviance” and the latter is the definition of “defiance”.
LaToya is echoing my thoughts. While I completely agree that the narrative suggested here is prevalent, I think these two examples have some confounding variables. Latarian’s family structure (mom having lost custody) suggests that there is a lot more going on here than media bias.
Both Thomas and LaToya make some valid points.
Latarian’s lack of remorse bothers me a little bit. The fact that he labels himself as a “hoodrat” at 7 years old is troubling.
Why does this little boy view himself this way? As Thomas said, there could be more trouble in the future if something isn’t done about it.
I sincerely hope not, but it is possible. Many Black children do internalize very damaging stereotypes. I’ve witnessed it firsthand.
I hope, for Latarian’s sake, that he stays out of trouble in the future. I hope he doesn’t become a statistic. I hope he grows into a mature, responsible young man.
Everything else aside, the fact that Latarian was promised a sound thrashing is a sure-fire prescription for conditioning him into more defiant acts. Preston’s family, at least on camera, seemed to display less of that tragic hostility that adult car-givers often use as a solution to asoicial displays. Corporal punishment is a cancer that is going to destroy modern man more effectively than any other element in our pathetic society.