Shaquan Duley confessed to smothering her two children and driving them into a river
For African Americans an act as simple as watching the news can be either therapeutic, or depressing. There have been numerous times where I have been amongst friends and or family and a news ticker would display an unfortunate update about a senseless act of violence. The Black community is no stranger to this concept however there undoubtedly exist an aura of confidence that Black people don’t commit particular crimes. This perception has been destroyed within the last few weeks following a workplace shooting spree committed by Black man, Omar Thorton, and the unconscionable murders of two young Black boys by their own mother, Shaquan Duley.
Although Thorton’s apalling actions have reinforced the stereotype of uncontrollable angry Black man, Duley’s isolated behaviors differs in severity. The national attention brought upon this story, has unconsciously served as an “I told you so” to those who have adamantly blamed Black women for the faults of the community. Please don’t interpret this as an attempt to justify the inexcusable, but this incident should serve as an example of what may happen if we the Black community continue to ignore our issues regarding the instability of the Black family.
How could I insinuate one heinous act is reflective of our entire demographic? Perhaps it is because I observe Shaquan Duleys on a daily basis, impoverished single moms who “just want to be free”. While these mothers may not participating in acts of child endangerment or homicide, each day I see single mothers emotionally abandon their children, seeking refuge.
I cannot deny that there are preexisting systems in place that encourage and aid in the development of single Black mothers. Nonetheless we must find a way to rectify community issues through the fostering of progressive interpersonal relationships between Black women and men, who eventually become the mothers and fathers.
I am adamant about this for obvious reasons, however the emphasis arises from in multiple variations of Duley’s accounts, there has been no account for the father For African Americans an act as simple as watching the news can be either therapeutic, or depressing.
Omar Thornton: Connecticut truck driver who killed eight of his co-workers
There have been numerous times where I have been amongst friends and or family and a news ticker would display an unfortunate update about a senseless act of violence. The Black community is no stranger to this concept however there undoubtedly exist an aura of confidence that Black people don’t commit particular crimes. This perception has been destroyed within the last few weeks following a workplace shooting spree committed by Omar Thorton, Black man and the unconscionable murders of two young Black boys by their own mother, Shaquan Duley.
My emphasis on dual parental involvement is not based upon the belief that matriarchies are unstable, but more so the result of a logical observation that the coupling of income and resources create more opportunities for our children.
Ja'van T. Duley and Devean C. Duley
My discovery of the absence of the twin boys fathers in this particular case force me to emphasize the importance of reevaluating these relationships. Am I blaming the absence of the father on the brutal murder of these children? No. But I am saying that the financial hardship, accompanied by the internalization of failure, feelings of loneliness, and inadequate mental health clinics are inarguably perfect ingredients for the recipe we now call Shaquan Duley.
Duley’s individual condemnation must create deeper conversations about our collective community failures. If not, we can add this tragic incident to the growing list of Black women’s shortcomings along with high obesity rates, least likely to paricipate in marriage, highest new HIV cases… need I go on?
Article by Khristina Brown
Hailing from the Great city of Columbus, Ohio Ms. Brown is a recent graduate of the University of Cincinnati with dual degrees in Political Science / African American Studies . When she's not focused on the Black activism or spoken word you can catch her and other free thinking cool kids at AtypicalSole.com or at OtrFresh.com check us out!
Khristina has written 13 article(s) for us.
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It drives me crazy to hear the way some parents talk to their children and neglect to give them the much needed support they deserve. Society does enough to tear us down as individuals but somewhere a foundation needs to be established in your life that reassures confidence into our children. Regardless rather it be mother or father that has custody there still needs to be communication from both parties both the men and women of our society have lowered their standards of life as a whole and neglected to practice the ability of maintaining functional communication upon all parties.
Ditto
I just don't see how drowning your children has anything to do with the lack of the father being around OR it being a "Black issue"
When white women drown their kids it's due to mental illness..when black women do it its cause the father aint around or some other BS, PEOPLE DO STUFF LIKE THAT TO KIDS CAUSE THEY ARE NOT IN THEIR RIGHT MIND…Race and culture has NOTHING to do with it
Sad about those kids tho
co-sign not everything is Black pathology some people are just fucked up
cosign that cosign
I share this POV. Rather than admit this woman had mental health issues or or was just a selfish ass mother like that Susan Smith back in the day, they'd rather say "daddy's not home".
It was a little tough to find the bottom-line in this piece as the grammar was a little problematic for my eyes and the overuse of adjectives (I taught English, so my bad for style critiquing, no attack intended). But what I will say is this is an isolated case that shouldn't be used as a damnation or examination of single black mothers. Thousands of women are raising their kid(s) under pressure and the unlikeliest of circumstances. They deal with it. So Shaquan Duley doesn't get "I feel sorry for her" pass from me
Is the nuclear black family deteriorating? Some say yes, others say no. But killing your kids is when a light bulb goes off somewhere in your head
Abdul, I produced this piece at 2 am so if you are interested in editing it I'd be open and appreciative. No offense taken if it makes me a better writer!
Sure, anytime…just hit me on FB http://facebook,com/i.mr.wilson
Yep.
actually ive read several sympathetic articles which talk about her possibly having post partum depression and all that. i actually dont give a damn. people need to stop making excuses. i think its the fact she is a woman and people have a hard time admitting women can be violent human beings. anyone who kills someone if its not out of self defense is not in their right mind, but we need to stop indulging these people with excuses.
I think she was likely mentally ill, and not violent. I know that she committed a "violent crime" in the legal sense, but I don't think that this means she was a violent woman or even that she had ever previously acted violently toward her children. I say this because suffocation is one of the least violent ways that a person could kill a baby in the process of committing a violent crime of passion.
no, she just neglected her children and left them with her mother all the time. she was a shitty mom and a shitty human being. there is a huge difference between that and mental illness. if you kill people, and are aware you are killing them and it is not self defense, you are a violent person. it means there is a disconnect between the consequences of your actions and the impulse which leads to your behavior. Violent. human. being.
"no, she just neglected her children and left them with her mother all the time."
And I mean, seriously, she could just be a shiftless sociopath.
sociopath, i can get with that. but sociopaths are aware of the wrongness of their actions they just dont care. and they are notoriously impossible to treat so it didnt matter if she "got help". put her under the jail. alot of people there are sociopaths.
I pointed out that she could be a shiftless sociopath for the reasons you're highlighting.
she is one!! since when do they deserve sympathy?
The only people who deserve sympathy are the kids, the mother at the very most deserves indifference.
When did I say that shiftless sociopaths deserve sympathy??
sympathy, excuses, reasons for why they did it…all the same to me. we shouldnt even be talking about her. j2 is right. kids and the family of the kids deserve our attention.
The double standards in America will cease to amaze me. This acts are inexcusable, but does anyone want to examine the effects that caused them to behave in such monstrosities behavior. Clearly both of them must have suffered from type of mental illness, which either they have had all their lives or was developed based on the circumstances of their environment. The first is a closeted problem in the black community and the other people want to turn a blind eye to and say black people are just paranoid. But again these problems do not justify their actions. But in any case it happened and it happened for a reason and the best thing to do is try to address these issues within the black community because if left unaddressed then these violent acts will continue to occur.
who cares? jeez. your problems arent that freaking deep. you are functioning in society and can hold a job, you are sane enough to be accountable for your actions.
Okay I agree that my problems aren't that freaking deep. But clearly this woman problems are. Mental illness is serious and seriously annoyed by black people. And it's clearly that this woman has or have suffered from pre-existing mental illness or developed them; and again until those issues are talked about i.e mental illness then things like this will continue to happen and people will continue shaking their heads in discuss while passing judgments. And the truth is we don't know what happen to cause her to go left of center. This doesn't mean I condone her actions and that she doesn't need to be reprimanded, but people need to understand sometimes people crack and they crack violently. And when that ticking bomb explodes there are causalities, some are innocent and others are not.
im not saying she didnt crack. you or I could crack tomorrow. my point is…who cares? she shouldnt be judged more leniently than the drug related killing or theft related killing and what have you. we'll never stop people acting like this because its not about the individual people and getting to the root of their problems, it's our society in general. these workplace killings, child killings, columbines, shootings over petty shit, are symptoms of a sick society–not sick individuals. that said we all encounter it and not all of us are shooting folk. its not insanity that seperates the killers from the no killers, its our ability to cope and our humanity. at the end, shes a weak person who should be held accountable for her actions to the fullest extent of the law. but shes not insane. its a sick society that reasons, well, she was stressed and had no where to turn so that is probably why she did it. no. that stuff is not acceptable. ever. she should fry. if that is what she was thinking when she did that ish, how crazy is she if you and every other media writer was thinking the same ish? forget for a second she actually did it, that is as much a function of her stupidity as anything else.
Unpopular voice of reason. However, this woman probably should have considered alternatives the moment she realized she missed her first period. We can debate abortion all day long; however, it is still abstract. And for the woman and man that don't want the responsibility of parenting…it seems to be the option that would have prevented this unfortunate incident.
But killing your two sons – that's pretty clear-cut wrong and crazy.
BS, PEOPLE DO STUFF LIKE THAT TO KIDS CAUSE THEY ARE NOT IN THEIR RIGHT MIND…Race and culture has NOTHING to do with it
Exactly! There are many factors that affect family dynamic, and without knowing this woman's mental history, I'm going to venture a guess that lack of family and community support ranked high on her list of needs, as did mental health services.
Yes, single parenthood is epidemic in the black community, but in addition to needing more fathers to step up and be fathers (which requires that boys are taught how to be men, and given appropriate resources, and made aware of their legal rights, etc, etc) WE NEED TO START TAKING CARE OF OUR OWN. Long gone are the days when women knew they had multiple people they could call if the baby needed a sitter. We're so caught up in our own lives that we don't stop to think that perhaps someone could use our help. Dispute it if you want to, but I spend every day of my work week dealing with families who don't have a single person they can call to take their child(ren) just for a couple of hours so they can take a break! And before people start screaming about daycare, yes, I know it exists. I also know that a lot of daycare centers, especially in urban neighborhoods, are full. If you don't have a car, or someone who can drop off and pick up your kid EVERY DAY, then often, you're stuck.
From the author: "I am saying that the financial hardship, accompanied by the internalization of failure, feelings of loneliness, and inadequate mental health clinics are inarguably perfect ingredients for the recipe we now call Shaquan Duley."
I'm sure that all of those things are true, but all of those things are also solved relatively easily through a simple thing as true community.
Financial Hardship – where are the churches and community organizations that help with bills, teach financial literacy and resource management?
Internalization of failure/feelings of loneliness – again, where are the churches, women's groups, single parent ministries…people who are saying to this woman 'you're doing a wonderful job with your kids' or 'you look like you're struggling, how can I help?'
Mental Health Clinics are a more difficult fix, but while some mental health issues , such as bi-polar or schizophrenia have genetic roots, depression could sometimes be prevented if a person has a sense of belonging. Who knows…if this woman had been able to deal with the first 3 issues, she may not have needed the mental health clinic.
Now don't get me wrong, I know nothing is black & white…but I also know how much of a difference it makes in a person's life to know that someone cares…that someone is sympathetic to your situation, and will help when they can. I can't help but wonder if Ms. Duley thought any of those things were true.
I agree with this so thoroughly. Under different circumstances, this woman might have been the "spoiled" morose housewife who, at worst, is hospitalized briefly sometime during her children's young years. The apparent severity of mental illness is very largely circumstantial.
she has no mental history/medical history. only way this behavior stops is if we stop subsidizing it with sympathy and enabling mechanisms. christ. if you dont want kids and the responsibility of them dont freaking have them. if its more than you can handle after that then put them in a basket and leave it at the doorstep of an adoption center. you dont kill them. this chick is not crazy. she is what happens when a regular person concludes that they are so important nothing else around them matters. its narcissistic behavior and our society is rampant with it.
I bet there are known crackheads, winos and schizos in Black neighborhoods across America with no mental or medical history.
sure. except for the dozens of people that pass them by on the street everyday and say hey that whino always is there and that mofo is crazy. this chick held a job and functioned in society. people around her were none the wiser. say she was friendly in fact. she knew what she was doing when she killed those kids. it wasnt devils telling her to do it.
if i kill someone over a pair of tennis shoes am i crazy? those people go to jail and or fry. when someone kills some innocent children we want to make excuses. in my mind, both those individuals are crazy. but one society wants to send to jail and the other we make excuses for. get out of here.
I've read several articles that said she was unemployed, depressed and living with her mother.
she had a job, which she may have lost, but the former co-worker said she was always friendly. no one said anything about her being "crazy." depressed? shit, im depressed. im not going around killing anything but dumb arguments on the internet.
I'm not suggesting she is or isn't crazy. I don't know her. I went so far as to say that I don't know her medical history. Co-workers aren't often the best source of someone's mental state anyway, unless you're actually FRIENDS with that person. The fact that her co-workers say she was friendly is neither here nor there. Sociopaths are friendly too…
I'm also not saying she should or shouldn't have had kids. Trust me, I've met PLENTY of people who I really think should never procreate EVER in life….
What I am saying is that a lot of times the people who notice that something is up are people who are family members or have other close community ties. If she didn't have those, then no, I guess no one would have noticed. I'm not making excuses for her behavior (at least, that's not my intention) as much as I am stating that if there was better community support in place in the black community IN GENERAL, not just for single mother, single fathers, etc. etc., but just for PEOPLE, that this tragedy may have been avoided. We can't be so focused on our own lives that we don't help others.
i think she was in fact a sociopath. that said, they are untreatable and it is estimated a large number of violent offenders, clinically, are sociopaths.
at any rate, this isnt a black white thing. at least not anymore, we are enough apart of this society that THEIR pathologies have become our own.
also, i think community involvement would help. but that also involves things like sacrifice and unselfishness. if this were a normal part of our communities and this woman was apart of that community she would also possess those traits and she would not have murdered her sons.
"shit, im depressed. im not going around killing anything but dumb arguments on the internet."
You are in rare form today i see.
I'm in complete agreement with you. Why are we making excuses for her? When Susan Smith said a black man stole her white kids were we sympathetic? Hell no. YOu kill babies you go under the jail. UNDER IT. That's it. I give a DAMN if she was "mentally ill". TO be honest, I am so sso so sick of ppl getting out of their sentences b/c they're "crazy" …. fugg crazy. If you are crazy you can't function well anyway so why do we need you here? You aren't contributing.
Under. The. Jail. Stop making excuses for wack shit, that's why society is going to hell right now. THe day we stop accepting mediocrity as fact and commonplace we will be MUCH BETTER OFF.
"Am I blaming the absence of the father on the brutal murder of these children? No. But I am saying that the financial hardship, accompanied by the internalization of failure, feelings of loneliness, and inadequate mental health clinics are inarguably perfect ingredients for the recipe we now call Shaquan Duley."
Bingo! Poverty + Victimization + Mental Illness = Self-Destruction or the Destruction of others. If we're not prepared to discuss how mental illness affects low-income communities, then I'm not sure if we have any foundation to really criticize the actions of Duley.
@K.I.M. I agree with you, women need to look at all their options (and be honest about their mental capacity to handle such responsibility) before bringing children into this world. But there's still a number of reasons why Duley might not have thought seriously about her decision (ex: the cost of abortion, lack of insurance, lack of knowledge about safe sex, generational cycles, lack of knowledge about adoption). I'm not trying to say these are excuses. Although some women honestly like to believe they are suitable for raising kids, even if it means doing so alone. That's the tricky thing about the pro-choice argument: SOME women are just too irresponsible, ignorant, uneducated, and mentally ill to make that kind of choice in sound mind.
"I cannot deny that there are preexisting systems in place that encourage and aid in the development of single Black mothers. "
pre existing system = crazy black woman that dudes don't want to stay with….park the attitudes ladies…do it for the kids…til then we got white women
lol that's funny
Youngwayne is bullying up for a battle. I hope you have your kevlar on sir…
heck sometimes I have the same, yet different approach. black men love their egos so much that don't want to treat a good lady right. Park your ego dudes. Do it for the kids (that you have but only see 1-2 times a week) til then…I'mma see what these white dudes are talking about.
Tell that.
but we don't care the vast majority of black women aren't attractive to white men
Is this a weight comment?
that chick looks crazy. when moms do stuff like that they should take out their ovaries. also, statistically, 65% of child abuse cases are exacted by maternal moms. of course more women have more contact with their child than lots of fathers, but i dont know if that accounts for the difference (men 20%). just one more reason men should be considered for custody more. if i were father of those twins, i would kill her. and….this article needs to be edited. it appears several paragraphs were repeated.
If fathers were the primary single parent, we'd hear of this type of thing so so so much more. I mean, when we hear of parents killing their children, we're typically hearing about [white] men, anyway. These are men who appear to be doting parents, but who lose control of their lives (especially their finances) and their families due to some unforeseen circumstance, and resolve the problem by killing their loved ones.
This is an extreme example of why people should not be raising children by themselves. All parents experience periods of burn-out and times when they just need a break. Two-parent homes have twice the resources through which they can keep control of their homes and a built-in means of dealing with parental burnout.
But Black women, who overwhelmingly head young households like this one, have virtually no net worth–even during their prime working (and mothering) years. If a single mother lacks family support, as I'm guessing this woman lacked, when they get burned out, it's just too damn bad. I can't even imagine what this must feel like when you are responsible for two young lives. I can only guess that we (Black women) don't do this more often because we are totally accustomed to being resigned to a role of powerlessness.
I'd guess that this woman was so totally tired, hopeless and powerless that she suffered an extreme breach of mental and emotional health and thought that faking the accidental deaths of her children was her only means of relief. That such a feeling could exist and its repercussion are both totally disturbing.
her mom took care of those kids!!! she had help! that was probably her problem. too many people picking up the slack for her poor decisions. she was leaving them there all the time. if its that bad. give them up for adoption. dont kill them. there is a problem in her thinking and logic and its not because she is crazy its because she is stupid and too many parents do not do a good job teaching children how to problem solve and act rationally probably because parents dont know how to do it themselves because they never had to because the government will subsidize them and their life choices no matter how idiotic.
Wait, did you just write that if custody was given to more men we'd see baby killings more often?
I thought the content looked longer than I originally produced, I have notified the editor. Thank you for identifying this issue.
". just one more reason men should be considered for custody more."
He wouldn't have to be "considered for custody" if he hadn't abandoned the family he helped to make in the first place.
And then she likely wouldn't have been driven so crazy that such a hideous thing would have even entered her mind.
Don't even start.
*eyeroll*
Let me summon my inner Dr. Laura for a second.
"Y'all are being too hypersensitive."
Anybody who's had the displeasure of watching Nancy Grace, knows white women kill their kids, DAILY! I mean damn white women have turned the microwave into a deadly weapon smh.
On a serious note, this is not some new phenomenon and the only thing that is making this a big story is because the woman is black. To me it just further gives evidence to my preconceived notion that all women are basically the same, they just vary in degree.
She's not special, she's not some women to hop on for the evil of single parenthood and she definitely isn't a model for new trends that are coming about in the black community. This is not an NAACP issue, hell it's not even a black issue. It's a messed up situation that shows the different and drastic ways people deal with stress. Unfortunately it ended with two children dead, such a shame.
Mental Health isn't a joke.
This woman probably suffers from postpartum depression or some other type of mental illness.
Who cares what color she is!!!
Mental illness is rampant in our community yet we still deal in illogical pathologies.
Too many of our people don't get the real help, kindness, compassion, etc. they need because we always blame everything on "being black".
When are we going to disconnect from the color of our skin and connect to our humanity in all of it’s entirety?
.
THIS is a perfect EXAMPLE of why it is *not*
a moral wrong to STERILIZE BLACK MALES
(while still others should be castrated) – and then
then move on to also sterilize the black females.
They are the ONLY group in history to contribute
nearly NOTHING to society — other than violence,
low brain-functioning offspring (who they, in their
arrogance and ignorance, then force society to raise),
leeching off of others, disease, sexual irresponsibility
demands for preferential-treatment; constant-whining;
and (as evidenced in case-after-case) double-standards.
Even though there is the occasional, anomalous black
who has honestly ‘bootstrapped their way to the success’
– everyone know that 99% of all of the black people, in
general and all over the world, should simply be sterilized
If our society considers itself to be “moral” then we all know
that sterilization (and often castration) of the black male is
the most decent, most moral choice we can make for them.
The procedure is cheap and painless AND it helps prevent
the arrival of innocent offspring being brought into a world
where those who sired them care nothing about them and
where they are forced to live as mental and moral inferiors.
As a society it is TRULY our MORAL DUTY to do this for them.
It’s a win-win for everyone involved and also for the entire planet.
.