Why Some Black People Ignore the Negative Research on Spanking

JULY 5, 2012 BY KIRSTEN WEST SAVALI

[Warning: If you believe routine corporal punishment is a form of “discipline” and an effective parenting tool, or you are easily offended by critical opinions of that method, this might not be the article for you. If this applies, please proceed to the first article that more comfortably aligns with your beliefs. Now we will continue with your regularly scheduled programming.]

I am an extremely vocal opponent of corporal punishment as a casual form of discipline. Not because I particularly care about what happens in the households of others, but because there has been such extensive research proving myriad negative effects on the evolving psyches of children when their parents hit them, that I cannot, in good conscience, buy into the propaganda that “it’s good for them.”

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