Unspeakable
Allegations so terrible you hope they're not true
It is the sort of lede you never really want to see, and once you see it, you really don't want to believe it
According to the Huffington Post, seven year-old Roderick Arrington, Jr., arrived at a Las Vegas hospital on November 29, unconscious and unresponsive. The young boy died the next afternoon. Hospital personnel called police after young R.J. was admitted because "they observed severe bruising and brain swelling".
Markiece and Dina Palmer were both charged on Tuesday with murder, child abuse, and neglect.
Dina Palmer, above, weeps as she hears the charges against her in the death of Roderick Arrington Jr., her seven year-old son.
It is difficult, sometimes, to countenance certain human frailty. Small lies, like doing homework or reading the Bible, are expected behavior in young children; their brains instinctively seek behavioral norms, and certain behaviors are the mind's way of comprehending the boundaries of normal socialization. It is not so much that such behavior should be given free rein, but, rather, that it must be understood in its context. One can literally watch a child do something, ask them in the next second, "Why did you do that?" and hear an inevitable response: "I didn't."
This is, to a certain degree, normal.
But for those who reject, disdain, or are simply ignorant of psychological processes, lying is simply lying, and defiance is simply defiance; nature itself can become a moral offense.
There is a decades-old joke: "You need a license to have a dog, but anyone can have a child." Naturally, some days this just isn't funny, and if e'er we find such a day, this would be it.
In the end, one hopes there is some other reason Roderick Arrington, Jr., is dead. Parents who beat their children are a problematic question, but it should never, ever go this far. This is well beyond the pale intended by those who defend physical violence against children as a necessity of discipline. The allegations against Markiece and Dina Palmer suggest a horrific human frailty we rightly fear, for there is neither comfort nor justice sufficient to assuage the wounds inflicted upon those who loved Roderick Arrington, Jr. And there is nothing we can do to claim him back from death.
Notes:
The Huffington Post. "Roderick Arrington, Las Vegas Boy, Allegedly Beaten To Death After Lying About Bible, Homework". December 5, 2012. HuffingtonPost.com. December 6, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ten-death-bible-homework-video_n_2245381.html
Allegations so terrible you hope they're not true
It is the sort of lede you never really want to see, and once you see it, you really don't want to believe it
Police in Las Vegas allege that a 7-year-old boy was beaten to death by his parents after failing to read the Bible or do his homework.
(Huffington Post)
(Huffington Post)
According to the Huffington Post, seven year-old Roderick Arrington, Jr., arrived at a Las Vegas hospital on November 29, unconscious and unresponsive. The young boy died the next afternoon. Hospital personnel called police after young R.J. was admitted because "they observed severe bruising and brain swelling".
Police arrested the boy's mother, Dina Palmer, 27, and stepfather, Markiece Palmer, 34, and charged them with the murder of the boy. Investigators said that Palmer "stood by and let her husband" shake and beat the boy to death.
According to KLAS, the arrest report detailed "open abrasions on [Arrington's] buttocks, severe bruising to his thighs, marks and bruises on his back and shoulders and evidence of previous beatings."
Markiece Palmer stated the second grade student was spanked on Nov. 27 because he had lied about reading the Bible; he said the boy was also spanked the following day for not finishing his homework, according to police.
Police claim the boy's stepfather beat him with a spatula, belt and possibly a wooden paddle. Dina Palmer allegedly struck her son on his buttocks with both a belt and her hand.
The couple reportedly called a pastor before dialing 911. KSNV writes, "Pastor Kenneth Hollingsworth says he's as shocked as anyone that Markiece Palmer chose to call him before first-responders."
According to KLAS, the arrest report detailed "open abrasions on [Arrington's] buttocks, severe bruising to his thighs, marks and bruises on his back and shoulders and evidence of previous beatings."
Markiece Palmer stated the second grade student was spanked on Nov. 27 because he had lied about reading the Bible; he said the boy was also spanked the following day for not finishing his homework, according to police.
Police claim the boy's stepfather beat him with a spatula, belt and possibly a wooden paddle. Dina Palmer allegedly struck her son on his buttocks with both a belt and her hand.
The couple reportedly called a pastor before dialing 911. KSNV writes, "Pastor Kenneth Hollingsworth says he's as shocked as anyone that Markiece Palmer chose to call him before first-responders."
Markiece and Dina Palmer were both charged on Tuesday with murder, child abuse, and neglect.
Dina Palmer, above, weeps as she hears the charges against her in the death of Roderick Arrington Jr., her seven year-old son.
It is difficult, sometimes, to countenance certain human frailty. Small lies, like doing homework or reading the Bible, are expected behavior in young children; their brains instinctively seek behavioral norms, and certain behaviors are the mind's way of comprehending the boundaries of normal socialization. It is not so much that such behavior should be given free rein, but, rather, that it must be understood in its context. One can literally watch a child do something, ask them in the next second, "Why did you do that?" and hear an inevitable response: "I didn't."
This is, to a certain degree, normal.
But for those who reject, disdain, or are simply ignorant of psychological processes, lying is simply lying, and defiance is simply defiance; nature itself can become a moral offense.
There is a decades-old joke: "You need a license to have a dog, but anyone can have a child." Naturally, some days this just isn't funny, and if e'er we find such a day, this would be it.
In the end, one hopes there is some other reason Roderick Arrington, Jr., is dead. Parents who beat their children are a problematic question, but it should never, ever go this far. This is well beyond the pale intended by those who defend physical violence against children as a necessity of discipline. The allegations against Markiece and Dina Palmer suggest a horrific human frailty we rightly fear, for there is neither comfort nor justice sufficient to assuage the wounds inflicted upon those who loved Roderick Arrington, Jr. And there is nothing we can do to claim him back from death.
"Questions unanswered remain; alone they mourn a fragile mind." —Fates Warning
____________________Notes:
The Huffington Post. "Roderick Arrington, Las Vegas Boy, Allegedly Beaten To Death After Lying About Bible, Homework". December 5, 2012. HuffingtonPost.com. December 6, 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ten-death-bible-homework-video_n_2245381.html
