Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to begin with that article!!I found this article really fascinating.
I need to provide the mandatory disclaimer that I think what Adrian Peterson is absolute, completely wrong.
But I have found some really interesting commentary coming from some people (especially of the privileged, white variety) that rubbed me wrong for some reason. This article seems to get at some of what isn't being discussed (even if I don't completely agree with some of what she's saying).
Firstly, let me humbly say there is a note of truth to much of what the author/professor wrote. That shouldn't be too shocking, she is, afterall, a professor. However, the article puts black people in a positive light and as victims, and white people in a "we-all-aspire-to-be-Christopher-Columbus-slave-whacking-aholes" light.
I'd instead argue that the similarities I see between how people discipline their children has almost NOTHING to do with race whatsoever. It has a lot more to do with income, or lack thereof, and it also has to do with socioeconomic status (aside from income). Let's get the cat out of the bag right now: I'm white (shocker city!), I grew up mostly in good school systems with two loving parents in a semi-Christian household. Violence was STRONGLY discouraged, period. BUT (big but), physical disciplined ruled where a "talking to" or grounding failed. In fact, I'm pretty sure most working-class white parents or people we know have similar stories, but I think the key is the word(s) "working-class", and not "white".
I had the unique experience of growing up in 2-3 different socioeconomic stratii (what's plural for stratus?): lower/middle class, upper-middle class, and fairly elite. See, my dad is a doctor, and children of doctors who stay in school as long as my father (14 years) don't initially grow up as rich -- in fact, we were flat broke for quite a while. Being able to experience the different levels of privilege that go with each of the three different social classes and coming from an extended family that's mostly lower-to-middle class has allowed me to see the various ways in which people (my friends, family, etc.) viewed the world, and what they were allowed to get away with.
My mother, who was born IN Chicago to very poor 1st and 2nd generation immigrants was disciplined as a child -- both physically and psychologically -- grew up with the hand of discipline. She, and everyone in her lineage and beyond dealt with discipline in the form of force. What she experienced as a child is a slightly muted version of what her parents experienced as children, and I experienced a slightly muted version of what she experienced. When she was bad, she was beaten with her mother's hands. Her brother: a belt or a fist, if necessary. Both very similar to "black culture" as described in this article, except for using switches or electrical cords (good God!). My father was the son of a Naval officer and I don't have to tell you that discipline and strictness reigned supreme when he grew up, although he rarely was the disciplinarian in my childhood, if for no other reason than because he was almost always at work when I was growing up. But when he DID enforce discipline, it was those episodes that really set me straight! My mom would use two methods with me: her open hand on my bottom or a hairbrush, and not just any hairbrush, but those spikey SOBs with thousands of bristles. If I covered my butt with my hand to avoid the spanking, out came the spikey brush, then the brush would continue what the hand started. This was when I was littler, of course. When I started getting as big or bigger than my mother, she learned that no level of hitting would do much to me anymore. Enter dad. The worst I had ever received was just with two hands to the butt (or maybe it was one), but it was enough to cause moderate to serious bruising and swelling and welting and, given that I was brought up to abhore violence (ironically), my mother was furious with the result and it never happened like that again. Aside from that, mainly spankings, groundings, eating soap, and the other niceties white children deal with (like loving parents who explain right from wrong so you understand the punishment and why you deserve it....that kind of thing).
Another note: I'm not that old, and am considered a Millennial (33 in November).
The author paints black culture to mirror her own, but really only her own of a middle to upper-middle class society, and not necessarily what I see and hear almost every single day. Disciplined children on the bus or train? Not even close, the kids run amok -- grade schoolers and teens alike! Some children sit like stones, yes, and all I can think of is that they've been so worked over before that they'll probably never do anything bad again in front of Mom or Dad, and it screams abuse to me. It's actually sad to see stoic children -- it doesn't look like they're learning much, just fearing things. Fear is NOT the key to discipline, it should be learning and improving and understanding. Fear brings resentment, and resentment brings hate (and hate brings the Dark Side - Yoda....had to do it!). What I see from most black people I encounter in a tough working-class city like Cleveland is resentment and hate. So to that end, if the author is saying that should be avoided, I totally agree. White people who are disciplined were never told that they were disciplined specifically so they can look good to any one particular race or ethnicity (moreso to be respectful to their elders and themselves). So if black people supposedly do so in order to make it in a "white man's world" as the author suggests, perhaps that's where the rift begins between the two cultures. I don't think it's necessary, however, based on the things I know about white people and what they think about (hint: it's not how to hold black people down).
I personally am getting a little tired of living in an area where violence is so widely regarded. Everyone acts hard, disrespect is commonplace, racism is omnipresent, and I don't want to subject my family to such a thing. On my walks home I see groups of black kids fighting bare-fisted with eachother and video-taping it......for fun (but really, for "practice")! White kids I know mostly wrestle, and if they box, they use gloves. Black culture (at least here in Cleveland) is ALL about being "the man": talking with a purposely low voice, being misogynistic, getting ripped, never backing down (even if there isn't a fight or a conflict), acting "hard", walking with "swagga'" (which I just think makes people look like they have a limp or disorder), etc. These may be stereotypes, and they certainly don't apply to all African Americans (i.e. "blacks"), but it's certainly the prevailing culture where I am living now (again, at least here in CLE). It's really not how I want to subject my two girls to the world ("diversity" bonus aside). Yet growing up in a household with an absentee father (it goes beyond just working lots), I looked OUTWARD to define what it is to be a man, and I took a lot of pride in trying to be at least 50% of what the stereotypical black man in America is today, based on what I just outlined above. You sort of become one of the herd, as a result, for better or worse, and my skin color had zero to do with it.
Getting close to full-circle now, I'm suggesting that perhaps the reason certain cultures of people act the way they do has more to do with a.) their socioeconomic status and place in the world (i.e. are you beneath others, and do you resent them as a result?), and b.) how your parents raise you to be the man or woman you SHOULD be "Should" meaning a productive, respectful member of a larger society, not necessarily [fill in the blank'] neighborhood or community -- hard to argue we shouldn't be both, I hope. If a parent isn't present to assist with that or the parents themselves reinforce the same vicious cycle of fear and resentment they were taught, you're more likely to stay stuck in the rut, and the resentment perpetuates itself. I see this all the time with some people I'm close to (in this case, mostly white people). I was raised to spank growing up, and that's my default now. My wife, however, having not been raised that way, refuses such a thing. Right now I feel almost defenseless when disciplining my children because much of what I know and fall back on has been already ruled out, so I'm learning how to learn better methods of discipline. I haven't figured it out just yet, and my kids can act like little shits at times, but it's a work-in-progress for the better.
I hope that's the ultimate angle of the article, and of Adrian Peterson's case as well, and not us vs. them or finger-pointing and casting judgement, respectively.