Trigger Warning: The article mentions details about bullying and physical violence.
A viral clip showed an attack that took place on November 17 in Chicago. A mother and her 9-year-old son were attacked in a residential area of the city. 33-year-old Carshawnda Hatter was walking her child back home at 3 pm from Orville Bright Elementary School in the South Side of Chicago when they were targeted and attacked.
The footage shows a large group of middle school kids was walking beside Hatter and her child. The kids in the group started calling the mother-son duo names and ridiculing them. One of the kids started kicking the 9-year-old child off camera before several of them came forward at the 10600 block of South Bensley Avenue, and started punching, stomping and hitting him and then his mother out of the blue.
The Atlanta Black Star reports that the child fell on the ground while trying to protect himself and ended up in Trinity Hospital with serious injuries. Carshawnda spoke to media outlets about the shocking attack and said, “They were literally waiting (along) the way we walk home, just to jump all of us. So I asked my kids to come to the next side of the street with me, so they wouldn’t get jumped.”
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The mother also told the school authorities that her 9-year-old child had been facing several instances of bullying at Orville Bright Elementary School. The footage received over a million likes from viewers locally and worldwide.
A lot of parents came forward, rallying behind her call for accountability, saying the children involved in the attack have been frightening the neighborhood for a long time.
“This has been happening in our community for a while, and the parents never take responsibility for what their kids do,” one parent said. “If my kids were causing trouble, I’d be out here addressing it.”
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Illinois State Sen. Willie Preston supported Carshawnda Hatter. He claimed that the attack was “horrible.” He spoke to the media and shed light on the ongoing situation that had been going on for quite some time.
“The video was disgusting, and the video was a symptom of something that’s been going on for a long time. We haven’t held these kids accountable. We haven’t held these parents accountable for the violent actions that their children are doing.”
As per The Root, social media users erupted with a series of comments demanding proper action against the notorious kids and demanding accountability as clips of the attack were reposted by several media channels.
“It’s good seeing A VILLAGE Come together for a cause! God Bless her and her kids, it hit harder seeing her in person and feeling that,” one person wrote on Instagram.
“JAIL AND WHOOPINGS,” a second added. “This hurt me. I actually cried. This was so sad, disgusting, and disturbing. […] Them kids need to be held accountable and punished. There needs to be serious consequences!” a third one added.
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Mayor Brandon Johnson addressed the attack on November 18 and called it “awful”, and provided support to the family while they are looking for another place to live. He claimed that it is disturbing to witness children indulge in violent acts. At the time of writing this story, no official arrests have been made so far.
Bullying, peer pressure and violence have always been a major concern in schools and college institutions. Sadly, almost every kid has either been bullied or pressured to participate in violence during their formative years.
Thanks to the power of social media and the new generation of smartphone users, cases like these have come out to the media in the open and more and more people are becoming aware of it.
