Keep It Behind Closed Doors

October 6, 2011 12:33 PM

On September 15, 2011, 25 year-old Devery Broox posted a video online. In the video, which begins with text outlining the number of black men in the U.S. prison system and the words, "it takes a village," Devery is shown "disciplining" a nine year-old boy for "acting up" in school (NSFW). Incorrectly identified as the father of the boy in the video, Devery Broox, actually a mentor trusted by the child's family, was taken into custody by Orlando police after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children alerted them to the existence of the video. If convicted of child abuse, Broox faces up to ten years in jail. But the story didn't end with Broox's arrest. In a strange turn of events, local news stations posted the video on their website, polling their audience on whether Broox's actions constituted abuse. The results? The majority felt that the police had over-reacted in arresting Broox. Some also felt Broox went overboard--by posting the video online.
posted by misha (6 comments total)

The WFTV story doesn't seem to be saying what you're implying it's saying.

"The majority of the people commenting on the video said Orlando police went too far by arresting Broox. But there are others who said Broox goes too far, and that Broox definitely shouldn't have posted the video online."

That's just talking about the video comments. And video commenters aren't a representative sample of anybody. If you click through the survey on the WFTV website, most people agree that it's abuse.
posted by roll truck roll at 12:43 PM on October 6, 2011

Video of a child being beaten and abused on the front page? I'm sorry, but no amount of secondary commentary and discussion about whether the beating and subsequent arrest was justified or whether the posting of the video was a step too far could possibly make this okay. It's a scared child being beaten.
posted by Ahab at 12:45 PM on October 6, 2011

Yeah, outrage filter. Now I know that there's a "mentor" who beats kids up an humiliates them. Yay.
posted by GuyZero at 12:47 PM on October 6, 2011

Because the video takes forever to get there: it contains video of this man cutting the child's hair so that it looks ridiculous, and then off-camera audio of a child being spanked and crying that it hurts.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 12:47 PM on October 6, 2011

You say the child was 9, the news video says 7.

This man shaved the child's head. And eyebrows.

Took him to another room and hit him loud enough to be heard on the video.

Then made him run laps and do pushups.

And then put it online.

As a parent, I am extremely angry if anyone did this to my child. But 10 years in jail? No. A fine, extensive amounts of community service, and mandatory classes about how to properly discipline and treat children (yours or someone else's)? Yes. 10 years in jail isn't going to correct anyone's failings when it comes to handling kids.
posted by emjaybee at 12:50 PM on October 6, 2011

I like how he says "It takes a Village to raise a child." Somehow it's perfectly okay for the men to split on their baby mommas, leaving them to raise the child as a single mother, but then they turn around and demand that the entire "village" help to raise the child they don't want to.

I have a better idea, how about the fathers just stay with the mother and the childrenfor twenty years or so? How about you buy a regular shirt instead of some $60 officially licensed pro-sports jersey? How about you stop styling your hair like a princess? How about you sacrifice your convenience and happiness for the kid, and we see how that works out.

Oh, and beating the kid? Enjoy the showers in prison, shithead.
posted by Pastabagel at 12:52 PM on October 6, 2011