Rattle-Rattle: The Black Boogie Man

In 2009, you would think that the specter of a Black Man robbing, raping, mugging and acting a fool would have diminished. I am saddened to say it hasn’t.

Bonnie Sweeten did what most desperate people would do. Rather than face her fears and troubles like the rest of us (eat too much chocolate, have a good cry, drink some vodka, get prescribed an anti depressant), she ran away to the happiest place on earth on the back of the lie that black men carjacked her and held her and her daughter hostage.

At The Teen’s school, I observed that there was no visible divide based on race. The only divide I saw was gender: boys showing off for girls and the girls pretending to be horrified by the attention. Not once did I see any one pocket of color. There were the typical representations: jocks, band nerds, geeks, in-crowd, emos, wannabe goth, and the potluck leftovers. Kids flitted from clique to clique, and with the exception of the ESL kids due to the language barrier, no one divided themselves along the color line.

Even as I type this, the Boy is outside with a rainbow of friends racing bikes and scooters. Insults aren’t racial names, but digs on lack of skill in baseball and video games.

How is it that those who perfect cruelty during adolescence can find other ways to hurt during play, but an adult can use a worn out stereotype and have half of law enforcement harassing every Black man in the Philadelphia area?

Normally, I would have sympathy for this woman. Allegedly, she is having domestic troubles, issues with unemployment, and needed to get away. I feel you lady! I KNOW what it’s like to be stressed and want to run away. This feeling explains how I can spend three hours in the market to pick up a can of coffee. Rather than take a getaway, this chick flew to frigging Florida and blamed a brother.

Before her hoax was discovered, her Facebook page had no less than 20 prayers and thoughts of well wishes. Ironically, this fabricating woman says her favorite quote is to “always tell Paige and Julia “Make Good Choices” before they leave for school or go on a trip without me or a parent.”

Pot, meet kettle moment?

While people were concerned, her family worried and pleading for her safe return, chick is chilling at a resort in Disneyland. Next door to the Magic Kingdom! When I went to Disney, I stayed at the Roachgate*, a twenty minute trek to the nearest theme park.

The story unraveled when her so called jacked car was found with a ticket at 15th and Chestnut. Don’t this chick know that the Philadelphia Parking Authority don’t play when it comes to enforcing parking regulations? Did she not see the courtroom portion of the Law&Order episode she swiped her story from to know that cops will track you from here to hell when a child is involved? A picture of her going through the gate at the airport and the allegation that she withdrew large sums of money added to skepticism.

People want to know:

How Sweeten was able to use someone else’s identification?
Obviously she relied on and was rewarded by underpaid and overworked
employees who don’t pay attention to detail.

Why flee to Disney with $12,000 in cash?
Her Facebook page list shopping and spending money as one of her
hobbies. Duh!

Why choose the tried and true Black Man did it?
Susan Smith, Ashley Todd, and Charles Stuart ring a bell?
This country, despite the embrace of President Obama, still needs to grow
up when it comes to discussions about race.

I want to be mad at this woman, but why? She only fed into tried and true stereotypes and acted selfishly. If anything, I am saddened by her lack of compassion for her family, Black men, and this country.

Michele Henry, the DA building a case, is catching flack for openly talking about the fears of an “overwhelmingly white community” scared by the image of two Black men in a black car.

Did she lie?

Jerry Mondeshire, President of the Philadelphia NAACP, simply said: