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the audience is Filming deaths or severe beatings victims instead of intervening or calling the police. There are numerous reports of our youth becoming victims of fights and stabbings because their peers are simply standing by and filming their plight.
In the age of social media, this is a cruel reality for many parents across the country. Police often identify To trace the dead persons and their parents, clips of the crime scene have already been uploaded and circulated online for all to see.
On Feb. 25, Birmingham mom Gail Maddox got the message every parent fears most. Her 20-year-old daughter, Mahogany Jackson, said she was being held hostage and urged her mother to call the police.
Parents, raise your children so that they never film someone else’s injury or death for sport. (iStock)
That was just the beginning of Gayle’s suffering. Even after 24 hours, the police found Mahogany’s body.
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But something horrifying compounded the tragedy: Videos of Mahogany’s rape, torture, and death emerged and were circulated online. His sadistic kidnappers and murderers Recorded their atrocities to show the world.
Gail had already suffered the fate that no parent has to endure, the death of their child. But with this brutality published online, she relives that indescribable pain again and again with each share of the video.
People actually sent the horrifying footage to Mahogany’s family, as if they needed to see it. “It’s my baby. Please stop. I can’t take it,” Gail pleaded.
I have lived through a moment of inexplicable shock and grief when my own daughter was shot dead at just 19 years old while she was sitting with friends in a car filled with gas. I know what Gail went through to lose her daughter, and I regularly counsel and console other parents walking the path of grief.
I also work to strengthen community relations with police, And I think that in a sense, the making public of this video of Mahogany’s torture allowed the police to identify the defendants and bring about swift arrests and justice.
So I will speak for Gail and all the parents of murdered children:
If you see a video of a murder or torture online – posted by the perpetrator, an accomplice, or a bystander who thinks it is a game – and you carelessly share the video, know that you Are partners in this crime. Know that you are giving criminals the notoriety they crave.
And if you see this content and do nothing about it – if you don’t share it with law enforcement or request its removal from the platform – know that you are part of the problem.
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Video dissemination and sales There was another level of evil online. The defendants have the audacity to call themselves the “Yes Lord” gang. The filming of their atrocities is the spineless sadism of men masquerading as humans.
I challenge municipalities to prosecute individuals who circulate such videos. States such as Alabama have restrictions on the dissemination of revenge porn, which is defined in Alabama as “(d)istributing a private image with the intent to harass, intimidate, coerce, or intimidate the person depicted.” It certainly seems like this applies to mahogany as well.
And parents, please make your children leaders and stop the violence or call the police whenever possible. Instill in them the basic decency of never filming someone else’s injury or death for sport.
social media platform The dissemination of recorded violence must be actively regulated and stopped. Community restraint is common and in these cases it is a matter of life or death.
But till now all these recommendations have been negative. There is also a positive attitude towards the use of social media in our country. We can use these platforms to heal ourselves and each other, spread messages of upliftment and mutual respect.
On social media, we can unite with families of survivors of violence and provide them with the emotional and physical resources they need to deal with the grief and anger of sudden loss.
I’ve personally shared tips with survivors on LinkedIn and Facebook. I have spoken out at every opportunity about the suffering that mothers like me face and the urgent need to address that violence tear down our neighborhood,
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And now, I’m asking you to join me. Use your voice for good. Do your part to help heal your community, especially during National Crime Victims Rights Week.
We all have a role to play – and together, we can stop this ongoing cycle of trauma and violence.
