You know the story by now, 25-year-old mother of four drives
van into a river, killing three of her children, plus herself. Her eldest son
escaped and now must live with the horror of this ordeal and the pain of losing
his mother and three siblings, but the guilt of not being able to save them
either. As a mother you felt for the children, as a woman you couldn’t
understand what drives such an action, as an African-American, you just knew
she was White.
99.9 percent of these types of child murder-suicide stories
in the news seem to be committed by White women; at least that’s how it feels.
However, when the facts started rolling in on this case, it started to take on
a different feel. When you heard she was 25 and had four kids you got that
funny feeling in your stomach, then when her name was released and you found
out her oldest had a variation of her name, your throat got a little dry.
Now the story reads: 25-year-old Lashanda Armstrong kills
herself and three of her four children by driving into a river, only
10-year-old Lashaun survives. So now you need
to know that happened, what drove that sister to do such a thing, how could she
do that to her babies, because that’s some white people shit.
My Blackness won’t allow me to believe this woman killed herself and her children. Especially after her landlord told investigators and reporters that he changed the locks to her place twice in the last six months or that a relative reported a domestic violence incident that may have involved her boyfriend. You add those factors in and if you’re Blackness is anything like mine, you’ve concluded that she was being chased and lost control of her vehicle and died trying to protect herself and her children.
My Blackness won’t allow me to believe this woman killed herself and her children. Especially after her landlord told investigators and reporters that he changed the locks to her place twice in the last six months or that a relative reported a domestic violence incident that may have involved her boyfriend. You add those factors in and if you’re Blackness is anything like mine, you’ve concluded that she was being chased and lost control of her vehicle and died trying to protect herself and her children.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. It may take days to
sort out what happened. We may never find out what happened, but what is for
sure, is there’s a mother and three of her children gone, leaving one to go on
through life bearing the scars of this one day. I guess the rainbow wasn’t enough;
she needed something real, something that she couldn’t find here, someone sing
a Black girl’s song…
3 comments
I was very sadden when I heard this story. I'm not sure where her motivates lied. I'm hoping the boy who survives get the helps he needs. Am I the only one surprised it was a Black family?
You're nowhere near the only person surprised they were a Black family. I know she didn't do this on her own for the same reason I voted for Barack Obama...because she's Black!
I was suprised to hear that it was a black family...but at the same time I was not shocked. We are "known" for bearing the weight of the world (well at least our world) on our sholders...and sometimes that gets to be too much. Now I don't know what wss going through her head...and I don't know any further information on the case....but what I do know (as a single mother of three...that happens to be black) is that the rainbow isn't enough.
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