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Last year, there was a very sad report about a 14-year-old boy who committed suicide by jumping into the frigid waters of the East River, and his mother suggested it was because of school bullying. Now the Daily News reports that the Administration for Children's Services had been investigating a charge that the boy's mother had choked him and beat his brother with a belt.
Last March, Sidney Hatchett and his 6-year-old sister were walking to school when he took off his coat and said good-bye before jumping into the water. A commenter named "His Mother" wrote a few comments on our post about Hatchett's suicide; here's an excerpt of one:
"I just wanted to say that my son was not depressed. He was tired and fed up. My son was happy and fine the weekend before and the days I let him stay home that week he was just fine...My son was bullied in the Neighborhood University High School, and when he started to fight back the counselour in the school started to harrass him. The last straw for him was that she called asc on the 1st my son and I found out on the 2nd and he was gone on the 3rd."However, the News got a hold of a number of documents that show Davis was reported for abuse and neglect numerous times, 6 of which were substantiated (including "using 'excessive corporal punishment' that resulted in 'lacerations, bruises, welts'"). At one point, an ACS lawyer recommended removing Hatchett and his siblings from Davis in 2004, but the case workers never did anything and "a supervisor closed the case without giving services to the family."
Last August, a few months after Hatchett's suicide, the state recommended that children be removed from Davis once again, but they are still living together. Davis told the News, "I know I didn't hurt my son. I know my son was fine with me."
A series of early 2006 deaths of children whose families were being investigated by ACS prompted changes at the agency, including hiring retired detectives to help case workers. But children (whose parents are being monitored by ACS) are still dying.
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Working for ACS must be the worst job in the world, being responsible for every nutjob parent in the city who wants to harm their children.
Interersting. There's gotta be angle where whitey or slavery is to blame. Let's hear it folks!
Was his mother or the caseworker black? Why don't the names match up. Where do contraceptives enter this story?
this is an amazingly sad story- he was only 14. If he was indeed abused at home, then his mother should face charges.
So sad.
i have been saying it for years, the hudson river is racist.
I believe it was the East River, not the Hudson. They are different on their racist views.
c00n: Interersting. There's gotta be angle where whitey or slavery is to blame. Let's hear it folks!
What are you talking about? Why do you automatically assume that every story that relates to black people is going to become a discussion of the culpability of white people or the vestiges of slavery? There are some stories that can be related to either of these factors, but what we have here is a case of an unfit parent who may have led to the suicide of her child, and of an overworked social services department that did nothing to intervene. I understand that you have an agenda here, and can't help but spread your hate throughout every thread you visit, but could you at least wait for someone to make one of these comments before you anticipate them? Jesus.
I liked you better when you just went by Anonymous.
lilianic: c00n is called a "troll". Ignore he/she/it. I guess that goes for all of the gothamist commenters (me included, since I replied to c00n a few days ago).
I find the East river the least racist of the three rivers. the Hudson is the most racist.
There's three rivers in NYC?
The Harlem, the East and the Hudson.
you ever go shopping and see a black lady with her six kids and she's beating the living shit out of them and saying "fuck you, shut the fuck up! Motherfucker! I had enough of your ass!"? cause I see that shit all the time. Funny thing is that it's usually in department stores where the mother is buying toys or something for the kids. Someone explain the love/hate sociology of that?
Ever gone to Disney, and seen the white parents screaming at thier kids?
"I worked overtime all year to pay for this trip, and dammit, you're gonna enjoy it! Get in that line, and wait for that ride, or so help me God, I'll beat your ass red! You know how much this trip cost? You ungrateful little idiot, don't you realize what your mother and I gave up this past year, to save for this fuckin' trip?"
Yup, thats about what I hear, everytime I go down there (family lives in Orlando, so I stay cheap). Kids too young to be walking around the park all day without a nap, kids who haven't eaten in hours, little ones in strollers scared out of their wits because all they see is legs and butts and mom and dad screaming at the other kids and them if they dare start crying or fussing.
^^^ No different than going to your average Walmart out there in central USA. Fortunately I never overfed my kids sugar and fast foods when they were growing up and when they got older they just looked at me and said, "What the fuck's the problem with those people?"
Most people should be sterilized at birth and then when they are 40 years old and pass a test they can be unsterilized.
that's the way white kids are, they see someone different than them and the next thing you know...
good thing they are so obese they can't do anything.
the apple doesn't fall far from the tree....
lilianic, pay no attention to c00n, every time he/she/it see a pic with a black face he/she/it is gonna reply with a stupid comment, just like clockwork, you can set your watch to it. He/She/It will always be the first or second reply when a black person is involved in the story. But for some strange unknown reason he/she/it will always seen to miss the stories in which white people are the subject of a crime...hmmmmmmmm!
The East River is technically a tidal strait, not a river; it connects Long Island Sound to Upper New York Bay.
The days after Sidney Hatchett first committed suicide a classmate of his posted her experiences with him online. She recalled Sidney as being interruptive in class, having few if any friends, yelling back at teachers and other students which often resulted in physical altercations -all classic signs of a troubled youth. ACS, comprised of workers who don't receive enough pay (think secretary's salary) or enough training for the colossal responsibilities bestowed upon them, will be used as a scapegoat for what happened though there were many people who could have intervened -parents, peers, teachers, etc -aside from picking up a phone to call an agency to take care of it.
Sidney lived in a low-class neighborhood where there are many parents who are low-skilled, under-paid/out of work, out of luck, and in a dead-end situation. Though one person commented about mothers of color beating up their children in public, it is actually quite true. It's not a genetic predisposition but an environmental one. A parent will repeat the same mistakes of their own parents, esp ones who have had no better experiences or examples because they have never left the shackles of the ghetto. Inner-cities will continue to be a hot bed for criminals, the despondent, and those who will forever depend on the system because they know no better. They're confined to dilapidated homes, sparse wages, the threat of criminals, and the stigma of society who expects no better of them. This will not be the story for everyone there of course, but anyone with a modicum of sense realizes the impact of growing up in such a neighborhood. Anyone who disputes this has not stepped outside of their comfortable J-Crew khakis and Venti Mocha Lattes to examine life as it is lived by others.
Sidney Hatchett's family lives in an apartment that overlooks the East River, the same waves that swallowed Sidney's last breath. If the mother is in deed the catalyst for his death, she will see this every time she looks into that water and mistakes a dark shadow for his face, his flailing arms giving up on the very life she gave him.
As long as well all sit here veiled by an inability to be compassionate for those who are hurting there will continue to be mass suicides, school shootings, and violence. This is not the racial disease. This is the human condition.
The days after Sidney Hatchett first committed suicide a classmate of his posted her experiences with him online. She recalled Sidney as being interruptive in class, having few if any friends, yelling back at teachers and other students which often resulted in physical altercations -all classic signs of a troubled youth. ACS, comprised of workers who don't receive enough pay (think secretary's salary) or enough training for the colossal responsibilities bestowed upon them, will be used as a scapegoat for what happened though there were many people who could have intervened -parents, peers, teachers, etc -aside from picking up a phone to call an agency to take care of it.
Sidney lived in a low-class neighborhood where there are many parents who are low-skilled, under-paid/out of work, out of luck, and in a dead-end situation. Though one person commented about mothers of color beating up their children in public, it is actually quite true. It's not a genetic predisposition but an environmental one. A parent will repeat the same mistakes of their own parents, esp ones who have had no better experiences or examples because they have never left the shackles of the ghetto. Inner-cities will continue to be a hot bed for criminals, the despondent, and those who will forever depend on the system because they know no better. They're confined to dilapidated homes, sparse wages, the threat of criminals, and the stigma of society who expects no better of them. This will not be the story for everyone there of course, but anyone with a modicum of sense realizes the impact of growing up in such a neighborhood. Anyone who disputes this has not stepped outside of their comfortable J-Crew khakis and Venti Mocha Lattes to examine life as it is lived by others.
Sidney Hatchett's family lives in an apartment that overlooks the East River, the same waves that swallowed Sidney's last breath. If the mother is in deed the catalyst for his death, she will see this every time she looks into that water and mistakes a dark shadow for his face, his flailing arms giving up on the very life she gave him.
As long as well all sit here veiled by an inability to be compassionate for those who are hurting there will continue to be mass suicides, school shootings, and violence. This is not the racial disease. This is the human condition.
The days after Sidney Hatchett first committed suicide a classmate of his posted her experiences with him online. She recalled Sidney as being interruptive in class, having few if any friends, yelling back at teachers and other students which often resulted in physical altercations -all classic signs of a troubled youth. ACS, comprised of workers who don't receive enough pay (think secretary's salary) or enough training for the colossal responsibilities bestowed upon them, will be used as a scapegoat for what happened though there were many people who could have intervened -parents, peers, teachers, etc -aside from picking up a phone to call an agency to take care of it.
Sidney lived in a low-class neighborhood where there are many parents who are low-skilled, under-paid/out of work, out of luck, and in a dead-end situation. Though one person commented about mothers of color beating up their children in public, it is actually quite true. It's not a genetic predisposition but an environmental one. A parent will repeat the same mistakes of their own parents, esp ones who have had no better experiences or examples because they have never left the shackles of the ghetto. Inner-cities will continue to be a hot bed for criminals, the despondent, and those who will forever depend on the system because they know no better. They're confined to dilapidated homes, sparse wages, the threat of criminals, and the stigma of society who expects no better of them. This will not be the story for everyone there of course, but anyone with a modicum of sense realizes the impact of growing up in such a neighborhood. Anyone who disputes this has not stepped outside of their comfortable J-Crew khakis and Venti Mocha Lattes to examine life as it is lived by others.
Sidney Hatchett's family lives in an apartment that overlooks the East River, the same waves that swallowed Sidney's last breath. If the mother is in deed the catalyst for his death, she will see this every time she looks into that water and mistakes a dark shadow for his face, his flailing arms giving up on the very life she gave him.
As long as well all sit here veiled by an inability to be compassionate for those who are hurting there will continue to be mass suicides, school shootings, and violence. This is not a racial disease. This is the human condition.