Judge rejects slave trauma as defense for killing

[demdave]

HILLSBORO -- A Portland lawyer says suffering by African Americans at the hands of slave owners is to blame in the death of a 2-year-old Beaverton boy.

Randall Vogt is offering the untested theory, called post traumatic slave syndrome, in his defense of Isaac Cortez Bynum, who is charged with murder by abuse in the June 30 death of his son, Ryshawn Lamar Bynum. Vogt says he will argue -- "in a general way" -- that masters beat slaves, so Bynum was justified in beating his son.

The slave theory is the work of Joy DeGruy-Leary, an assistant professor in the Portland State University Graduate School of Social Work. It is not listed by psychiatrists or the courts as an accepted disorder, and some experts said they had never heard of it.

DeGruy-Leary testified this month in Washington County Circuit Court that African Americans today are affected by past centuries of U.S. slavery because the original slaves were never treated for the trauma of losing their homes; seeing relatives whipped, raped and killed; and being subjugated by whites.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1086004710123410.xml

[freetobegay]

1. And so he should!

[arcos]

2. wtf?!

post traumatic slave syndrome?! :wtf:

[Warpy]

3. yeah, and the original slaves are long dead and buried.

however, if one of them is accused of haunting their great-great-great granchildren, perhaps this rationale would be a valid one.

[KittyWampus]

4. One Could Imagine This Story Being A Fabrication

made with the intent of giving Limbaugh a topic for the day.

[Judi Lynn]

7. You'd better believe it. I thought the same thing.

Certain kinds of "stories" have a designated audience, one you really wouldn't expect to find at a Democratic message board.

[demdave]

8. Maybe you should review this subject before dismissing it.

Theories like this creep into our lives in the strangest places and ways.

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:VrUCUowXEVMJ:www.njsbdc.com/procurement/procurement042004.pdf+post+traumatic+slave+syndrome&hl=en


“ARE YOU A POST-TRAUMATIC SLAVE SYNDROME VICTIM?”A TRAINING WORKSHOPWithJOY ANGELA DeGRUY-LEARY, Ph.D

She has trained numerous organizations which include: the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); offi cers of the City of Portland Police Bureau; Nordstrom Stores; the Department of Human Services and Health; the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; Moore Research Center; DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago, Illinois; Sisters of Providence Medical center; and the University of Wisconsin Institute Multicultural science Education. She has been an invited presenter at Harvard University, Columbia University, Smith College, The University of Massachusetts, New York University, University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Northeastern University and Fisk University. She has worked with school districts and public and private organizations throughout the United States, Canada and South Africa


Dr. DeGruy-Leary has pioneered research in the explanatory the-ory-Post Traumatic Save syndrome, which addresses the residual impact of trauma on African Descendants in the Americas. In ad-dition she has developed a culturally based education model for working with children and adults of color, WHICH IS CURRENTLY BEING IMPLIMENTED IN PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS. She has recently created the “African American Male Youth Respect Scale” an assessment in-strument designed to broaden our understanding of the challenges facing these youths in an effort to prevent their overrepresentation within the justice system. Dr. DeGruy-Leary currently serves as an Assistant Professor a the Graduate School of Social Work, Portland State University

[lanparty]

10. A slave to stupidity ?????

Really. One cannot blame the conditions of your anscestor on your current status. You can only apply these issues to populations.

There are plenty of rednecks out there who beat their kids to death. Should they claim the "post origin clan member" theory???

[kimchi]

5. Waaaaaaaa?

Does that mean the Cherokee can force their children to walk a couple hundred miles with little food and water? Crazy... man, crazy.

[playahata1]

6. "The legacy of slavery" is NO justification

for beating a CHILD to death, I don't care what anybody says.

And while corporal punishment is favored by most African-Americans, I am an exception; for me, it is NEVER justified, I don't care what color you are.

[TheWraith]

9. Oh good God.

The judge should order psychological counseling for this lawyer.

[despairing optimist]

11. WBAI and Pacifica Radio Network have this rubbish on all the time

They give hours of air time to Joy DeGruy-Leary, with no opposing views from any respected mainstream psychologist.

Do Irish Americans suffer from post-traumatic potato famine syndrome? Do women suffer from post-traumatic Bible/Qu'ran syndrome? Do the descendants of former plantation owners suffer from post-traumatic usurped-master syndrome? I'm sure we can whip up dozens of equally implausible post-traumatic syndromes, but all they will do is trivialize an important clinical term.

The main beneficiary of this revolutionary observation is DeGruy-Leary herself, whose speaking schedule attests to its popularity. Never mind the science. When telling people what they want to hear cures them of their pathologies, we will indeed have a better world. Until then we have Joy DeGruy-Leary to send off her audiences to Never-Never Land.