It's hard for me to believe a white mother would have been arrested for this,

[pnwmom]

given the circumstances. Apparently there is a law in Georgia that makes it illegal for anyone to help a minor to get a tattoo, and someone reported this mother after observing a 10 year old's tattoo. And so the mother was arrested and charged with child abuse.

Whatever you think about tattoos, I doubt you would blame this mother -- not when you hear her response.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/georgia-mom-arrested-for-allowing-10-year-old-to-get-tattoo/


When Chuntera Napier’s son Gaquan Napier asked her if he could get a memorial tattoo for his 12-year-old brother Malik who died after being hit by a car, Napier was touched by the request.

“My son came to me and said, ‘Mom, I want to get a tattoo with Malik on it, rest in peace,’” she told ABC News’ Atlanta affiliate WSBTV. “It made me feel good to know that he wanted his brother on him.”

When Gaquan Napier was asked why he wanted the tattoo, he said, “Because it represents my brother.”

“What do I say to a child who wants to remember his brother? It’s not like he was asking me, ‘Can I get Sponge Bob?” Napier said. “He asked me [for] something that’s in remembrance of his brother. How can I say no?”

[Brickbat]

1. As I said in another thread, he should have asked to have gotten his ears pierced.

Then it wouldn't have been an issue at all.

[markpkessinger]

2. And that rather exposes the hypocrisy in all this, don't you think? n/t

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. I don't think race would matter in this case

The one I have real questions about is the tattoo artist.

[LadyHawkAZ]

25. Same here

I've never known a legitimate artist to do someone younger than 16, for any reason, because the skin changes too much during the teens and will ruin the tattoo.

[jberryhill]

3. Whom did she engage to provide the tattoo?

One would expect that anyone legitimately engaged in providing tattoos in Georgia would know it to have been illegal.

In most states, minors may consume alcohol at home with parental consent, but one would expect that moonshine would be another story.

[pnwmom]

29. She's not telling. The article says it might not have been a professional. n/t

[jberryhill]

31. Uh-huh... you see where I'm going, eh?

[MotherPetrie]

4. I agree that a white mother would not have been charged, but

When a child asks you to let him do something harmful to himself, you say no.

[The Doctor.]

51. Harmful how?

Can you please explain the harm in his memorializing his brother in a way he would always have with him?

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. It seems like it should have been illegal for the tattoo artist to ink a minor.

Last edited Sun Jan 22, 2012, 09:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Mom: I'd like to have my 10 year old inked...

Tattoo Artist: No...

End of story, nothing to see here move along please.

[Mimosa]

17. Agree: no racial issue

I've known a couple of young people who contracted hepatitis from tattooes.

This is a serious health issue.

I say NO to tattooing children.

[Broderick]

19. I have to agree.

It's not reversible like getting ears pierced or as easily reversed. Health issues. Ect. I understand the sentiment on this but there are far better options to remember someone at that age.

[DeathToTheOil]

45. No racial issue?

How can you be sure? When it comes to parents, certain laws get neglected all the time.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. Georgia actually has done so in the past....

In Louisiana parental consent allows minor tattooing, Georgia and most other States do not.

[virgogal]

7. A poor white woman would be---a wealthy black woman wouldn't be. It's

all about money and connections.

[RC]

8. My comment posted under the story at the link.

Too many people here cannot read. The tattoo was done by an amateur, not in a tattoo parlor. Few, here mentioned the couture the mother lives in. That has a bearing with this.
I agree with those that know that if the mother and kid were astute enough to have been born white, there would not be any issue here at all. Oh, the horror to have color in the skin. Get over it people, we are all different in some way. It should no[t] matter!
Nothing was indicated about their family life, whether the mother was employed or not, where they lived, etc., and yet someone said to plant a tree in the backyard? And if there is no back yard for the tenement? Regardless of those wanting to remove the tattoo from the kid, the kid will have the memorial with him everywhere he goes, unlike a tree.
The story only says the tattoo is on his right arm. It does not state where on the arm. Even so, I'm not seeing how this will impact any future employment. Tattoos are main stream now-a-days. Both my kids, girls have tattoos. One is currently in Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. Tattoos didn't stop her.
This woman is being harassed because 1- she is poor. 2- she is not white. 3- She is not a threat to the cops and so they can safely intimidate her. Anyone see the real problem here? It is not the tattoo.


(I have no idea if or when it might show up)

[xmas74]

15. I have a problem with two things.

One-it's a ten year old child. In this case the mother should have said "That's nice but that's something you do when you're older." Let the child have time to grow up and decide if they still want one. In eight years he could have walked into any parlor and had it done legally.

Two-it was done by an amateur. I have a real problem with that part. How clean is the person's set up? What kind of environment? If it wasn't up to standards the child could have caught any number of diseases.

I have a couple of tattoos. I don't have a problem with them. I just think that, in the case of a child, there should have been a wait. And I have a huge problem with amateurs buying guns and going solo out of their garage/bedroom/car.

[pnwmom]

32. I agree this wasn't optimal. But should the woman have been arrested and charged criminally?

Is this going to be good for her child?

[msanthrope]

34. Yes. She should be arrested and charged criminally. She stood by and watched

her kid being tattooed by a non-professional, exposing him to any fuck-all germ sitting on the end of a sharp that was also used to tattoo prisoners....

Yeah--at the very least, that kid's gonna need medical attention.

[cherokeeprogressive]

21. The link says the police chief stated it "appeared" to be the work of an amateur.

Since the mother isn't cooperating with the investigators, we don't know that it IS the work of an amateur.

Since when is enforcing a law meant to protect minor children harrassment?

[Recovered Repug]

10. Is it hard for you to believe that

a white father and step-mother would be arrested?

http://jonathanturley.org/2010/01/04/georgia-parents-arrested-for-giving-kids-tattoos/

[pnwmom]

33. I think that under the circumstances, a memorial to a dead brother,

it would have been unlikely for a white mother to have been arrested and to be facing criminal charges.

Prosecutors have discretion about which charges they bring. I think most would have been more sympathetic to this woman, given her circumstances -- and I think her race might have something to do with how she was treated.

[msanthrope]

37. She can plead that as a defense at her trial. The old "I had a good and sentimental

reason to break this law," defense.

[Codeine]

11. You'd be wrong

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-tattoo-parents,0,2029529.story

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-06/news/29408596_1_tattooing-six-georgia-couple-georgia-man

[Nye Bevan]

14. Good find. I'm baffled as to why the OP decided to inject race into this incident.

I expect the OP will be retracting very soon.

Or maybe not.

[pnwmom]

35. If you're baffled then you haven't been paying attention

to reports all over the country of higher rates of pressing criminal charges against black people than white people for similar crimes.

The prosecutors have discretion over who they charge and who they don't, and this has resulted in uneven prosecution rates in many locales.

[HockeyMom]

12. If my kid was 10? No.

If my kid was 16? I would definitely have to think about that one, especially it the tat was of their deceased sibiling.

[obamanut2012]

13. I would ahve said yes, when you are legally allowed to

Whether 16, 18, or whatever, and I would tell my child I would pay for it, and do something else to remember him by until then.

I think it is very sweet, but 10 is too young, and get a pro to lay down ink. Always.

[Nye Bevan]

23. +1 nt

[jody]

16. Some might view your use of "white mother" as a racist, bigoted statement. nt

[Le Taz Hot]

26. It's fine on DU to

demonize all white people and make the assumption that all white people everywhere are racists. I miss "unrec."

[jody]

28. Sad that DU'ers from all races, religions, cultures can't find common ground. How can any government

hope to succeed when the population at large is so much more divided that we DU'ers?

[pnwmom]

41. Please explain how this white mother managed to demonize all white people?

It's hardly news -- or it shouldn't be here -- that there are uneven prosecution rates affecting different races across the country.

[pnwmom]

38. Well, those "some" are wrong. I have no prejudice against white mothers,

as I am one myself.

Have you ever heard of the crime of "driving while black"? I wouldn't be surprised if the same principal applied here. That doesn't make me racist or bigoted.

[Bill O-Rights]

40. principle

not principal
\

[pnwmom]

42. Well, that's getting to the heart of the matter.

[Bill O-Rights]

43. Thank you, I think it's advantageous for us not to appear illiterate.

[pnwmom]

44. I think it's advantageous not to appear petty. n/t

[Bill O-Rights]

48. Well, we all have the choice.

[Mimosa]

18. In GA a white mother probably would get in trouble over this.

I live here, grew up here. Race comes into about everything. But I doubt race entered this one.

[cordelia]

20. I agree.

I wonder what the purpose of mentioning the mother's race was. Seems very strange.

[Nye Bevan]

22. +1. When did child abuse become a racial issue?

Last edited Mon Jan 23, 2012, 12:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Strange post-and-run here.

[msanthrope]

24. Oh--when your 10-year old kid shows up to school with a jailhouse tat, the cops are getting called.

I don't care what your color is.

I don't know if you saw the tattoo on the news clip, but that was certainly NOT done in a parlor, by a professional. ANY CHILD who showed up with that hot mess on his arm would get a call made.

[pnwmom]

39. No, I didn't see the actual tattoo. Thanks for the info, misanthrope. n/t

[uppityperson]

47. Here's a picture of mom and kid's tattoos (kid on right). It's not so bad.

[slackmaster]

27. I would have had no trouble saying no to a request like that frrom a 10-year-old.

I'd say the same thing either of my parents would have said to me: "When you turn 18, you can get any kind of tattoo you want."

Other than that, this topic appears to be race-baiting.

[XemaSab]

36. And she didn't say to the kid

"You're 10, and it's going to look like ass when you're 18?"

Saying NO is a part of being a PARENT.

[Bruce Wayne]

46. Stop it, all of you, you fools! You fools!

You're all buying into the same sweeping racial generalizations that keep our fair community divided--needlessly divided, I might add. Please think before you add ugliness to the Mulitverse. Everytime, like some hack comedian, you say "White people are this" or "Black people are that," you only play further into the conniving hands of Kaptain Klanman.

[onenote]

49. Problem is that white mothers (and fathers) have been arrested for essentially the same thing

so it really shouldn't be hard to believe that they would have been, even if its also possible that they wouldn't have been.

[redqueen]

50. It's hard for me to believe any parent wouldn't be arrested for it.

[blueamy66]

52. Where did the names come from?

Chuntera? Gaquan? Really? LOL!!!!!!