Many of us can think back to the thrill of buying or driving your first car. Well, this young lady in Ft. Myers, Fla., had a very different experience. But first let me set the stage.

When I went off to college, to help me get around, my dad and uncle decided to get me a car. It had been decided that I would inherit my uncle’s old Volkswagen Bug. This was a major gift because, back in the day, guys would paint and trick out these cars with the intent to get the coolest points. There was only one problem that stood in the way of me hitting the open road in the ultimate hip cat car: I could not drive a stick.

It was decided that I would go to rural Alto, Texas, for the weekend to practice before my dad and uncle were comfortable enough to unleash me on the world. Needless to say, after a few days of traumatizing them both and a near-miss incident with a chicken coop, it was decided that I would get my uncle’s black Cutlass Supreme with an automatic transmission.

I hit the road a little disappointed that I would not roll back into Austin in the blue bug, but I had wheels and I was mobile. But like most stories and roads, there is sometimes an unexpected twist or turn.

I did not have my car for a month when my roommate convinced me to go to church with him one Sunday. So off we go to get our college praise points. We finish the service and enjoyed some good food from the reception hall, which I suspect was the real reason my hefty roommate suggested this particular house of praise.

We walk out to the parking lot and my car was gone. The only thing left was a bunch of shattered glass. I was dumbfounded. Did I really just get carjacked in the church parking lot? I immediately turned my rage toward my roommate, who stood there staring at me with his to-go plate of chicken.

“If I had been a heathen and stayed home I would still have a car,” I yelled.

Eventually my grandmother persuaded my uncle and dad to replace my car with a brand new Nissan, so all was well in my young world.

Now mine is not your typical coming-of-age car story, but most can relate. What I could not relate to was the story I read about the Ft. Myers girl who forced her mother to buy her a car.

Authorities say the 17-year-old got a gun, aimed it at her mother, pistol whipped her and forced her to drive to a dealership and buy her a used car. Now, if you are crazy and bold enough to pull a gun on your mother you would think she would have demanded a new car, not a used one. I am just saying.

The Lee County sheriff’s office charged the teen with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, among other counts. She was being held at a juvenile detention center.

Here is the real crazy part: According to officials, the mother said she didn't want to press charges because her daughter had been accepted to several Ivy League schools.

Well, I don’t care if she was a finalist on American Idol; this heifer is crazy!

People, you don’t just wake up one morning and decide to get a gun, pistol whip your mom and force her to buy you a car. You have to work up to that level of disrespect and bad behavior.

I can almost see the timeline of incidents that led up to this crazy car heist.

Age 5: Slaps the mother because she interrupts her watching Sesame Street.
Age 10: The car fetish begins on Christmas morning when she throws a tantrum and decapitates her Barbie doll because her Barbie Dream Car is the wrong shade of pink.

Age 12: An ATM camera captures her holding a very sharp # 2 pencil to her mom’s neck as she forces her mother to withdraw extra cash for lunch money.

Age 15: She is arrested for forcing her mom to drive her and the paperboy across state lines to get married.

People, where is the parenting? There is nothing in my soul that would allow me to disrespect my mother this way. Why? Because she got her bluff in early.

The first time this crazy child popped off, the mother needed to snatch her up. If not, then don’t act surprised when you find yourself at gunpoint in a used-car lot.
Are we losing our children because some parents are too scared or too lazy to administer real discipline?

***
Professor Locs, aka Charles Easley, is an educator who explores race, class, gender, sexuality, media and popular culture with humor and insight. Click here to read his blog.

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