From Schoolyard Threats To Community Action

Hello, welcome this week's Blonde Intelligence. I am your host, Ms. Roni, and I always seek to give you exquisite cranial repertoire. A mother fresh out of the hospital for a sickle cell crisis is jumped by a group of kids in Chicago while walking her children home from school. That single moment forces a hard look at what happens when schools miss warning signs, families face instability, and communities struggle to balance empathy with accountability. We examine bullying, what meaningful follow-through should look like, and how prevention beats reaction when leadership uses clear protocols and data-informed tools to identify student risks before harm escalates.

We also unpack the contradictions that make this story so unsettling. Poverty and housing insecurity can amplify stress and impulsivity, yet one alleged participant is a high-achieving eighth grader with involved parents. That tension challenges easy explanations and points to the power of peers, status, and group dynamics. We talk through discipline with dignity—how to set firm boundaries without public shaming—and why consistent, proportionate consequences help kids internalize responsibility. Empathy training, restorative practices, and mentorships matter, but they must sit alongside clear rules that protect the vulnerable.

Zooming out, we share practical steps for parents, educators, and neighbors: document and escalate bullying reports, push for campus safety audits, adopt student success assessments that flag barriers early, and build community supports that keep kids engaged after school. Accountability is not the enemy of compassion; it’s the structure that allows compassion to work. If you care about school safety, youth mental health, and real solutions to bullying and group violence, this conversation offers both context and concrete actions you can take today.

If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with your take on what needs to change first—home, school, or policy. Your voice can help push this conversation toward solutions.

#ProtectStudentsNow #PreventBullyingWithCare #CommunityAccountability

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:03):
Learn about the indie artist from the indie
artists.

SPEAKER_04 (00:06):
I'm Shannon Key.
I'm an artist.
My name is Lauren, as youalready said.
I am a singer-songwriter.
So I'm all femmes.
I originally come from theCaribbean, St.
Vincent, the Grenadines.

SPEAKER_03 (00:17):
My name is Brian Duce.
I'm an East Coast Canadianrocker.

SPEAKER_01 (00:23):
And then I found myself in Las Vegas, where I'm
at currently, dancing forCircuit Du Soleil with my own
solos.

SPEAKER_04 (00:33):
I'm a music producer.
I've been producingprofessionally for about 14
years.
I have uh worked with a couplepeople in the industry.
Uh Gregmy nominated, Trev Rich,Isha from 702.

SPEAKER_03 (00:46):
After I got my deal with Universal Music, after the
Alicia Keys and Gunner Record,and many other that I've done,
and then Alicia Keys was thenumber one adult RB song of the
year.

SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
I asked the question.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00):
That's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02):
Yeah, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05):
Ooh, uh, that is a good question.
Wow.
I love all these questions.
These are great.
Like most of the questions thatI get are like, you know, tell
me about Justin Bieber.

SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
Indie Artist Music Hustle is for the indie artists,
their fans, industryprofessionals, and the music
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Subscribe on YouTube, Facebook,or the podcast on Apple,
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Bye.

(01:37):
It's been really funny,especially hoping someone across
the pond.
Let's go.
Welcome to this week's BlondeIntelligence.
I'm your host, Miss Ronnie, andI always seek to give you
exquisite cranial repertoire.
This week I saw a story about alady that was walking her two

(02:00):
children home from school, andshe was attacked by a group of
kids ages, I want to say eightto I would say 14 because they
were like in the eighth grade.
And it was so many differentfacets to the story.
But I saw the story, and then ofcourse, you know why I searched

(02:21):
it on YouTube, and I looked atLovely T and she had like a a a
breakdown of things.
Of course, I still hadquestions.
But first of all, the lady hadjust got out the hospital
because she had sick of cellanemia and she had had a crisis.

(02:42):
So um for one thing she wasdisabled.
I'm just gonna say that becausemy favorite cousin died of sick
of cell, and I knew that she wasin pain every day, and that she
would get ulcers on her ankles,and that sometimes she would be

(03:05):
really weak, and um she wouldhave to go into the hospital,
and it wasn't just a couple ofdays if she had to go into the
hospital.
So I can just imagine this ladyjust now getting out of the
hospital and she's going to pickher, going to walk her kids home

(03:27):
from school.
And I'm gonna say this was inChicago, and that she felt that
she had to protect her kids byeven going to the school to walk
her kids home because she hadreported for two years that her
son was being bullied at school,and she made repeated reports,

(03:50):
and then come to find out thatthere were other um another f
another there was another familythat was also making reports
that these same group of kidswere bullying.
And I've said before, I used towork in child abuse and neglect,
and I have a master's incounseling, and I have seen many

(04:16):
situations, not the actualacting out where a group of kids
think that it's okay to go andswing on an adult.
I've seen that, but to actuallystomp this lady down, this lady
hadn't did anything to you, andshe having to go and protect her

(04:36):
kids, and she was like, I wouldnever hit uh a child, I would
never hit a child, you know, andI just think that it's just so
many facets to it because thenyou find out that one of the
group of kids which may answerto the fact that um there was a

(04:59):
wider range of of of agesranging from I would say fourth
grade to eighth grade.
Okay, so these had to besiblings because apparently from
some of the other reports thathave been reported, the mother

(05:22):
has five children.
She's 30 years old, she has fivechildren.
They were living with thegrandma some kind of way, the
apartment caught on fire, andthe I guess the housing complex
that they were living in caughton fire, and she was evicted,
and that can happen because I'veseen that happen before too.

(05:44):
And so the mother is squattingillegally with the five kids,
which probably explains thatmore than just them are
squatting because the aunt cameon in her own I know this is so

(06:04):
confusing, in her own, I guessInstagram, Instagram live or
whatever, first she was sayingthat Yeah, that was my niece, so
what?
Somebody got cracked orsomething like that, she said.
And then it ended up being shedon't condone violence, so she
was minding her own business,but uh, cause she's not her

(06:26):
mother when it takes a villageto raise a child.
But the peculiar thing thatstood out in her video was that
she had a coat and a hat on inthe house, which could probably
explain the squatting.
And that she probably was livingin that illegal space too, which

(06:53):
was why they don't have anylights or heat or whatever in
there in the house with coatson.
I don't know what coat thelittle girl had on, but then you
move on to another little girlthat was a part of it, and I
think that she was the one whothrew the first leak.
This little girl is in theeighth grade and is like captain

(07:15):
of the children's squad.
It was something like that thather because her mom made her put
a post on Facebook.
And I f I feel like that the momwas not taking accountability.
She was like, She comes from agood home, she has parents who

(07:38):
love her, and um she made thelittle girl say she was sorry,
and the little girl was crying.
And I think where the mom mayhave lost the audience was she
said, You need to remember thatthis is a child.

(07:58):
But this child was part of agroup of kids that beat up a
disabled mother that just gotout of the hospital and her
child.
Okay, so let's move on.
So then there was another ladywho had an adult son that had

(08:20):
autism, and they interviewed himalso, and the same group of kids
jumped him.
And I I don't understand it.
He had the same, you know, hewas like, I might have some
issues.
He was like, but I'm a grownman, I'm not trying to fight
some little kids.

(08:41):
So I kind of feel like that ifthis is the case, and allegedly
that these people are squattingand that these kids may be
hungry, that they're possiblyacting out in some kind of way.
Okay, so I get that.
But what I don't get is why isthe captain of the cheerleading
squad who has parents who taketime with her, who love her, who

(09:07):
do things with her, is actingout in the same manner.
Now, I do have a master's incounseling, and I'm not saying
that I know everything becauseone of the first rules is you
never practice beyond your scopeof expertise.
That is for one.
And when I say that I don't knoweverything, I don't know

(09:30):
everything, I am not a licensedtherapist.
I just have a master's incounseling, and I have worked in
social work, and I have ran manydifferent programs, and I have
worked with children on manydifferent levels, and I have
seen different levels ofpoverty, and I have seen
different levels ofsocioeconomic statuses, and I do

(09:54):
have an undergrad in sociologywhere I have studied people, but
I am still going to say that Ido not every know everything,
and I will not practice beyondmy scope of expertise.
So then some of the parents cameto the school to kind of like
protest because they're sayingthat they're not gonna let their

(10:19):
neighborhood be this, they'renot gonna let their
neighborhood.
And I commend those parentsbecause kids should be able to
go to school in a safeenvironment and should be able
to go and thrive and learn.
And I know that a lot ofdecisions are made from uh test
scores, uh summative, formativeassessments, report cards, um

(10:42):
those national scores orwhatever.
And they look at that, excuseme.
But I always, and I I am notsponsored or anything by this,
but ETS Student SuccessNavigator is an assessment that
high schools can give tostudents before they go to

(11:04):
college, and it identifiesbarriers that the student might
have to achievement, and itidentifies to advisors and
counselors the type ofenrichments that that child may
need to have, or accommodationsor anything, and then it has

(11:25):
like on the school level thethings that what your strengths
are and what your weaknessesare, and I think that it's a
really good tool, and it'sreally affordable, but I have
seen that a lot of schools don'tdo it, but if they did, the
college and career readinesswould be great.
And if you don't know, I I'veworked on my PhD in leadership

(11:48):
for higher education, and youcannot work on leadership for
higher education if you do notunderstand secondary education
and the post-secondary educationand the different levels all the
way up to the PhD.
So I'm just looking at all ofthat from even just the

(12:09):
professional standpoint of thetraining that I have had and the
experiences that I have had toknow that some things are
inevitable.
You know, you have to look atthe the product of the
environment, but then the peerpressure, and I think that in

(12:33):
this instance here, I've saidearlier, uh it takes a village
to raise a child, not children.
I mean, so you know, if it takea village to raise a child, what
do you think that it needs tofor a community?
So I think this was a very sadsituation.

(12:55):
I saw the different ways thatthe parents handled it because
then there was another parent.
I, you know, one of the thingsthat I used to work for a
program for I'm gonna just say aresearch institution, and I led
a program for the southeastregion of Arkansas.

(13:16):
And Arkansas has a high rate ofchild abuse and neglect.
And I had 18 counties in thatarea, and one of the things that
we taught in the program,because I'm gonna name the
program, the program was calledthe Nurturing Parenting Program,
is that you need to disciplinewith dignity.

(13:36):
And discipline with dignity doesnot always mean that you
embarrass your child.
Sometimes you can talk to them,it's the depending on the child,
how you do it.
Some people, some parents, Ithink, get kind of ignorant in
the way that they disciplinetheir children.
And I heard a lot of people saybelt to ass.

(13:57):
And well, belt to ass is notalways needed.
And I know these kids committeda violent crime because that's
what it was.
It was a violent crime, it wasan attack on a disabled person,
and that is a crime.
I don't know how it's gonna behandled, but that is a crime.
I will say that.
But um, you discipline withdignity, and I saw that one of
the parents um got on the liveand was like, you know they

(14:22):
looking for you, you know theylooking for you.
And the child got right back onthe live and said, Well, mama,
they looking for your ass too.
What?
So even with my own littlegrandbaby, she does things that
you might think is cute whenthey first do it, but when they

(14:45):
continue to do it, like, hey,look, let me tell you something.
That is not good behavior.
And good beh bad behavior hasconsequences.
And one of the parents, I don'tknow if it was a parent or yeah,
it was a parent because she wassaying what she would do if it

(15:05):
was her child.
She's like, she's not gonna belenient like that if it was one
of hers.
And I I understand that too, youknow, people have different
emotions about it.
But she was saying that she wassaying that these kids have been
getting away with things andhadn't been having any
consequences for it.
And that's just the same thinganywhere.

(15:28):
If there's bad behavior, therehas to be consequences for bad
behavior.
And I don't know about inChicago and how things are ran
there, but in Arkansas, bullyingis against the law.
You don't bully in school, youdon't cyberbully, you don't do
any of that.
And I think that the problem isthere need to be consequences

(15:52):
for the actions.
And like I said, I don't knowhow I feel sorry for that that
that mother with just gettingout of the hospital and having
sick a cell and sick a cellbeing so close to me.
With sick or cell being so closeto me, it it just I just cannot

(16:13):
fathom these children doing it.
And I know that with most ofthem being African American,
there should be somebody intheir family that they can
relate to.
So I know that they say thatadolescents share many of the
same traits as a psychopath, butthe difference is the level of

(16:36):
empathy.
So I think we need to start withteaching more empathy to our
children and having consequencesfor bad behavior and their
choices.
You have choices, and thenthere's consequences, and that's
all that I have for you thisweek.
But I really would like for youto share your thoughts on it,

(16:56):
and I'll see you next week.
Bye.

SPEAKER_00 (16:59):
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(17:20):
What'd you say it was calledagain?
It's called Indie Artist MusicHustle with Blonde Intelligence.
Girl, I'm gonna have to checkher out.
Give it a check, girl.