We have all heard it before. It takes a village to raise a child. And it should. Community, love, support, encouragement, unity, inclusion. These are all basic things needed to raise hardworking, empathetic, productive adults. But. I fear it is slipping away. Being replaced by the modern day Wild West, social media.

There should be a great fear, a common fear, among us all when children become the target of hateful, disgusting, and inappropriate posts by adults. When a child, a 10 year old child, is the victim of social media attacks. Barron Trump did not ask to be put in the spotlight, in the public eye. He did not ask to have a businessman turned celebrity turned President of the United States as his father. He is just a child.

 

 

And then there is this gem of a tweet. Posted by Saturday Night Live writer, Katie Rich.

I can only imagine the outrage I would see if the SNL writer made a post attacking someone’s race or national origin. Lives and careers would be destroyed in a blaze of fire across the interwebs. Over the last several days and months, we have seen a massive movement form. We have heard their voices, their concerns for the future. We have heard their cries.

But a hateful attack on an innocent child?!  Silence. 

Silence is tolerance. Tolerance becomes acceptance. We cannot accept attacks on our children. We cannot tolerate this type of behavior by adults. We cannot be silent when it comes to protecting our children.

Where are the battle cries for our children? The uproar, the passion? Where is the call of action to Saturday Night Live to acknowledge the wrong done by one of its staffers? Looking through Saturday Night Live’s Facebook page, not a mention of Katie Rich’s tweet. No apology. Just silence … Tolerance … Acceptance. Most major news outlets have remained just as silent. Scrolling through my newsfeed, there are very few posts about the attack by adults on Barron Trump. It does not matter who his father is, or how much you dislike his father. Barron is a child. We must protect our children.

We all must rise together to say it is NOT alright to attack a child. That it is NOT alright to bully a 10 year old. That the children are off limits. Because the moment it becomes acceptable to publicly treat children like this is the moment we destroy this country, this society. If our children are raised in a world where it is accepted for adults to bully, degrade and attack children, then our children’s future is a scary place.

It takes a village to raise and protect our children, our future. It takes a village to stand up against those who hurt our children. We must treat and protect all children as if they are our own. Barron Trump is my son. And I will not silently accept or tolerate any attack on him. It takes a village.