Carlishia Hood survived the violence of the street and the wrath of the justice system. But at what cost?

OPINION: Hood, the Chicago mom whose son shot and killed the man who assaulted her, is a victim, but her decisions that fateful night were also problematic.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

The Carlishia Hood story is a wild roller coaster. There are videos all over the internet showing parts of what happened. On Sunday, June 18, Hood, a 35-year-old mother, went into a fast food spot in Chicago to pick up some food while her 14-year-old son waited in the car. Somehow, Hood got into an argument with 32-year-old Jeremy Brown, who was also waiting for food. 

In the video, we can see Brown escalating the mood to a fever pitch. He’s yelling at Hood, he’s towering over her, and he’s threatening violence. Then, according to prosecutors, he punched her in the head three times. In the video, we can see him yelling at her, insinuating that he’s going to hit her and then winding up and swinging at her with his full might. This man moved quite rapidly from a disagreement with a stranger to viciously assaulting her multiple times. 

I will shed no tears for Brown, who lost his life that night. According to prosecutors, he was shot and killed by Hood’s 14-year-old son. Hood reportedly texted her son from inside the restaurant before the assault and he came in during the argument.

It looked like a random argument was about to ruin several lives, but on Monday, Cook County prosecutors dropped the charges against Hood and her 14-year-old son saying, “Based upon the facts, evidence and the law, we are unable to meet our burden of proof in the prosecution of these cases.” It sounds like they saw the video of Brown viciously assaulting Hood and felt like it was a situation where a woman who was a legal concealed gun carrier responded to an avalanche of violence from a stranger.

One thing that is supposed to keep society safe is the threat of violence. Many people won’t do something violent to others because they’re afraid of equal or even more actual violence coming back to them. Brown tried to use the threat of violence to force Hood to say or do whatever it was he wanted from her. When his threat failed to produce the desired result, he made good on his promise of violence because he read the situation — a small Black woman — and was completely unafraid of the amount of violence that she would retaliate with. His reading skills failed him.

Brown punched Hood and Hood’s son was already standing inside the restaurant. The Hoods were ready with maximum retaliatory force. Brown thought he was the strongest person in the room, so he flexed his power. He found out he was not. And now he is a was. But he’s not a victim. 

Hood is a victim of his violence. I cannot understand the pain and trauma she felt after getting beaten down by this stranger in front of several people. I also can’t understand why none of the men in the room stepped up to stop him from hitting a woman. But I could never ever forget that I’m a parent, and my central job in life is to protect my children at all costs, even a steep personal cost to me. I would never want my kids to deal with my beefs or for them to pay for my problems. And I would stand in front of a gun to keep my kids from firing rather than letting them shoot someone and possibly end their own lives. Prosecutors alleged that Hood, “seems to have encouraged her son to keep shooting after [Brown] fled. And then allegedly told her son to shoot the girlfriend because she was egging Brown on.” 

Hood was assaulted repeatedly by a violent man, a terrible situation for her, but then she actively inserted her child, her 14-year-old boy, into the middle of a wild adult situation. She called him into it. She allegedly told him to keep shooting. I can respect the notion that he was protecting his mother, but did his mother protect him? Or did she open the door for him to ruin his life? When Hood involved her son like that, she put his life on the line. He could’ve easily ended up with a life sentence. Hood failed her child that night by getting him involved. 

Thankfully, the justice system saw two people who were defending themselves and let them go. It’s a blessing that the justice system saw fit to spare them its wrath. In a press conference after her release, Hood said, “I thank my family for supporting me and the people all over the world. The people did not play. And I thank God that everything was revealed.” Amen.

Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of the docuseries podcast “Being Black: The ’80s.” He is also the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is the author of eight books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter.

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