Bristol and Levi on the Next Episode of Maury?

Bristol Palin is now the new poster child for unwed teenage mothers across the country, thanks to Sarah Palin's unsuccessful run as vice president with John McCain against Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She was congratulated by folks from the Republican Party, conservatives, Christians, pro-life backers, and many others over the last year or so. She's been paid by many magazines for pictures of little Tripp, had gotten invites to do interviews with networks like CNN, and is currently a popular internet search as well (getting over 8 million hits on Google). I just love how they portray her as a poor misguided girl who made one mistake in her life and had the courage to keep her unborn baby instead of aborting him.

To me, she was just another little horny 17 year old who got caught up and now is facing the consequences in the media...and getting paid for it.

Bristol Palin is not much different from many other girls in my neighborhood: young, thinks she knows everything, and raging hormones. But, since she is the daughter of Sarah Palin, she was able to get the interviews (paid), show the world pictures of baby Tripp (once again, paid for), and will probably get a book deal out of her "abstinence doesn't work" confession. Bristol and Tripp will be taken care of for a long time and she will be admired for her stance and decision to keep her child. But, what about other girls in the same situation but don't have the Palin family name?

There is one young lady that I had as a student several years ago; she was 16 years old and about 4 months pregnant when I met her. Her child's father/boyfriend was also in class with her and was 17 years old (both students were in the 9^th grade). She was a smart girl, respectful, did her homework assignments, and participated in class activities. But she missed out on so many days because of morning sickness or extreme fatigue because of her pregnancy. Just like Bristol Palin, she (obviously) decided to keep her child, stayed with her boyfriend (she probably broke up with him soon afterwards just like Bristol and Levi Johnston), and was proud of her decision to keep and raise her child (she was more on the pro-life side of pro-choice).

But during the school year, I didn't see People magazine knocking at the classroom door to interview her about the struggles of being a pregnant teenager. I didn't see FOX having a sit down with her and her newborn, discussing the difficulties and beauties of being a new mom, and how abstinence doesn't work. Good Morning America didn't hunt down her (ex) boyfriend in the hood, commenting on how underage children walk around the neighborhood (no questions asked) at 10 o'clock in the morning, and asking him about when he saw his baby last and why they broke up.

They won't get the fat check for their interviews or financially set for a few years because of the revenue their pregnancy brought to them. They won't get the public exposure that will possibly help them further in life. They won't in the national spotlight. They won't be a popular search on Google. They won't be Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston.

What they WILL be is another statistic. Two young kids from my hood will be on welfare. They will be getting food stamps. They will be using public tax dollars to fund the birth and health care for their baby. They will have trouble finding a good paying job, time to go to school, and maybe even the desire to go to college. They will probably take advantage of rent assistance and energy assistance.

They won't be congratulated for their decision to keep their baby like Levi and Bristol. Instead of being commended for admitting that abstinence doesn't work; they will be condemned for perpetuating the image of oversexed African American girls who don't know how to keep their legs closed and have several "baby daddies" (I HATE that phrase!) and African American boys who think that their penis is power and go around making babies and continuing the cycle of little African American children with no fathers. (Yes, I used African American as an example, but nowadays, you can replace that with Hispanics or Native Americans or even Asians...take your pick.)

I like to call a spade a spade: Bristol and Levi basically got caught up in the heat of a horny moment, used their penis and vagina instead of their brains, forgot to use contraceptives, were whored out by Sarah Palin, and now they are facing the REAL realities of teenage parenthood. The only real difference between Bristol and Levi and my students is that one of the couples will be on a YouTube clip from MSNBC and the other from a Maury show.

Levi you ARE the father!

Yeah, that ain't happening.