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Nov
11
Katelyn Kampf Unhappy With Parents Light Sentence
Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Family Issues, Interracial Relationships, Race and Racism, Uncategorized by Rachel
Last year I posted the story of Katelyn Kampf. Her parents kidnapped her in an attempt to force her to have an abortion. The parents were upset that Katelyn, who is white, was going to have give birth to a child whose father was black.
According to media reports, Katelyn is unhappy with the relatively light sentence that they received for the kidnapping. Fortunately, Stephanie has been keeping up with the story, or I would have never seen it. Unfortunately, the family is still torn apart by the terrible actions of the Kampf parents:
In a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office, reached over Katelyn Kampf’s objections, her parents pled guilty to misdemeanor assault charges and disorderly conduct. Felony kidnapping charges were dropped, and the Kampfs will not serve any jail time.
In court, her father Nicholas Kampf said, “The whole experience has been a sad ordeal. We as a family have lost so much I am sorry.”
Lola Kampf also read from a prepared statement: “We have all made some bad choices in the past, and we will have to live with them. But we must believe with our hearts and soul that time will heal the wounds they have caused.”
But there was little evidence of any healing today. Neither one of the Kampf parents looked at their daughter or new grandson during the hour-long hearing. And Katelyn Kampf left the courtroom, crying, shortly after her parents arrived. She returned but then broke down and buried her face in her hands as she listened to her mother speak.
After the hearing, she explained her reaction, saying, “Even though she had done so many horrible things to me, I always looked up to her. I mean, she was my mom, you know.”
It’s hard not to have sympathy for Katelyn Kampf and her child. Not only does she have horrible parents, but she doesn’t have much help from the her child’s father. He is facing deportation to South Africa because he is an immigrant with a felony conviction. Furthermore, part of the conditions of the parent’s sentence is that they have counseling with their daughter. She still doesn’t want to be in the same room with them and who can blame her.
It is really sad to see cases like this where parents hatred of another race is stronger than their love for their own children. Sounds like another high profile case from last week.
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64 Responses to “Katelyn Kampf Unhappy With Parents Light Sentence”
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The parents can’t help but feel that way. Unfortunately, that is the way they were raised. My grandparents had similar sentiments to my mom. Thank God she didn’t abort me.
I should think that this young lady knew what her parents were like prior to having and interracial relationship. I doubt she expected the kidnapping, but obviously they have very strong feelings that are unlikely to change. To expect them to now embrace her and a biracial child is a bit much. From a moral standpoint I suppose we all expect people to put their children before their beliefs. But in reality, this doesn’t always happen.
I used to encounter this all the time when I was a social worker with teens. These white girls would hook up with a black guy, and their families would go apeshit. I’d ask them what their parents told them about interracial dating and they’d always say that they were told not to, ‘Bring a black guy home.’
If you know you have parents that feel that way you have to make a choice. People too often want to eat their cake and have it too. Her parents are racist. She chose to have a biracial child. Even worse, she chose to have this child with a convicted felon. Now she doesn’t have parents anymore, and will probably have to raise the child alone. It’s unfortunate, but highly predictable.
Ros,
So just accept the fact that her parents are racist felons as well and suck it up, eh? Yes, this is what happens when having Black babies, just all sorts of trouble.
The comments over at the ABC news site are just as enlightening. The focus for them is the child’s father, as in where is he, typical Black male, etc.
So, did the Right to life organizations get involved with this case?
Roslyn: since you have worked with teens, you should understand that 1) teenagers don’t always vet a person before falling fo them (just like a lot of adults, actually), and 2) they hear SO MUCH from their parents that “don’t date XYZ person” can fall into the same category as “don’t cheat on your taxes” or “don’t break traffic laws.” - nonsensical if it doesn’t pertain to them, and when it does, ripe for examination for hypocrisy and therefore dismissal.
It’s a time where you’re both prone to test parents for things you consider hypocritical, outdated, or wrong, but also testing the boundaries of your changing relationship with your family. Most kids rightly assume that if it came to dogmatic beliefs and the parent/child bond, that the parents would choose that bond over their ideas. In this case, Ms. Kampf was wrong and her parents chose a messed-up belief and made some horrible, criminal choices.
>If you know you have parents that feel that way you have to make a choice.
So you’re advocating that children of racists who are NOT racist conform to racist beliefs to please their parents?
>chose to have a biracial child.
Not sure this was an intended pregnancy…
>Even worse, she chose to have this child with a convicted felon.
This part of the story is new to me - anyone know if he was a “convicted felon” when the child was conceived, or is this a more recent turn of events?
>Now she doesnt have parents anymore,
Bull. She doesn’t have a healthy relationship with either of them. But there’s a potential for that to happen.
>will probably have to raise the child alone.
Wow. That’s defeatist. There are many definitions of family, there are a lot of single parents, and there are a lot of single parents who end up managing just fine, with or without a partner.
I take that statement personally - my mom was/is a single parent of a biracial child. She did raise me without a partner, and our relationship is pretty tight.
If you know you have parents that feel that way you have to make a choice. People too often want to eat their cake and have it too. Her parents are racist. She chose to have a biracial child.
Just like gay kids with homophobic parents get what they deserve when they choose to have sex with members of the same sex?
Also, it seems to me that she doesn’t want them to embrace her child. She wants them out of her life forever and in jail for a very long time. It’s the judge who thinks that, somehow, because she’s related to her abusers, it would be a “shame” to have them not kiss and make up.
I had a grandmother who outright told me never to date anyone black. I ignored her (knowing full well that my parents were on my side). Later, when other members of my family did actually marry outside their race and have children, Grandmother proved to value her actual grandchildren and great-grandchildren more than her racial views. I’m confident that if I’d ever been faced with expecting an out of wedlock child of a black father, Grandmother and Grandfather wouldn’t have been kidnapping me to make me get an abortion.
I just don’t see “parents kidnap you to make an abortion” as some sort of natural consequence of choosing to have an interracial child, or expecting not to be kidnapped as wanting to have your cake and eat it too. Even most racist parents manage not to do this.
“So youre advocating that children of racists who are NOT racist conform to racist beliefs to please their parents?”
Nope. I don’t advocate that anyone conform to anybody’s beliefs. But when you make those decisions you have to be prepared to live with them.
“Bull. She doesnt have a healthy relationship with either of them. But theres a potential for that to happen.”
Hmmm, dunno. Kidnapping and forced abortion seems pretty extreme to me and I worked in social services for 15 years. I don’t see these folks changing their minds. And given that they feel so strongly, she had to have known that before she decided to date outside her race.
“I take that statement personally - my mom was/is a single parent of a biracial child.”
I made no judgment, merely stated the facts. In all likelihood she will end up raising this child alone. Good bad or indifferent, those are the facts.
“Just like gay kids with homophobic parents get what they deserve when they choose to have sex with members of the same sex?”
As far as I know gay people are born gay. Hardly an analogous scenario. Again, not saying she had to comply with her parents bigotry. Just saying she shouldn’t now expect them to change their views because she chose to live differently than they do.
“Even most racist parents manage not to do this.”
I never said anything of the sort. I said that the fact that they exhibited such extreme behavior indicates that they felt quite strongly about this, and as such she should’ve been prepared for their reaction.
Roslyn: You should know, I at least am in part reacting to your words/written tone, which as written is coming across as condemning the victim, having a cavelier attitude towards racism (saying “even worse” about the father implies that having a biracial child is inherently BAD (bad, worse, worst)), and really condescending to single parents. Surely that’s not your intent?
Again - Your definition of not raising a child “alone” seems to be limited to either the biological father or parents? There are other scenarios and life paths that happen all the time, with positive effect.
>Bull. She doesnt have a healthy relationship with either of them. But theres a potential for that to happen.
>>Hmmm, dunno. Kidnapping and forced abortion seems pretty extreme to me and I worked in social services for 15 years. I dont see these folks changing their minds.
Actually, Ms. Kampf at this point doesn’t want a relationship with her parents, and I totally see why, while they apparently are showing some glimmer of remorse (or paying lip service to the same). That doesn’t mean that, as you stated, she doesn’t HAVE parents anymore. Hence the “bull” - she has them, they just suck at it.
There are still stories of people coming around after years of estrangement in dealing with issues like this.
“Now she doesnt have parents anymore”
In light of what they’ve done to her, how is this a big loss for her or her baby?
“I never said anything of the sort. I said that the fact that they exhibited such extreme behavior indicates that they felt quite strongly about this, and as such she shouldve been prepared for their reaction.”
Who generally thinks that their parents would pull a stunt like that? How should she have ideally “prepared”?
But when you make those decisions you have to be prepared to live with them.
What exactly are you expecting of her here? You’ve said that you don’t expect her to conform to her parents’ bigoted beliefs; fine, she didn’t. You’re not saying people are obliged to date only within their race any time their parents are bigots, right? The consequence she wasn’t prepared to live with was her parents’ criminal action in kidnapping her and attempting to force her to abort the baby, and surely you don’t expect her to be prepared to live with that. It seems to me that all she’s asking here is for her parents to get the proper legal penalty for actually breaking the law.
I said that the fact that they exhibited such extreme behavior indicates that they felt quite strongly about this, and as such she shouldve been prepared for their reaction.
Come on; even extreme bigots don’t generally up and announce in advance that they’re going to kidnap you. I can’t imagine she had any reason to be prepared in advance for them to kidnap her. Prepared in advance for them to disapprove, maybe. Prepared in advance for them not to be much help with the baby, maybe. Prepared in advance for them to shun her and the baby, maybe even that, since they probably gave some sign ahead of time that they were particularly extreme racists. But prepared to be kidnapped? Hardly.
So young man, please tell me how you expect to care for my daughter.
The parents reaction is understandable from the standpoint of looking out for their daughters best interest. The father of the child is a convicted felon who lived with his single mom. Before he got busted again for theft and was sent to the pokey.
Thats one bright future for Katelyns family.
Well, to add my family history…
My white grandparents were shocked that their daughter had decided to have a baby with a Japanese man that she wasn’t even married to. They told her that she was ruining her life and would ruin my future life.
When I was born it took them about 2 seconds to change their minds, and I — and my mother, and my father — had a very close relationship with them until they passed away.
I don’t want to generalize to all families, but that kind of change is not uncommon by any stretch.
Thanks Rachel for publishing this article. It goes to show that racist parents put obstacles to their childrens’ happiness, even to the point of kidnapping. That article is a sad reminder that there’s some parents who resort to extreme measures to prevent the coming of biracial grandchildren, whether is through abortion or adoption. And some of those parents claim to be liberal in outlook.
Stephanie B.
That is incredibly sad that her parents can’t see past race, no matter their ignorance or how they were raised to believe. That’s their grandchild, for God’s sake!
Ultimately the child loses out big time. No grandparents, a probably very depressed mother, and an absent father. It is always the most innocent who suffers most.
I am wondering, does the fact that the father is a felon count?
I don’t know why people here are acting as though this is some type of shocking story. Did y’all miss the special on CNN? They’ve been lynching black men for daring to sully Miss Anne’s drawers for centuries now. The only difference here is they decided to go after their own daughter instead. Young white girls have been playing this game for years. Daddy is the Grand Dragon of the Klan or something, and they can’t wait to lay up with any black guy they can get their assorted body parts on. Then the guy winds up deader than hell. Interestingly enough, the guy is always a poster child for ‘thug life,’ demonstrating just how ‘unracist’ she is. Nothing like buying into stereotypes to demonstrate your openmindedness.
Usually, the violence is enacted upon the black person, so I guess the only twist here is that they limited themselves to their own child. Otherwise this is nothing new.
Lyonside: I’m not condemning the victim in this case. I’m simply stating that she knew what her folks were like before she chose to be in a relationship with a black person. As for a casual attitude towards racismhey, this is still America, folks have every right to be bigots if they want to be. Clearly, they have no right to engage in kidnapping and forced abortion, but there’s no law against being a racist.
And my ‘even worse’ comment was spoken from the parent’s viewpoint, not from my own. Please point out anything I’ve said that was condescending about single parents. I can’t help what you read into my comments. She will, most likely have to raise this child alone. That’s a simple statement of facts, no condescension, or judgment.
I’m sure she doesn’t want a relationship with her folks. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why, but at one point, she most assuredly did.
“Who generally thinks that their parents would pull a stunt like that? How should she have ideally prepared?”
Ideally, if you know your parents are bigots, and I doubt this is a surprise to her, then you don’t try to maintain a relationship with them while you have a black boyfriend and a biracial baby? These people are clearly extremists. I don’t believe for one moment that any of their behavior was a surprise to her.
These people sent their daughter, an honor roll student off to Boston College, only to discover that she’d returned to Maine and was pregnant by a convicted felon. I would imagine any number of parents, racist or not, would come unhinged at the notion. Would most resort to kidnapping and forced abortion? Of course not, but I would imagine there would be a helluva strain on the family relationship.
Atlasien, I’ve seen that happen as well, but I think these people were a far cry from that from the jumpstreet.
What is wrong with people like Roslyn? “h well, that’s what she should have expected…” WTF!!! Kidnapping your daughter to kill her unborn child because of racist beliefs is not something ANYONE should expect. Ros, I’m not scared to say it: you suck. Thank goodness you’re not a judge now–or especially someone in power back in the civil rights era of the early 1900’s–the very idea causes me to shudder. It’s bad enough that your laissez faire attitude to bigotry was possibly subjected to young teens. Shrugging your shoulders and saying, “oh well” does NOT further the human race. No wonder the social work system is so screwed. Just my opinion.
“The parents reaction is understandable from the standpoint of looking out for their daughters best interest.”
O rly?
Gandolf said, “So, did the Right to life organizations get involved with this case?”
They did post about it on their sites when it initially happened, but I don’t think that they actually were involved in any advocacy on this young woman’s part. They also avoided the discussion of the racist element of the case.
Also pro-choice groups were really silent, and it seems to me that this case would be an issue for them too.
Roslyn said, “Theyve been lynching black men for daring to sully Miss Annes drawers for centuries now. The only difference here is they decided to go after their own daughter instead. Young white girls have been playing this game for years. Daddy is the Grand Dragon of the Klan or something, and they cant wait to lay up with any black guy they can get their assorted body parts on.”
While their certainly are some people who enter interracial relationships with sinister notions. Don’t you think you are taking to the level of stereotypes here. There may be a handful of white teenage girls who act like this, but I don’t think this by any means represents a majority.
I just feel like throughout this whole discussion you’re relying more on stereotypes of white women, who date, marry, or have sexual relationships with black men. I don’t believe for one minute that if I would have posted about Dog Chapman case, you would have said his son, a white male, should expect that type of behavior and be prepared to deal with the consequences like you did in this case.
Sure everyone will have to deal with the consequences of social prejudices and dysfunctional parents, but here the “consequences” are completely intertwined with the parents bigotry and are not at all fair, proportional, or necessary. I guess it’s like taking a kid who has is physically abused. Say the kid is forced to put his hand over a stove every time he gets in trouble at school. You could say he should expect to be abused every time he gets in trouble at school, but we don’t allow this as an acceptable consequence because it is not. The same is true in the Kampf case. The “consequence” here doesn’t match with the “offense” 1) because there is no offense 2) because what the parents did was criminal and well outside the bounds of their rights. Why should we spend all our time attacking the victim and not focus on the criminals?
Ros asked, “Please point out anything Ive said that was condescending about single parents. I cant help what you read into my comments. She will, most likely have to raise this child alone. Thats a simple statement of facts, no condescension, or judgment.”
Already answered:
>will probably have to raise the child alone.
>>Wow. Thats defeatist. There are many definitions of family, there are a lot of single parents, and there are a lot of single parents who end up managing just fine, with or without a partner
Let me spell it out AGAIN: your definition of “alone” needs work, and doesn’t reflect the reality of many single parents. You’ve got “tragic single mom” up there competing with “tragic mulatto” as far as sterotypes go. You say fact, I say stereotype. I know too many single parents (past or present) who don’t fit that idea of “alone.” You obviously don’t.
Psst: you may need to get out more.
[...] Katelyn Kampf Unhappy With Parents Light Sentence : Rachels Tavern “Her parents kidnapped her in an attempt to force her to have an abortion. The parents were upset that Katelyn, who is white, was going to have give birth to a child whose father was black.” (tags: interracialrelationships racism) [...]
“There may be a handful of white teenage girls who act like this, but I dont think this by any means represents a majority.”
I have no idea if it’s the majority or not. I just know that most of them that I ran into most assuredly did have such sinister motives. Why is it there a problem with discussing such behavior? There are many white girls who do this. Was that this girl’s motive? I have no idea, but let’s not act as though it’s beyond the realm of possibility.
As for Dog Chapman I have and did say exactly the same thing about him. Presumably his son knew he was racist, and knew what his reaction would be to him dating a black girl. Why go to him for a job? And certainly, selling the tape to the tabloids, to me, was beyond the pale. Why not make the tape, then go to his father and demonstrate what an idiot he is? Selling it to the Enquirer was absolutely, IMO, the wrong thing to do.
Once again, your example is not analogous. She was not a small child. She was presumably at least 17-18 years old when she chose to date this guy. She was old enough to go off to Boston College and then lie to her parents for six months while she sneaked back to Maine to be with this guy. So clearly, she was not in their control since they had no idea that she wasn’t in Boston. Then she came to their house and told them she was six months pregnant. Why? What was her motive there? She very much so strikes me as the type of young white girl I described. After all, it’s not like Maine is exactly full of black people. Yet somehow she manages to come up with a black guy, and a felon at that. Then, even more interestingly, she gives him a lovely Ebonically inspired name like ‘D’Andre.’ I doubt very seriously that it was chosen by the father seeing as he’s not American. Yep, sounds like a wannabe to me. I’m just grateful they didn’t kill the guy.
“You say fact, I say stereotype. I know too many single parents (past or present) who dont fit that idea of alone. ”
No, YOU read that in my statement. I said ALONE. Not tragically alone, not horribly oh my God her life is over alone. I said ALONE. You chose to read a bunch of nonsense in my statement that I didn’t say. That’s on you, not me.
“Psst: you may need to get out more.”
Perhaps you need to get your ’sensitivity chip’ adjusted and get it off your shoulder.
So, Roslyn,
You are some social worker!
You seem to think it’s OK for White folks to be racist, and in particular for them to not want their daughters to have sex with Black men - and you attack the young women for the horrible sin of falling in love with an African American!!!
That’s horrible - and you’re as racist as those White parents are!!!
The problem is with the bigots - you, and those parents, and in particular the evil disgusting creatures who tried to force their daughter to abort her biracial child!!!
The problem is NOT with the young women who put love before color!!!!
That’s just it Gregory, she didn’t put love before color. She lied and deceived her parents. Lived off their money and hid her pregnancy for six months. She was supposed to be in Boston in college, instead she’s laying up with the boyfriend back in Maine. Meanwhile they’re footing the bills. Then she went back to their house to tell them she was pregnant.
If she had put love before color, she would’ve cut all ties to the racist parents (including, and especially their money), and moved on with her life with her boyfriend. Not put his life in danger by continuing to use her parents for living expenses.
As I said, these young people want to have it both ways. Just like Chapman’s son. Supposedly they want to have nothing to do with these parents who they know are bigots, yet they go running back to them when they need money and support.
Chapman’s son is a loser for exposing his girlfriend to that type of hatred and bigotry. These young people know who their parents are, but they want their money, so they risk having their boyfriends/girlfriends hurt because they’re playing these effed up power games with their parents.
I’m with the others in saying that Roslyn should just STFU and stop trying to rationalize all your crappy holier than though attitude. Really Roz, the longer you try to justify how above it all you are, the more you come off as condoning the right of the parents to kidnap their daughter and force an abortion. I have to tell you that when I was 17 my mother didn’t approve of my boyfriend either and she was so upset when he came to pick me up for a date, she picked up the heavy desk type telephone and smashed it against the side of my head. After being largely absent from my life for 10 years due to her hypochondria my mother suddenly decides to try and control me? What an awful thing but Katelyn’s case is even more awful if only because her parents sound like horrible people who failed to understand that their love for their child should offset any of the other things going on with this case.
It’s the same old same old sad story–no white woman would possibly date a man of another color because she was interested in him or attracted to him. Nope, it must be because she’s trying to piss off mom and dad, trying to make a statement, whatever. In any case, the focus is always on the white woman and what she does, not on the illegal, immoral, and extremely unparent-like action of her parents. And the idea that anyone should expect this kind of crap from their parents is just unbelievable–unless they’ve engaged in kidnapping and forced abortion before, why the hell should any college aged girl suspect such a thing? And even if she did, so what–she should allow them to terrorize her enough to affect her personal life decisions? Nice philosophy you got there, Roslyn. I suspect it’s really just a not-so-subtle blind for your own racism.
Ros said, “I just know that most of them that I ran into most assuredly did have such sinister motives. Why is it there a problem with discussing such behavior? There are many white girls who do this. Was that this girls motive? I have no idea, but lets not act as though its beyond the realm of possibility.”
Ok here’s the problem with generalizing for a “clinical population.” As a social worker, I’m assuming that you were in contact with people who needed social services of some kind. This is by no means a random sample of the population in question. So I highly doubt that you were going to come into contact with more functional mixed race couples, as they do not need social workers in their lives.
So while you may be correct in saying that the young white women you came into contact with as a social worker were disproportionately “dysfunctional” or suffering from some stereotypical “jungle fever” mentality. This cannot be translated to the population of interracial couples or white women who date interracially.
“As I said, these young people want to have it both ways. Just like Chapmans son. Supposedly they want to have nothing to do with these parents who they know are bigots, yet they go running back to them when they need money and support.”
I think you need to try to put yourself in their shoes. Let say there was some issue where you really disagreed with your parents, and you were 16-20 years old. What you are saying is to basically disown them and cut them off entirely or face the consequences.
It’s really hard to “disown” your relatives. Especially when they exhibit contradictory behavior as they generally do in these cases.
And your still putting all of the burden on the person in the IR, not the bigoted relatives.
Two thoughts. First: Why are some comments on the case making such a huge deal out of the fact that he’s a “felon”? What kind of crime was it, anyway? There are a lot of stupid laws out there and a lot of ways to end up in jail for doing something that’s not even that bad. Assuming he even did whatever he was convicted of in the first place. Just because he’s been “convicted of a felony” doesn’t mean he’s a terrible person/deadbeat/lousy father/unfit parent. There’s always the possibility he will be able to put his life back together in spite of a criminal record in order to be there for his kid. Not that that’s easy in our society, but it’s not like his life and his family’s life are totally down the toilet because he has a record. Second: Why should dad be asking how this guy is going to “take care” of his daughter? She may be perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Some of the discussion of the case makes it sound like she’s in a position of childlike dependence because she got pregnant and needs a man who can take care of everything. That’s a pretty big (and stereotypical) assumption.
Actually Rachel, I did exactly that when I was seventeen. My parents weren’t bigots, but I wanted to do something they didn’t want me to do, so I packed up and left. I didn’t live off their money and deceive them while I sneaked behind their backs and did what I wanted to do.
“So while you may be correct in saying that the young white women you came into contact with as a social worker were disproportionately dysfunctional or suffering from some stereotypical jungle fever mentality.”
Does this family sound ‘functional’ to you? To me, they sound just the like the families I encountered. Their behavior is very much in line with what I’ve seen in my casework as is the daughter’s. A ‘functional’ family doesn’t behave this way. I didn’t generalize to the population at large, I spoke specifically about this young woman and her family, who have behaved just as other families I’ve encountered behaved.
“What an awful thing but Katelyns case is even more awful if only because her parents sound like horrible people who failed to understand that their love for their child should offset any of the other things going on with this case.”
Yep, a parent’s love should offset any manner of things, but oftentimes it doesn’t. Those are the facts.
“And even if she did, so whatshe should allow them to terrorize her enough to affect her personal life decisions?”
Nope, it means that if she wasn’t going to do what they wanted, she should’ve cut her ties, especially the financial ones, and moved on. That’s not what she did. As I said, she wanted to eat her cake and have it too.
Ros,
you said:
“She very much so strikes me as the type of young white girl I described. After all, its not like Maine is exactly full of black people. Yet somehow she manages to come up with a black guy, and a felon at that. Then, even more interestingly, she gives him a lovely Ebonically inspired name like DAndre. I doubt very seriously that it was chosen by the father seeing as hes not American. Yep, sounds like a wannabe to me. Im just grateful they didnt kill the guy. ”
This baffled me….. I mean, I was trying… trying!… to give you a chance when reading through your comments.. but this takes the cake. Makes you look like a bit of a racist yourself - which might perhaps explain your need to blame the girl for her own kidnapping and trauma.
By the way. Educate yourself.
even “mybaby-name.com” has more info than you.
” The Name D’Andre is a boy’s name with the meaning(s) : Strong, Brave, Courageous. A form of Andre and Andrew.” and is Greek, French in origin. ”
you know how those Greek and French are for using ebonics!
Karrie, how many Greeks or French people have you known named D’Andre? The name is regularly used in the African American community. The Andre part is of French origin, but placing a ‘D’ and an apostrophe in front is not. It’s almost exclusively found in the African-American community.
What’s this, the third accusation of racism, for merely pointing out that this young lady hardly came to the table with clean hands in her dealings with her parents. The parents are nuts, and their behavior is outrageous. I find it perplexing that people have a problem acknowledging that hers was as well. If the racial component were taking out of the equation, everybody here would agree at the very least that her behavior was appalling. An invitation to kidnapping and forcible abortion? Of course not, but definitely appalling.
And btw, Rachel, she was not 16-17 when this went down, she was at least 19 as she’s 20 now. And the idea that the NAACP would be interested in charging this as a hate crime is absurd. Especially given their attitude towards the travesty in Dunbar Village. But of course, those poor people were attacked by a pack of black teens and the NAACP can’t be bothered to defend a black woman who is attacked by other blacks. What a load of bullshit.
A little late here aren’t you?
This story is form late Spetember or early October. Why are you on it now?
So, we will just accept one side of the story and not the other? How does that work? How does that equate with equality? This is shoddy work at best.
That our illustrious DA should plea this way is just par for the course for her. She does this ALL THE TIME. After the press conferences of course..
“Furthermore, part of the conditions of the parents sentence is that they have counseling with their daughter. She still doesnt want to be in the same room with them and who can blame her.”
If she doesn’t agree to counselling then they would have to send her parents to jail for failing to fulfill their sentence….couldn’t happen to a nicer couple!
I have to say Roslyn seems to be the only one here who is dealing with the reality of the situation while every one else is dealing with some utopian should-a-been, should-a-be, and should-a-become.
The prosecutor and the judge put repairing the family above imprisonment. How much more progressive can you get?
Um, I have to ask. Are Roslyn and Froggy clever performance artists?
Performance artist? No. Someone who believes that imprisonment should be a last resort? Yes.
“Prison first” is far too conservative a value for me to uphold.
No, Raincitygirl, Froggy and Roslyn are “compassionate conservatives”, or GOP trolls - take your pick.
Jail should be the “last resort” for white folks who kidnap people, but we need to have mandatory sentancing for minor drug crimes or *shudder* immigration offences.
And, thanks to perfect 20/20 hindsight, Roslyn can tell us that it was Katelyn should have *known* her parents would do something extreme.
It also seems telling that Roslyn repeatedly uses the word “motive”. It’s obvious (to Roslyn) that Katelyn “chose” a black felon to have a relationship with, just to spite her parents. Uh huh.
Bottom line - it seems like what *really* bugs Roslyn is the money. Her greatest outrage is that the two children she talks about committed crimes of finance against their parents. How ghastly!
Froggy - some families should NOT be repaired! I mean COME ON - a family that kidnapped their daughter, and tried to force her to have an abortion, just because they didn’t want a Black grandchild?
Only David Duke or Tom Metzger would want to repair that family!!!!
Yup, definitely performance art. Top marks. I really thought you and Roslyn were serious in the beginning. Now, that’s dedication.
Mr. Butler, the abortion part of this isn’t even relevant because that’s a fetus, not a human.
And to Mr. Jester, this family is irreparable simply because of one news article and some bombastic blog blather? Were you in the court room? Did you hear all the testimony? Talk about stereotyping!
Court Jester, my greatest annoyance is that Katelyn engaged in deception of the worst kind against her parents. And now she’s gone further and accused them of being racists. Do we know that these people are racists? We have only her word for it, and we know for a fact that she’s a liar. We have only her word that her parents said anything racist, and they have denied doing so. Once again people are jumping in feet first at the first cry of racism without vetting the veracity of the person making the claim. I believe that any parent when confronted with a daughter who has lied to them for six months and is now pregnant and not attended school as she led them to believe would respond strongly, possibly even with violence. Does that excuse Kampf’s parents? Of course not, but if she hadn’t so effectively played the race card this would be a non-story, and all of you know it. Parents trying to compel young women to abort unwanted children is as old as time. But because she cried ‘racism’ all of a sudden this becomes a cause celebre. Sorry, I guess I’ve dealt personally with too many similar situations, and have had more than my fair share of encounters.
“Its obvious (to Roslyn) that Katelyn chose a black felon to have a relationship with, just to spite her parents. Uh huh.”
She wouldn’t be the first. Indeed, I’m amazed that you all seem to think it so unlikely. How does a middle-class white woman in MAINE for Pete’s sake, wind up with a black multi-convicted felon if she doesn’t do it on purpose. I would imagine that one could live an entire lifetime in a state like Maine and never encounter any black people. Yet, somehow she managed to find ‘Mr. Thug Life.’ At the very least it’s suspect, and if doesn’t sound suspect to you, then I’ll have to assume that y’all are gullible to the point that you shouldn’t be allowed out after dark by yourselves. Geez.
‘Compassionate conservative.’ Interesting, you’re the first person to call me that. I consider myself a truth seeker, regardless of where my own political convictions might lie. Personally I hate bigots and ignorance of all sorts, but I hate lies, decption and hypocrisy even worse. And frankly, I’m tired of folks (especially white folks) screaming racism to cover their own skulduggery.
I now have a vision of trolls in mimeface. Thanks Raincitygirl
Roslyn, please, for your own sake, allow me to give you some advice. When in a hole, QUIT DIGGING!
Mr. Butler, the abortion part of this isnt even relevant because thats a fetus, not a human.
Froggy, it’s extremely relevant. Katelyn Kampf wanted her fetus to stay in her body until it eventually came out the old-fashioned way. Her parents took away her bodily autonomy by forcibly confining her with the intention of removing said fetus from HER body against her vociferous objections. If it’s inside her uterus, she gets to decide, nobody else.
I have a feeling that if Froggy were ever to watch the “Epiphanies” episode of Battlestar Galactica, he’d be cheering on the strapping of a struggling, screaming pregnant prisoner of war to a gurney for the purposes of aborting her pregnancy against her will. He’d probably need it explained to him that no, actually, you’re really not supposed to try and do stuff like that to *anybody*, let alone your own child. Hell, he’d probably be disappointed by the Contrived Plot Device which ends up getting the whole thing called off at the last minute.
In real life, however, convenient Contrived Plot Devices are few and far between, and it’s people like Katelyn Kampf who end up having their bodily autonomy violated, and then told to go to counselling with her kidnappers.
What hole, what digging RCG? I couldn’t give a rat’s furry little heiny if nobody on this blog ever agrees with me. Indeed as effed up as our culture is these days I only get nervous when people DO agree with me. I think it’s fascinating that rather than rebut what I’m saying people have resorted to personal attacks, accusations of racism and mockery. How about refuting what I’m saying with simple facts.
1. Did she lie to her parents for six months while sponging off them and living with the boyfriend?
2. Can we then take her word for it that the parents are racist?
3. If the racial issues cannot be verified by a reliable source, then can we not take that issue out of the case and look at it for what it is: An attempted kidnapping by two people with no prior record. Given that no bodily harm was caused to the young woman or her baby, I think the judge’s sentence was reasonable.
Race in this country has become the ultimate tactic to divert attention from all manner of wrongdoing, and frankly I call bullshit. None of you would have the slightest interest in this case without the racial component. Indeed, in Rachel’s initial post about it, any number of people noted that they paid it little attention until they disovered that the baby’s father was black.
This isn’t a Dale Carnegie course and I’m not interested in making friends, nor influencing people. I have no desire to adhere to what’s popular. I’m interested in the truth. My opinion stands, whether any of you ever agree with it. This woman is a liar, period and the fact that everybody and their mama is up in arms on her behalf because she claims her parents are racist is absolutely absurd. The idea of the NAACP prosecuting this case as a hate crime is a travesty, and even more absurd.
I’m damned tired of people holding up all manner of nonsense as ‘hate crimes’ and I’m definitely fed up with people playing fast and loose with the word ‘racist.’ It’s come to the point now where neither holds any meaning.
These people are guilty as hell of trying to violate her bodily autonomy. By all means, burn them in effigy for that, but leave race out of it. After all, the only person who claims race was an issue in this situation is a known liar.
Um, Roslyn, way up at th e beginning of the thread, aren’t you the person who conceded the Kampf’s were racist, and their disproportionate rage was likely because their prospective grandchild was going to come out black?
You can’t have it both ways. Either Katelyn Kampf knew her parents were racist, picked a black boyfriend on purpose to piss them off, and should’ve anticipated that they’d flip out maybe tot he point of committing a major felony, OR Katelyn Kampf is falsely accusing her parents of having racist motivations because she’s a lying, “jungle fever”-suffering slut who took her parents’ money under false pretenses and is an all-round lousy daughter.
When I suggested you stop digging, this right here would be a perfect example of what I was talking about. If you change your argument 180 degrees when everybody can still read what you argued above, then people are going to call you on it. Sorry, but them’s the breaks.
You made a mistake. People do that all the time, write or say something ill-considered without thinking about the implications. Hell, I do it all the time, and I imagine I have plenty of company on this thread.
It’s not the end of the world unless you make it the end of the world. Like, say, by pulling out increasingly dodgy and self-contradictory arguments. And now I’m bored with having to state the obvious, so you’re welcome to post after me and get t he last word that way.
RCG, either scenario is a possibility. Just like everyone else, I took her word for it that her parents were racist. Then when I read the rest of the articles that Rachel posted, I backed up and thought, Wait a minute, whose word are we taking that they’re racist? The one person in the story that we know is a liar. So yes, I changed my view based on reading and re-reading the articles. My opinion now is, we have no idea whether these people are racist or not. And it certainly wouldn’t be the first time someone used it as a shield.
I have to agree with Roslyn for the most part. A lot of the people on the blog are being way too sensitive, polly-annish and reading into her statements too much. I don’t personally know the people involved in this case like every other person on this blog, but from the facts in this case, I’ve formed an opinion similar to Ros’s one about this one.
This young woman like many young women has an attraction for bad boys. In America, is not the ultimate bad boy, a black male criminal/rapper like this fool? In my experience, I’ve seen plenty of white girls go after black men for all the wrong reasons. I’m not saying every interracial relationship between black men and white women is like this but that dynamic does exist. This case seems like a prototypical example. She knew her parents wouldn’t approve of this guy and tried to see him on the sly. She got pregnant, sprung the news to her bigoted parents that she was having some black thug’s baby and topped it off by admitting to lying about going to college for 6 months. They flipped out, crossed the line, and did something criminal. A reasonable person in this same situation as this girl would have been upfront, broken off relations with her racist parents, and done her own thing. Instead she tried to slick, use their money, and see her thuggie wannabe boyfriend all at the same time. Her parents were wrong to do what they done but, that doesn’t change the fact that this woman made some bad decisions
Btw, I’m black.
“1. Did she lie to her parents for six months while sponging off them and living with the boyfriend?”
Where did this business about lying to her parents about being in college and collecting tuition money from them while dropping out of school and living someplace else come from? I didn’t see that anywhere in the article.
“None of you would have the slightest interest in this case without the racial component.”
Actually, I’d object to any attempt at coercing a woman into an abortion (and a six months pregnant woman, to boot, into a very late term abortion). If it’s done for racist reasons, it makes it all the worse, but it’s a seriously bad thing for any reasons.
“a black male criminal/rapper like this fool”
When did he become a rapper? I didn’t see that in the article, either. Is it that rapper and criminal are somehow synonyms, here, is does he actually do rap music?
“If you change your argument 180 degrees when everybody can still read what you argued above”
I’ve had some trouble figuring out what the argument was supposed to be, actually. At the beginning of the thread, I thought Ros was doing the tragic mulatto thing and saying Katelyn Kampf was wrong because it was wrong to have a biracial baby that people would disapprove of. Regardless of what other choices she might have made, because there’s no way to have a biracial baby and not have somebody disapprove. Later, it seemed to be the “white woman risks getting her black boy friend lynched” argument, and now it seems to be about money.
Her parents were wrong to do what they done but, that doesnt change the fact that this woman made some bad decisions
Well, in that case, clearly it’s not that big a deal. She made bad (but not illegal) decisions, so they committed a major felony against her and then got a slap on the wrist. The victim does not have to be a perfect person for the crime to still count as a crime. This is just victim-blaming, the kind we see in sexual assault cases. It’s not about what Katelyn Kampf did to “provoke” her parents into committing a crime, it’s about the fact that being a 19-year old who quite possibly makes crappy decisions is IRRELEVANT.
Lyn, is it not possible to have several arguments? I never made a ‘tragic mulatto’ argument, nor did I say she was wrong to have a biracial baby.
I did say that I’ve encountered plenty of young white women who engage in this kind of behavior as a type of power play with their parents. This is certainly in keeping with the known facts of the case. Girls with the most virulent racist parents go out and find black men to sleep with knowing it’ll piss their parents off. I can’t tell you how many cases like this I had in social services. And the girls were not in the least bit shy to acknowledge the motivation for their behavior.
However, the bottom line is, we don’t even know for sure the parents are racist, after all the young lady is the only source we have that they are, and she’s a liar.
The first article at Alas mentions that she was supposed to be at either Boston College or George Washington U, where the parents sent her to get her away from the boyfriend. Do you think they sent her off to college without any money? Instead, she shows up back in Maine, not enrolled in school and six months pregnant.
“…its about the fact that being a 19-year old who quite possibly makes crappy decisions is IRRELEVANT.”
Actually, it’s not irrelevant. In a case like this, that is largely he said/she said, with little physical evidence her credibility and veracity is very much part of the case. I would imagine that any judge/jury hearing the case would take that in account. No physical harm came to her, or her baby, these people had no criminal record, jail time in this case would’ve been highly unusual. Hell, we just had a murder case in Tennessee where the woman essentially did a few months in a mental facility and most of that was time served. The victim’s behavior certainly impacted that case, as it does many cases.
Here’s something to think about,
How often have you heard about parents forcing their daughter to have an abortion because she got pregnant by a felon? Assuming the parents and felon are the same race.
How often have you heard about white parents forcing their daughter to have an abortion because she got pregnant by a black man?
Which of the above two scenarios has historically been the case?
Additionally, this is what the AP report said, (Note:emphasis mine)
Defense attorney Mark Sisti said Tuesday that a sworn statement by Salem police who interviewed both Katelyn Kampf and her parents said nothing about the father’s race.
But Salem Police prosecutor Ryan McFarland said in court Monday the Kampfs had their passports, rope, a rifle and ammunition in the car. He argued they posed a danger if released and could flee the country.
Dion said Katelyn Kampf told him her parents got upset when she called them Thursday night and told them she was pregnant. The Kampfs had met her boyfriend before and been friendly, but the pregnancy apparently “changed the dynamic,” he said.
Katelyn Kampf said her mother “kept referring to the baby as a thing, as ‘It,’ and there were other comments made,” he said.
They invited Katelyn, who is living in Portland with her boyfriend’s mother, Peggy Johnson, to come to their house Friday morning.
So yeah, no racism there.
I’ll take back the “Is it that rapper and criminal are somehow synonyms,” since that’s more accusatory toward Rich than I want to be (though I’m still not sure how rap got into the discussion).
I think Raincitygirl’s point is the key one, for me; it’s not that the 19-year-old in question necessarily made great decisions, but that all those decisions become irrelevant once the kidnapping business happens. Even the worst thing she’s been accused of in this thread (taking money for tuition from her parents while dropping out of school and using the money for other purposes), if in fact it could be shown that she had done that, wouldn’t excuse the crime.
Actually, you know, I’ve never heard of parents forcing their daughter to have an abortion before. Talking her into it, yes, but not actually applying coercion. This really isn’t a freakish one off?
Lynn, I’ve seen or read about cases in both directions. You probably haven’t heard about them because they’re usually not prosecuted. Frankly, I was surprised that this one was. It may well have to do with the young woman’s age. (Most of the ones I’ve heard about involved younger teens) Forcing an abortion, is fairly commonplace. Granted, they don’t usually use a gun and duct tape, but certainly physical force such as beatings, etc… do occur. I had one where the girl claimed her parents literally locked her up in the house until it was too late to have an abortion. (This was before parental consent laws were passed.)
“…if in fact it could be shown that she had done that, wouldnt excuse the crime.”
No one is trying to excuse the crime. Simply showing that there were mitigating factors involved that the judge presumably took into account. I think most people could at least understand parents going to an extreme under such circumstances. I can tell you straight up that they would’ve been prosecuting my parents for murder under those circumstances. They would’ve waited for the baby to be born, then they would’ve killed me deader than hell. I have no doubt about that. I think many parents might’ve gone off under those circumstances, and if they’d never been violent before, that would’ve been taken into account.
The fact that she engaged in such deception would also put her testimony into question. In many of the cases I dealt with I’d have a 15 yo who just climbed through the window at 5 am, reeking of drugs and alcohol and covered in hickeys. The previous week she tested positive for an STD for the second time. Yet, when I would start asking about that, she’d start screaming about how racist her parents were. I would see their little eyes light up when they saw I was black because they thought that would make me turn on the parents. While the issue at hand was their risky and outrageous behavior.
Given that the whole race issue is not mentioned in the police report, any court would question the validity of her claim now. And really, all we have is the word of a liar that her parents are racist.
“I think most people could at least understand parents going to an extreme under such circumstances.”
Um, no. I don’t understand it at all. My parents would not have been happy about unplanned mid-college pregnancy. But I would never imagine ANYTHING like that, not in a million years.
Breaking news on this story was just released in Maine where katelyn is from I guess shes been charged with theft and prositution. Sure makes me wonder now!!!
“How does a middle-class white woman in MAINE for Petes sake, wind up with a black multi-convicted felon if she doesnt do it on purpose. I would imagine that one could live an entire lifetime in a state like Maine and never encounter any black people. Yet, somehow she managed to find Mr. Thug Life.”
I think people need to stop assuming they understand what’s going on in Karelyn Kampf’s head based on subjective experiences and their own generalizations/stereotypes/bias
Roslyn,
You’ve obviously never been to Maine. Do yourself a favor…if you don’t know and your only assuming based on some stereotype in your head, please keep your mouth shut. You only come off sounding ignorant.
I grew-up in Cumberland County, Maine (which is where Yarmouth, Kampf’s hometown is–no i dont know her, its not that small a place) and no you cant go your whole life without seeing a black person. Yarmouth is ten minutes outside Portland, a city that charity organizations tend to send a lot of refugees to. There happen to be significant and increasing populations of Somalis, Ethiopians, and now Sudanese (it has the largest population of Sudanese refugees in the country)
http://americancity.org/article.php?id_article=209
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5370972
http://www.pluralism.org/news/article.php?id=241
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6883697
The refugee populations have started to move into the suburban and rural areas (places like Yarmouth, for example). There are also African-American families throughout the southern part of the state, though not many. For example, growing up there was only one African-American family on my street, but I’m from a rural town, unlike Portland or Yarmouth which have larger populations of Africans and African-Americans.
Second point, I’m not going to find you articles on this, but Maine is a twisted place–lots of weird crimes happening behind closed doors. My sister’s a social worker in Maine, trust me I hear a lot of stories. Finding and dating a multi-convicted felon in Maine, not really out of the ordinary.
With all that said, your speculation that Karelyn Kampf must have searched out a black man because there’s no way she’d meet one otherwise in a place like Maine is utterly absurd. Please, please, please stop making generalizations!
The parents are messed up for doing what they did, but Katelyn Kampf isn’t without blame. There’s alot more to the story than just “she’s white and the parents didn’t like her with a black guy”.
Katelyn Kampf is a prostitute.
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=76454
PJ: She is innocent until found to be guilty.