If you grew up with a Black mother, you likely heard the threat that she would knock your teeth out if you ever disrespected her. And Angie Stone’s daughter, Diamond Stone, learned the hard way, that the threat was anything but idle.
We all remember the horrific images Diamond released last year of the teeth her mother had knocked, clean out of her mouth. (Angie later told Steve Harvey that Diamond’s teeth were already rotting and brittle, so it didn’t take much.)
And while Angie Stone has been very clear about her specific involvement in that altercation, never denying what she did, a grand jury decided that she will not face criminal charges for the violence she inflicted upon her child.
According to our sister site, Bossip, a DeKalb County grand jury, in Georgia, declined to indict 54-year-old Stone for assaulting 30-year-old Diamond.
You may remember the argument turned physical last March as the two women were sharing Angie’s home, along with Diamond’s children. According to a police report, Angie admitted to officers that she struck Diamond in the face with a metal jewelry stand after yelling at her to get her children under control.
Angie was facing domestic aggravated assault charges but the jury decided the case need not progress any further.
Bossip reached out to Diamond to see what she felt about the case being dismissed. Turns out, she had mixed feelings about it.
“I didn’t want her to go to jail but I thought there would be some type of reprimand.”
She also wished the judge or jury had recommended counseling for she and her mother, in light of their strained past.
“I just want to be clear that just because she was not brought up on charges, doesn’t erase what she did. That’s the main thing. I’m ok, my kids are okay. Everybody is doing well. But [I don’t want people to think] because no charges were brought, that it was fictitious, or it wasn’t as bad as it actually was. I don’t want to be forgotten about.”
Diamond, who recently moved out of her mother’s home, said that their relationship is much better these days and she is now working on a singing career of her own.
We were discussing this story in the office, and honestly I can’t say I disagree with the grand jury’s decision.
In our initial story, Stone told police that her striking Diamond in the face with a metal object, was in retaliation for Diamond punching her in the face several times.
None of us were there and we’ll likely never know what truly transpired that night. (Though, in their sit down with T.D. Jakes Diamond did admit that she cusses at both her mother and grandmother.) But I know that if I even looked like I was going to put my hands on my mother, one of the potential consequences is not only getting my teeth knocked out, but death. And I don’t say that jokingly.
As a girl and then adolescent, my mother popped me, (open handed slap on my lips) for simply rolling my eyes or saying something slick out my mouth, on more than one occasion. She doesn’t tolerate disrespect. Even now that I’m a grown woman, I don’t doubt that she still might run up.
But honestly, I would never even dream of hitting her. Not only would it not end in my favor, this is the woman who brought me into this world. If she never did another thing for me, she deserves, at the very least, not to be attacked by her own child.
Now, I know that not everyone is close to their mother. Every mother isn’t maternal or even kind and decent to their children. Still, unless it’s an issue of self defense, I can’t see why a physical altercation would ever be necessary. And if you know you and your mother can’t seem to get along with one another, why move into her house, as a grown woman? Perhaps that was Diamond’s only option, in which case, as a mother herself, she should have played it extra cool. Because even if Angie didn’t knock her teeth out, she would have been well within her rights to allow the children to stay and put Diamond out on the street. Nobody wants to be attacked in their own home, no matter who it is.
If the jury was really indicative of the population in DeKalb County, Georgia, there were bound to be some Black people represented, who might have been likely to share my sentiments. I’m well aware that, as someone who is vehemently against domestic violence, I could be incredibly hypocritical in my stance. But my conditioning won’t allow me to see how Diamond doesn’t at least bear some of– if not most of– the burden in this situation.
Really, while most of us will never support domestic violence, what should be the punishment for a mother who retaliates against an adult child, who attempted to fight her, in her own home?
