No one really knows what lurks beneath the dynamics of the family relationship. Parents can be awful to their children. Children can be spiteful to their parents. Maybe they have good reason. Maybe no. But family has long been recognized as a entity of enormous value, to be encouraged in law and protected from outside attack. How, then, did the disintegration of the familial relationship turn Helena Duke into a hero?
For four years, Helena Duke, an 18-year-old high school senior in Massachusetts, had been growing further apart from her mother over their political views. She marched in protests for racial justice to her mother’s outspoken disapproval, she said. All the while her mother, a longtime Democrat, became ever more supportive of President Trump.
Note the three words, buried in the last sentence: “A longtime Democrat.” How much of Helena’s political perception was formed by her parents’, her mother’s, longtime support for Democrats? While there’s no information on the issue, did mom vote for Obama? Twice? Probably. A lot of people did, but then voted against the Dems. What happened to mom? Did she just turn stupid and evil, or was it something else?
No matter. Mom was moved to go to Washington. Mom went into the Capitol. Mom joined the insurrection. Helena saw the video of bloodied mom and took action.
A Black woman is seen in the middle of a crowd of Trump supporters in Washington, D.C.; a white woman swings her hand at the Black woman’s face, the Black woman hits her in return; then the crowd angrily confronts the Black woman.
hi mom remember the time you told me I shouldn’t go to BLM protests bc they could get violent…this you? https://t.co/9ZkbAq0ehO
— Helena Duke (@duke_helena) January 7, 2021
And then came the payback.
Hi this is the liberal lesbian of the family who has been kicked out multiple times for her views and for going to BLM protests to care what happens to me so:
Mom: Therese Duke
Uncle: Richard Lorenz
Aunt: Annie Lorenz pic.twitter.com/cuBAPJ3GJA— Helena Duke (@duke_helena) January 7, 2021
There’s a lack of clarity here, whether she was thrown out of the house or not, and if so, the reasons why, and one should be very cautious about reading too much into these twits. Duke wasn’t put out on the street, but lives with her father at the moment, although she appears to have moved between the houses of her parents. There is little detailed information available, and contrary to many people’s inclination, you can’t just make it up.
What she has not done much is talk, beyond a few short texts, to her mother. Now living with her father, Ms. Duke said that even a short trip to pick up some clothes from her mother’s house over the weekend involved a police escort.
What kind of child rats out her mother? A very angry, resentul child? A child indoctrinated to believe that she has a greater duty to her ideology than to the woman who gave her life? Both? More? The real underlying cause is between mother and daughter, but that didn’t stop Helena Duke from becoming a hero to the cause for ratting her mother out.
In the days since the first tweet, which has been shared more than 80,000 times, Ms. Duke has achieved some degree of celebrity, raising thousands of dollars in a fund-raiser for her college tuition and hearing from strangers nationwide who feel alienated from their family members over politics.
A gofundme? But of course. Why enjoy the adoration of thousands of unduly passionate if you can’t make bank on it?
As you may know from recent twitter and news sources I have called out my mother for her actions. At the moment I have no idea how I will be paying for college as I have little financial support. I have a dream of one day becoming a lawyer but I need help to get there. I hope to attend college and then go into the peace corps. Eventually I hope to enter into law school. I want to make the world a better place I just need some help.
On the one hand, what better way to begin one’s journey to becoming a lawyer than ratting out your mother. On the other hand, most children turn to their family for financial support for college and beyond. But she “want[s] to make the world a better place,” as do we all, so she needs money from her OnlyFans. And as of the moment, she’s got more than $58 grand to show for it together with some supportive comments.
Doing the right thing is hard, what you did was admirable.
Helena, thank you for having the courage to identify your mother. I know it wasn’t easy, but you obviously have guts and a will to “do the right thing”! You should consider combining a Social Work degree with your Law degree… it would be a great combination for you! Remember, the family we choose for ourselves is more important than the one we were born into. Good luck in your future endeavors!
The world needs more good people. People who are empathetic with others. People who understand that everyone matters. People who understand that we all have biases and prejudices we need to be cognizant of and work to move away from. You are one of these people. Thank you. I wish you well on your journey to becoming a lawyer and to stand up for your fellow people!
And it’s not just young people.
The truth no matter if it costs you. We need a LOT more of that. After you finish law school and have made enough money, please run for office. We need your generation to clean up the mess my generation has made. Sorry for dumping that on you, but you have what it takes.
Even lawyers support her cause.
From a current lawyer to a future lawyer. You’ve already made a difference once, and I suspect you’ll be 1000x more effective with a law license.
Whether Duke’s mother treated her so poorly, so terribly, that she deserved her daughter’s betrayal is unknown. Frankly, disapproval of her politics or her gender orientation, an open question that’s somewhat implied but unclear, falls a bit shy of some of the most horrific things parents have done to children. There are truly bad parents who do truly terrible things to their children. Was that the case here? It isn’t clear.
Nor is that to say that Therese Duke doesn’t deserve to be arrested and prosecuted for her conduct. But when did a child become a hero to the woke for ratting out her mother? When did that become a reason to give her money and “admiration”?
It’s impossible for an outsider to judge whether Helena Duke’s actions in outing her family, her mother, aunt and uncle, has some justification beyond their being part of an insurrection and she being on the other team. However, make a child a hero for ratting out mom, giving her money for her bravery, would bring a smile to any despot’s face. Who better to turn into your secret police than the children?
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