Betsy Robinson asked James McBride:

How did you and your siblings go from being beaten as a child to such a loving an appreciative relationship with your mother? This felt like a missing piece in The Color of Water. I understand that your mother too was beaten. But I'm assuming that you and your siblings did not continue the legacy. Can you fill in the missing piece?

James McBride There is no missing piece. It wasn’t a book about “beatings” It was a book about a mother’s love. We got spanked. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn’t. Usually, it’s not necessary y. But if a mother loves her children, and knows how to mother them, and she believes in spankings, why not? Some of the language that is used with regard to parenting is fraught with nonsense and political implications that are misleading and used wrongly. I’m glad she spanked me. I deserved em all.

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