For more than half a year, Alana Thompson has faced concerned backlash over her current relationship.
The teenage Mama June: Road to Redemption star is a 16-year-old minor who is dating a 20-year-old man.
June lost custody of Alana years ago, but she’s still her mother.
And she is speaking up in support of Alana’s relationship, and seeming to scold those who are wroried.
Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson has been dating Dralin Carswell since early last year.
She was fifteen when the relationship began, having turned 16 last August.
Reports said that her family seemed to like Dralin and the relationship … and that apparently includes Mama June.
June Shannon spoke to TooFab about many topics, including Alana’s love life.
“Yes, I’ve met Dralin. They’ve been together for over a year,” June confirmed.
She added: “People need to realize that she’s going to be 17 in August.”
“And,” June continued, “that [Alana’s older sister] Pumpkin and Josh were the same age as they were.”
Well … Lauryn also become pregnant when she was 17. Is that really a great comparison?
But June speculates that some of the backlash has less to do with Dralin’s age and more to do with his race.
“She is getting a lot of hate because she’s in an interracial relationship,” June alleged.
“He is older,” she admitted, “but at the end of the day, Alana’s not that 6-7 year old child y’all fell in love with 11 years ago.”
June reminded everyone: “Alana has grown up, she’s graduating high school next year, guys!”
It’s entirely possible that racism is playing a role in this.
Racism and white supremacy are a rot within so many aspects of our society and culture.
It is not surprising or shocking to hear that this insipid evil impacts how people might view Alana’s relationship.
However … the age gap is significant, no matter what June may think.
A four (or five) year age gap is insignificant when both parties are adults. When one is a minor, it’s entirely different.
Legal in some states, illegal in others, these kinds of relationships are put under a lot of scrutiny, and with good reason.
Why doesn’t June think that it’s a big deal?
For one thing, because as she notes, Lauryn — who seems to be doing just fine these days — was in the same boat as a minor herself.
To June, it just seems normal … even though it’s extremely abnormal and barely legal.
June’s own background is also something to consider, and despite the obvious marks that her upbringing have left, it is too often forgotten.
June was in her thirties when Lauryn gave her a grandchild, but she was already a grandmother before that — through Anna’s children.
Mama June became a “Mama” just a couple of weeks after she turned 15. That is nothing short of a horror story.
Someone who spent most of her fourteenth year of life pregnant is going to have a skewed view of maturity and healthy relationships.
June has also grappled with other traumas, from drug addiction to abusive relationships.
Someone who spent much of her life scavenging roadkill to feed herself and her family has lived a life so different from most of us that she might as well be from another planet.
20-year-olds are in wildly different stages of their lives than a teenage minor.
That doesn’t mean that Dralin is a predator, or that he makes a habit of dating high school students.
But the rest of us are more than entitled to say that it’s weird to see a high schooler date an adult — one who isn’t a former classmate who has now graduated, anyway.
Is Alana in danger? That seems unlikely, given the assessments given by all of her relatives.
But the inherent imbalance of life experience and more is not an unreasonable cause for concern.
A few decades ago, no one would have batted an eye, but in 2022, June’s lack of worry puts her in the minority.
