In October 2022, social media brought us the tragic story of Shanquella Robinson. Shanquella was a beautiful entrepreneur in the prime of her life. It is alleged that on 10/28/2022 Shanquella and six of her friends took a trip to Cabo Mexico. Within 24 hours of arriving in Mexico her life was cut short and the mystery of what happened to Shanquella began. Mexican authorities investigated the scene and deemed her death an accident. The remaining friends were allowed to return home, and no charges were filed pertaining to her death. The friends returned to the U.S. and informed Shanquella’s mother that Shanquella died of alcohol poisoning. The friends assumed this would be accepted as fact, and that would be the end of the story. However, before long new facts began to emerge. An autopsy revealed Shanquella did not die of alcohol poisoning. Her cause of death was a broken neck and injured spine. A shocking video soon surfaces showing a member of the group violently attacking Shanquella while in Cabo Mexico. In the video she appears helpless and unwilling or unable to fight back. None of her quote unquote friends stepped in to stop the brutal attack. Instead, they watched, laughed, and videotaped their friend being beat to death. The video sent shock waves throughout communities across the world. People are speaking out and demanding justice for Shanquella. This is an ongoing story.
Out of this story came various conversations. One trending conversation is on the topic of friendship. From the outside looking in, this story shows a group of friends whose actions toward Shanquella mimicked that of an enemy. A real friend would not violently attack another friend the way Shanquella’s friend attacked her. Real friends would automatically step in if they saw a friend getting attacked or harmed. How did Shanquella end up in Cabo Mexico and not realize she was in the presence of people who were not friends. This is not the first story of its type. We have seen countless other stories where people behaved in ways that showed they were not friends at all. What can we learn from these situations?
This is a sociology website, and this conversation takes me to the topic of assessment tools. Assessment tools assess different behaviors, traits, or knowledge in people. They are used by organizations and institutions around the globe. Employers use them to find employees with excellent work ethics. Schools use them to evaluate students’ knowledge in a particular subject. Mental health professionals use them to identify specific traits in their clients. You may be surprised at the number of places that use assessments. They are beneficial and can have a profound impact on helping people learn about human interactions. There is always a need for new and improved assessment tools. In this segment, I used the principles of sociology to create a sample assessment pertaining to friendship. The story of Shanquella is heart breaking. I believe her situation should push all of us to be more cognizant of what constitutes a good friend.
The assessment tool can be accessed via your mobile phone or the internet. Careful consideration was taken when choosing each question. Determining the traits of a good friend does not rest solely on how they treat you. Their character and how they treat others are also factors. The overall scores of this assessment should accurately identify friends who will have good friendship traits. An official assessment must be fine-tuned and evaluated for its reliability and validity. This requires time for testing and retesting the tool. Because of this, this tool is only a precursor to a more refined tool. Could this assessment tool save you or your loved ones from the impact of socializing with negative friends? Would it have stopped Shanquella from traveling with fake friends?
