My son is 7-years old. He is an active child who does well in school ... likes to play football and basketball ... enjoys X-Box and Nintendo ... reads ... goes to birthday parties. It is inconceivable to me that the police would roll up on our block and place my son in handcuffs, take him to the local precinct, fingerprint and book him.Yet, that is what happened to a young boy in Baltimore MD earlier this week. The police say that he was illegally sitting on a dirt bike on the sidewalk.
Back in the day, the police would locate the parents of a wayward child, especially if the child was on his own block. They might put him in the squad car and drive him to his house. What are we coming to when 7-year old children are being placed into the criminal justice system?
In Miami, FL the police used a taser gun on a 6-year old boy at his school. In Cincinnati, OH the law says that a youngster can be shot with 50,000 volts of electricity from a taser gun. Efforts to raise the minimum age for this police action failed.
One common denominator for these cases? They each involved Black children. Why are we surprised that there is such a negative view of law enforcement in the African American community when we continue to see these examples of the lynching mentality that we're told went away many decades ago?
As the mother of the 7-year old child in Baltimore said, "This has changed his life,” she said. “He’ll never be the same."
11 comments:
This is extremly bothersome. I could not see it acceptable for a child to be shot with 50,000 volts. The circumstances do not seem right for a child to be booked for sitting on a dirt bike. I am aware there is racism in the world from every nationality. This is where our faith for the Lord comes into play. We are all God's children and the world needs to be prayed for expecially our children.
Humble yourself in the site of the Lord and He shall lift you up. James 5:10
www.christinahancock.blogspot.com
Disgraceful.
Disgraceful is a good description of the situation. If Christina, Jackal and I can see that this is unacceptable ... why couldn't the Baltimore Police Department see it that way?
These are really disturbing news. The authorities should be the one protecting the rights of these children but in this scenario, it seems they are not even aware of it. Can the online community be like the outside world where we can always be equal despite our differences in age, education and race?
Jackal hit it on the nose. This is disgraceful. His mother should sue the police department for this abuse of power.
Due to this experience the boy now has a very real image of the police who are supposed to protect and serve the people.
There are few things I hate but Racism and Intolerance are number one crimes against humanity.
Are they serious?
Am a Greek in England, and just came here by accident. WOW, America well done. I thought that all this crap belonged to the past, Martin Luther's Era.
Anyways, keep the laundry coming, imagine if you were in Turkey where all this stuff are censored, and cant even talk about them or publish them in a blog.
I also took some time to subscribe here. If interested subscribe to my blog with a lot of activism material and educational links:
www.noemon.blogspot.com
Disgraceful, but hardly surprising. Just look at what the police are doing undercover up in Queens these days. 50 shots!
Nous --> thanks for visiting our Electronic Village. I agree that as much as we are disappointed in the way things are for people of color in America ... it is still a better place for freedom of speech than many other places in the world.
Don --> New York has always been hard on people of color. I recall before Rudy was given a halo on 9/12/2001 ... he was one of the most bigoted big-city mayors in history.
Villager:
This is the type of news that is enough to make someone's blood boil over. How can we be in any position to parade around the world espousing high moral regard when every other day there is another story like this one.
Not only is the little boy's image of police damaged, but even how he feels about himself and the world around him.
Great job on the post. Your theme is really on point and I am adding you to my blogroll! Thanks for keeping us informed.
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