Is this really what we’ve come to?
A 13-year-old boy who police say was doused with gasoline and lit on fire last week while walking home from school is recovering from first-degree burns to his face and head. The boy was just two blocks from his home in Kansas City Tuesday when two teenagers began to follow him and then attacked him, his mother, Melissa Coon, said.
Police have described the suspects as black 16-year-olds, while the victim is white.
via NY Daily News.
My initial thought was pretty simple. Something along the lines of, ‘how horrible.’
My second thought was a little more complex, like: ‘I guess this used to happen the other way around in the 50’s and 60’s but that still don’t make it right. I thought we’re trying to move past all that.’
My third thought was a little more controversial: Can you imagine if two 16 year-old white boys poured gas on a 13 year-old black boy and lit him on fire? What would the reaction be? Would there be a march? A riot? A protest? Would there be demands for an investigation into whether his parents were Nazis or otherwise racists? Would Jesse Jackson show up and lecture everyone on how to behave?
I don’t know; don’t have the answers. But whatever we’re doing isn’t working.