Why is the GZ and TM situation causing conflict instead of grief and reflection? Because we are all beyond being naive enough to believe it has anything to do with TM. Of course there are some folks who are genuinely upset with this young man's murder - but the froth? We know, don't we, that it's about maneuvering for political advantage.
I could almost never take all the hoo haa about racism and "shot because he was black" because that sort of choice is inconceivable to me. I have met one person at least who would do such a thing, and thought he was a monster. Those people define the rule by their glaring exception.
I don't see this as an incident of race, per se. I don't think GZ killed TM because TM was black, nor did TM get GZ's attention because he was black. Having been in fights, in training, and knowing how it feels - GZ's last consideration was the race of his attacker. Under that much duress, no one cares who is causing it. They just want it to stop.
However, behaviors that are normal for TM and his peers, are not normal for GZ and his peers. TM thought punching GZ and sitting on him to beat him was a good idea (apparently). Who was in his life that would have told him or taught him otherwise? Seemingly, his parents were not playing that role.
Do we hold parents accountable these days for the conduct of their kids? If not, why not?
I could almost never take all the hoo haa about racism and "shot because he was black" because that sort of choice is inconceivable to me. I have met one person at least who would do such a thing, and thought he was a monster. Those people define the rule by their glaring exception.
I don't see this as an incident of race, per se. I don't think GZ killed TM because TM was black, nor did TM get GZ's attention because he was black. Having been in fights, in training, and knowing how it feels - GZ's last consideration was the race of his attacker. Under that much duress, no one cares who is causing it. They just want it to stop.
However, behaviors that are normal for TM and his peers, are not normal for GZ and his peers. TM thought punching GZ and sitting on him to beat him was a good idea (apparently). Who was in his life that would have told him or taught him otherwise? Seemingly, his parents were not playing that role.
Do we hold parents accountable these days for the conduct of their kids? If not, why not?
No comments:
Post a Comment