The 2-hour gang rape and beating of a high school student in Richmond, CA has drawn national attention. Quite possibly, the most appalling aspect of this ghastly crime is the claim by law enforcement officials that as many as 20-plus people may have watched and/or participated and no one tried to stop it or called the police. The person who did call the police overheard some of the young men ‘reminiscing’ about the incident and subsequently notified the authorities. So far, 5 arrests have been made, two adults and three teenagers.
This incident comes on the heels of some horrific crimes committed by teens. The videotaped beating of Derrion Albert that cost the bright youngster his life was shocking and a week later, it was reported that several Florida teenagers had doused a 15-year-old with lighter fluid and set him ablaze. The dispute was over a bicycle and some money that one of the young men believed was owed to him. Where is this inhumanity amongst the youth coming from? Video games? Music? Violent movies?
Or are we teaching our children through our every day actions to be brutal. We read every day about incidents of road rage that lead to murder. We watch news stories about how a jilted lover brutally killed his/her ex-lover or their new love interest or their entire family. Parents get into violent confrontations at their children’s football games. In Atlanta, mother and daughter, Georgia and Sequita Thornton were arrested for the beating of Sequita’s schoolteacher. They beat the teacher together.
We have desensitized an entire generation of young people with our own atrocious attitudes towards each other. The adults in our communities have lost their sense of civility, decency and generosity. The world has grown much, much colder and our youth are starting to develop ice in their veins. When you watch beatings on YouTube, the majority of them are young people. And everyone laughs or shakes their heads. No one seems to ask ‘who’s raising these kids?’ And when you hear about things like Robeson High School in Chicago — where 1in 7 of the female students is pregnant — you know that the cycle will not just go away. As a community and a society, we must reclaim our sense of order, and hope that in doing so we can curb the violent path we’ve set for our youth.
Scholar and author Dr. Cornel West believes that there is a lack of love in young people’s lives. “There is a new wave of iciness in the soul of some young people,” he says. “Their hearts have become so hardened and their conscience has become so course that they’ve become mean-spirited across the board. They haven’t received enough love, enough care and enough attention. The only way you can [fix] that is family, community and school–and we need more love in our music. Our young people don’t have that kind of sweetness and tenderness in their lives.” –todd williams
