An African-American, 12-year-old boy is arrested and taken into custody for carrying a weapon in Washington, D.C., while waiting for the bus. The weapon, an empty glass beer bottle, would allegedly have been used to hurt city residents, but police are able to search his bag and find the weapon before a crime is committed. Had the offender been just a few years older, he would be eligible to be tried in adult court.
Yeah, it's a scenario. Actually, as Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, put it during a recent appearance at Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, D.C., it's an all-too-accepted "narrative."
Let's break down this narrative: First, one may think, oh, a weapon? Good thing cops caught the kid before something happened. One may also think, he must be a product of his environment. Too bad. And ultimately, you'd assume that since laws are there for residents’ protection, he clearly broke some law and he'd learn his lesson while serving time.
[For more of this story, written by Zerline Hughes, go to http://jjie.org/choosing-the-p...n-in-america/199285/]
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