We hesitated to report on this horrific incident because of the sensationalism that is occurring. The human interest in this brings forth the emotional toil of protection and life. But the tactics of #RaceBaiting that seems to be coming from this tragic situation. Please media and people who follow certain media bait; don't make this into a Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman comparison. There are no similarities. The part that it seems so many miss with the "I am Trayvon" campaign is that of Racial profiling and injustice solely for the color of one group's skin while the other group receives the systemic advantages of said first group's oppressive inequalities.
In all news stories, biases occur based on slant of the writers personal history, thoughts or agenda they possess. To look at the view reported facts on the case, The homeowner has a 2 year old and a wife in his house. He came outside and witnessed a teen in his backyard. This wasn't a "ding dong ditch" like premise, and a person overreacted. We should all know that the true facts will never be fully known unless all parties involved wholeheartedly confess to the true emotion AND motivation behind their respective actions. There is already discrepancy between the account of the shooter and the witnesses and neighbors. But let's be honest, a good neighbor can and will bend the truth a bit for you. So for the stories to contradict is quite telling. The biggest discrepancy is the distance from which the shot came from and how according to NOPD Detective Nicholas Williams, the child posed NO eminent threat to Merritt Landry
The child, who should NOT have been out on the streets at age 14 at nearly 2 am, is currently still fighting for his life in a New Orleans area hospital. Oh, by the way, did I mention that this actually happened on July 26? Over a month ago this situation happened, and some of our trusted news sources haven't seen the need to focus on how as a community we can come up with ways to prevent this. Both of the parties involved played some wrong in this situation. With the proverbial 20/20 hindsight, everyone is throwing around the claims of what should have and shouldn't have been done(in hindsight). There was even hesitation by a neighbor who said "I thought about calling the cops, but the last thing I want to do is racially profile a little kid who's just biking," who spoke on condition of anonymity. What has the news done to where people do things or not do them based on the perception of being "racial/racist"? The kids had every right to ride their bikes; now as an adult I would have taken issue to a child outside at 2 am and NOT the fact that it was black kids out riding a bike. That was a teaching moment that was probably missed by our trusted news source. It should never have been about race. Race is important. It is to be appreciated by all, and when we see it solely as a reactionary measuring tool of action or discourse it becomes a problem.
Nevertheless, there was a problem here. A child who has older siblings, and a mother doing all she can was able to somehow be outside in the early Friday hours. There was comments made by the victim's own brother, David Coulter, stating he had been on medication for attention deficit hyperactive disorder and was awaiting trial for "stealing stuff,". He later added "He would steal -- he was a professional thief,"
This extremely disheartening. How can a child at age 14 be a professional thief? Who see's this action and doesn't firmly stress that a situation where you life can end is greatly magnified by being out at 2 am. Of course, their maybe was more intervention and this was just a precocious child who didn't heed warning or maybe he was just left to run free. Whichever it is, he didn't deserve to be shot. We can only hope that this situation has a positive end and he recovers and goes out into the world a changed man. ALL are due their redemption story.
We see from this situation that we have a long way to go in many areas of our social interactions, We want to box and "one size fits all" every situation. To categorize is quite the American past time. But a teaching moment presented itself. From mental health (ADHD), racial profiling, to protecting ones home, and more. Let's look at the nuances of our situations and truly work to get better. Once we look deeper than we will see that these answers to these problems have already been found, we just need to share what we found.
My father once told me- "Both of you don't need a brain, just as long as the one with it, comes home and shares it with the other"
Can't beat that old school wisdom!
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