About the children...

So...first and foremost, because we must, let's mourn the fact that we can even post this.

Go read up at WAOD.

Then, let's mourn the fact that--yet again--we are faced with the options of "communal outrage" over the desecration of a Black female CHILD's body OR "communal sigh o'relief" over the Judge's decision to throw out the charges (implications of the System) against a 9-year-old Black male CHILD involved in the gang rape of the aforementioned 8-year-old Liberian girl CHILD. feels like a throwback to Oscar Grant.

i'm a little annoyed by how interested people were in the Liberian-ness of the family and the girl. ready to make it a sign of cultural decay and impoverishment that we're oh-so-above as Black folk located and...nurtured [*snicker*sneer*] in an American context.

puh-AND-lease.

but that's a sidebar.

i'm not sure we should be so ready to lock him in the PIC and throw away the key. no. he probably won't get rehabilitated. no. she, likely, DEFINITELY won't be rehabilitated.

uhh...

anybody see an opportunity?
call a Real Housewife and your friendly neighborhood socialites to launch some something.
because sadly--or not*--there's plenty'mo' where this came from. [*i'm sayin'...can we get over the melodramati-cizing, essentializing, woe-is-the-'hood-if-ication of life at the bottom of a first world empire? this ain't new news. it shouldn't come as a surprise either.]

i'm on a tangent, but last word: this is why i'm a fan of Precious. here is the return of state accountability to the Black film. enough of the boots and straps, feet and skin. yes, it was set in the 80s. But don't think that just because the White House changed skins in '08 Empire did, too. recessions are real. Goldman-Sachs bonuses are, too.

On yo' bailout dime.

I digress.

But all that to say this: catch your breath before you hold it any higher in the air, collect your coins and degrees--NOT hating, just saying--and establish the rehab these kids really need. and don't go feeling all...you know. like you've done anybody a favor. y'know? yeah...

Lord, have mercy.