As you watch the above video, what do you see?
A) A young toddler who's the clear victim of piss-poor parenting
B) A bad-assed little boy who needs his behind spanked
C) A young thug in training
The above comes courtesy of the Omaha Police Officers Association of Omaha, NE, which purports to be absolutely heartbroken over what it sees as "the thug cycle." But here's the thing - the POA folks might mean well*, but holding up a video of a little kid mimicking what he's been taught in his own home** as the gold standard of self-perpetuating thuggery is a bit much, to put it lightly.
The yokels and unreconstructed have already picked C), but that's a given. It's the rest of the nation who's constantly bombarded with media, stereotypes and anecdotes that reinforce the status of blacks as thugs and young black youth as budding thugs.
*Seriously, I don't trust these folks any further than I can throw them. Given Omaha's history in terms of racial relations and the current state of such across the country, plus not knowing what lurks in the hearts of those folks and the institution they serve, having that lack of trust is a good thing.
**And to think the grown folks in the video think this shit is cute. That merits an entire blog post in its own right.
