re: #18 William Lewis

“And yet my priest still lays awake at night worrying for his 2 sons - brothers now 13 adopted from Sierra Leon - even here.”

I think he has reason to worry because he’s probably read about how young men of color aren’t considered to be kids, even if they’re only 9 and 10 years of age. That’s the double standard many in law enforcement use when it comes to “policing” kids. How anyone can consider a black or Hispanic/Latino kid under the age of 15 to be an adult is beyond my ability to understand, and I guess it’s because my students were ages 13/14 to 18. No way did I ever think of any of them as adults, but our society has created and promoted the belief that kids of color are very dangerous when the majority of them are not. I have a daughter who lives with her white fiance in Alabama, and I worry about her everyday because I know how some in the South look at interracial relationships. He wanted her to move there, but before she did, I made it clear to him that I expect him to defend her if some nut decides to harass her because she’s black and is in a relationship with a white male. I’m not a violent person, but if someone harms my kid, I’m going looking for that person, and I’m going to do whatever I have to do to insure s/he is prosecuted to the fullest extent the law allows for the crime committed against her because she doesn’t bother anybody, and I taught her to mind her own business all of the time.