HungryBlues commenter Blackwell Raines has a historically informed, clear-sighted perspective on the inexcusable treatment of Ja'eisha Scott.
The incident is St Petersburg, Florida is worthy of us reflecting deeply upon ourselves and the society as a whole. This blog allows a dialogue of the civilization to be effected, which is most often sorely missing. This topic of which I speak is the handicuffing by police of a 5-year-old kindergartener.
The handcuffing by strangers, regardless of a 5-year-old's behavior is a horrific, act of terror. In fact, if done by family members themselves, in a punitive manner, it would be such--even judged deeply disturbed. Why? Well, if every such young child was dealt with in a similar way, when behavior was described as inapprorpiate, imagine the lifetime of emotional scarring. And this is the reason behind middle class children never having to face such treatment--middle class white children, that is. But minority children seem to draw a particular harsh set of responses from those in charge--one of contempt, one of brutish reaction, and brooding resentment.
Historically, there is nothing new to to such traumatizing and coercive display of force, even against the very young, St Petersburg or anywhere in the state. Florida's past is littered with attacks on minority children, black children in particular. In the days of legal segregation, black children as young as 6-years-old could end up in "convict-lease" system, a conscripted prisoner system, in which work on private projects, such as road construction, was mandatory, six days a week. (PBS.org) Only black children, and latino children, and the occasional poor white kid, were effected. Such a thing was unthinkable to have happen to the middle class white child.
Individuals may not know their history, the state may elect to exclude such historical facts from hand-picked history books, but institutions, such as police forces, and schools, carry on business as usual, acting smugly and justifiably to criminalize whenever and wherever they deign to do so.
No unbiased, rational thought can justify criminalizing a 5-year-old in the name of orderliness. Equally, no society can support the brutalization of its youngest, and expect healthy adults. More, no society can call itself decent and democratic, and yet find ways to crush those of color.
Remember, one police officer, confidently stated that he had given the child's mother an earlier warning--next time, handcuffs. To make doubly good on that warning, the little girls's hands and feet were cuffed. Now, imagine a little blond white girls in those cuffs.
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