Scrolling through images online, I came across an image that had to do with Michael Brown. A woman that taught young children, kindergartners or first graders, showed the kids Michael Brown's graduation photo of him in his cap and gown. She then asked the kids how they would react to seeing this man on the street. The kids did not recognize Michael as the young man that had been killed by a police officer, they just saw a man in a graduation cap. The kids said they would congratulate him, or shake his hand, or share their snacks with him. Their teacher asked them why they chose to react in such a kind way. The kids responded along the lines of "He's a person and everyone should be nice to other people."
The children didn't seem to mind that he was a black man. All they saw was a young man, during one of the proudest moments in his life. They saw a man about to walk for his high school graduation, and the kids wanted to give him kind words. Everyone else in the nation, however, do not feel the same way about Michael Brown. An alarming number of people believe that Michael got what he had coming to him, and Darren Wilson was completely in the right to shoot him dead.
After reading "When All the Angels are White" and looking into the Michael Brown case a little bit, I saw that black people and white people are still held to very different standards, even in the 21st century. It is very sad to me that we still live in a world where atrocities like this can be acceptable by the mainstream culture. I wish to see our culture be reshaped into something that gives fair and equal treatment to everyone, and we need to start by holding people like Darren Wilson accountable for his actions.
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