Bossip
Video
One
thing
to
know
about
police—they
just
don’t
have
any
qualms
about
criminalizing
Black
children.
Source:
Andersen
Ross
Photography
Inc
/
Getty
We
saw
this
in
202,
when
police
officers
in
Aurora,
Colorado, put
children,
the
youngest
of
whom
was
6,
in
handcuffs
and
laid
them
on
the
ground
face-down
after
pulling
over
the
SUV
they
were
riding
in,
which
they
suspected
was
stolen
even
though
the
vehicle
description
they
had
was
of
a
motorcycle.
We
saw
it
again
in
2021,
when
a
viral
video
showed a
policewoman
in
Rochester,
New
York,
pepper
spraying
a
visibly
distraught
9-year-old
Black
girl
in
the
eyes
and
then cop-splain
to
the
not-even-adolescent
child
that
she
deserved
it
because
she
was
behaving
unruly.
Hell,
we’ve
even
seen
it
outside
of
America,
like
when
a
Met
police
officer
tased
a
10-year-old
Black
girl
twice
while
she
was
moving
away
from
him.
Now,
we’re
seeing
it
again
in
Mississippi—the
unofficial
American
capital
of
lynched
Black
children.
In
August,
we
reported
that
10-year-old
Quantavious
Eason
of
Senatobia,
Mississippi,
was
handcuffed,
arrested
and
jailed
for
urinating
in
a
parking
lot
behind
his
mother’s
car.
His
mother,
Latonya
Eason,
had
already
been
informed
by
police
of
his
mundane
infraction
and
reprimanded
him
for
it.
The
cop
who
decided
after
the
fact
that
it
wasn’t
enough
for
Quantavious
to
be
scolded
by
his
mother
and
that
he
needed
to
be
put
in
jail
was
fired.
The
police
chief
called
the
arrest
an
“error
in
judgment.”
So,
why
the
hell
is
this
pre-teen
child
still
being
sentenced
to
probation?
According
to
CNN,
after
a
Tuesday
hearing
at
the
Youth
Court
of
Tate
County,
Quantavious
was
sentenced
to
three
months
probation
and
has
been
ordered
to
write
a
book
report.
Now,
it
was
decided
that
the
infraction
wouldn’t
go
on
his
juvenile
record—which
means
law
enforcement
in
Senatobia,
at
the
very
least,
had
the
good
sense
not
to
brand
a
10-year-old
as
a
criminal
for
having
a
10-year-old’s
bladder—but
why
the
arbitrary
sentencing?
Why
not
just
leave
this
boy—who
didn’t
do
anything
serious,
uncommon,
or
worthy
of
subjecting
a
child
to
the
criminal
justice
system—the
hell
alone?
The
court
also
assigned
Quantavious
a
mandatory
2-page
book
report
on
late
NBA
legend
Kobe
Bryant—and
we’re
all
supposed
to
pretend
that
doesn’t
have
“special
Black
boy
sentence”
written
all
over
it.
At
the
time
of
the
arrest,
Carlos
Moore,
an
attorney
representing
Quantavious’
family,
told
CNN
that
the
10-year-old
was
“distraught
and
now
afraid
of
police,”
which
any
child
that
young
would
be
after
that
experience.
So,
why
reopen
that
wound
with
an
unnecessary
legal
hearing
and
sentencing?
He
went
on
to
tell
NBC
that
he
believes
Quantavious’
race
played
a
role
in
the
case
and
he’s
“baffled”
by
how
things
played
out.
“He
did
what
any
reasonable
person
would
do:
He
urinated
next
to
the
car
behind
the
door
—
not
exposing
himself
to
anyone,”
Moore
said.
“He
would
not
have
been
arrested,
prosecuted
or
sentenced
if
he
was
any
other
color,
race,
besides
Black.”
“We
are
not
going
to
appeal,”
he
added.
“He
will
not
have
a
criminal
record,
this
is
probation.
And
he
is
a
fan
of
Kobe
Bryant,
so
he
doesn’t
mind
writing
the
two-page
report.
But,
still,
the
principle
of
it
—
he
should
not
have
to
do
anything.
He
should
be
enjoying
his
Christmas
holiday
like
the
other
kids.”
No
doubt,
the
authorities
in
Senatobia
will
justify
this
white
nonsense
by
claiming
they’ve
provided
Quantavious
with
a
valuable
lesson
on
respect
and
decency,
but
there’s
no
value
in
this.
They
aren’t
doing
this
child
any
favors
by
traumatizing
and
criminalizing
him
for
doing
something
grown
men
around
the
world,
cops
included,
do
so
commonly
it’s
easy
to
forget
it’s
against
the
law
in
the
first
place.
And
it’s
damn
hard
to
imagine
police
officers
or
officers
of
the
court
doing
this
kind
of
thing
to
prepubescent
white
children.
This
is
shameful,
discompassionate,
and
completely
unnecessary.
And
when
we
say
“f**k
12,”
this
is
why.
