I would say that here is where we actually differ. Because I look at this video and I just don't see the signs of a premeditated murder, or the idea that they discussed this at all beforehand. First off, these are teenagers. It's frankly going to take a lot for me leap to the assumption that this particular group of kids met at night to kill this particular man. To me, there are just too many signs of otherwise. Why are there several kids who look surprised, aren't participating, or just visibly shocked by what's happening? Why are the actual aggressors' weapon of choice a set of traffic cones? I also have to point out my own lived experience; I'm born and raised in South Central/Inglewood California. I know what a group of kids hanging out after hours and looking to get into trouble but not looking to kill anybody looks like. This looks more like that, and to be clear pointing that out is not erasing culpability. If their intent were just to roughhouse this old man that's still fucked up and wrong. These kids are going to feel the consequences of what they were a part of for years to come, both legally and (hopefully) within their own conscience, as they should. And I feel so sad for James Lambert, his family, his community and anybody who knew him.
I think you and I agree with that part. But if your thought process is that this was premeditated, then it's not surprising to me that you arrived at the conclusion that they're irredeemable. I can't honestly say I'd arrive at irredeemable myself if my thought process were the same...but I'd be pretty close.
Respectfully, I can't agree with this. Of course, we cannot gloss over the fact that a man is dead. No matter how much anybody (including myself) tries contextualizing the actions of these kids, there can be no ignoring that their actions resulted in someone's murder. But even still, I can't in good conscience compare this incident to, as has been mentioned, the Uvaldi killer. That's an animal, that's barbaric to me. The man who got into a car, drove to a Buffalo NY grocery store, and shot down elderly black shoppers with an AR15 that had the word "Niggers" written on it, that's irredeemable to me. We've seen what it looks like when people intentionally set out to kill, and that does not look like this. That does not look like a group of kids who all jump with shock at whatever happened at 0:59.
And making that distinction is no small deal, imo. Because we have evidence that when we allow language that should be reserved for actual cold-blooded killers to be passed down, it continues to be passed down. And that's not a toothless slippery slope argument. I know what it's like to be a young Black kid afraid to slip up because you'll instantly be compared to the worst society has to offer, because so many people inherently see that potential in you. It's why it's so damn hard to prioritize true criminal justice and prison reform in this country, because too many people (including people on the left as this thread has gloriously demonstrated) fail to understand why we should throw resources behind measures that are only going to help "animals" in waiting.
If we want solutions, we have to constantly be vigilant about how we engage with the problems.
I think a useful change would be to stop looking for reasons to call these kids monsters. Stop looking for reasons to lump these kids into one group, and start treating violence of the sort we see here as a symptom and owning our part in how we've failed these kids. Because if we don't do that, then the prison reform debate won't ever matter, because prison will continue to be the place we're sending inner-city kids by truckload.
I wish I had a better answer for you. I just know how we shouldn't talk about it.
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