"Theyre just kids!"
Fucking spare me.
They're class of 19, seniors, if they're not able to join the military already they can in a year.
They know what is going on.
I think I am less infuriated by the typical "kids" angle than I am of the intent by all these sudden convenient newcomers across these two threads reposting the Twitter thread by Arlen Parsa and similar sentiments to protect these racist asshats under the guise that it "doesn't solve the issue" and "makes you out to be a mob as well."
The suggested call to action is instead to fix the root causes of the problem by "lifting up the heroes." Yes, fix the root causes of the problem by ignoring them altogether and instead lying to the vocal bystanders and actual victims that everything is going to be okay in a situation where it's been made expressly clear that nothing will be done because punishing white people for their racism is, in some way,
always unjust.
I ranted elsewhere that this always happens, and when you think about it it's a clever scheme. Do everything in one's power to deflect blame and advocate for mercy just long enough that the anger recedes and people forget, and down the line when someone actually does remember all you have to do is go "that was so long ago; why are you still mad about it?" to dismiss the fact that nothing was ever actually done and thus that hurt still remains unaddressed.
Y'all are
really good at doing nothing. Never trying to compensate the victims properly, never following through on compensation when actually "forced" to, never actually making good on those calls to action, never holding the perpetrators to task because we simply can't ruin Thanksgiving dinner. Y'all just simply do
nothing.
The history of this country is nothing but an ever-mounting moral debt owed towards the minorities of this country that keeps getting put off because the fear of actually being told, under no uncertain terms,
the rent is due today or else, causes you to shut down, to deflect, to make up excuses, and to procrastinate; to push off that due date just a little bit longer. No one wants to be the one to actually bite the bullet and take some responsibility because to do so would be to inherently admit to an immorality so heinous that even the devil cannot fathom. It's fear; fear not of the "other," but fear that the other is
entirely justified in their rage.
Because if people out here are fist-fighting each other over stupid border fences, the uncomfortable, unanswerable question becomes "What the hell then are the consequences of centuries of collective inaction towards the systemic disenfranchisement and violence on minorities?"
Thus, these students and the faculty, like many others before them, will get off scot free, because if they actually get their lives ruined for this, it would be a figurative open season on pretty much everyone else, including the ever-so-valued loved ones that minorities are always supposed to take into account and coddle. We can't possibly have Uncle Ben losing his livelihood over a few drunken rants. He matters too.
Nothing ever changes.