Probably not what Dr. Martin Luther King meant when he spoke of
being “free at last.”
Last week, a judge in St. Louis released seven middle
school students after the key witness failed to show up for a
hearing. The juveniles were accused of beating a local man almost
to death. What had the poor man done to deserve such a thrashing?
Not a thing. He was simply walking home from the grocery store. The
attack, it turned out, was part of a popular craze our local youth
call the knockout game, though it is anything but a game. One
elderly man has already died from a similar assault.
After the dismissal, the teens celebrated outside the
courtroom, high-fiving one another.
Police had arrested the young thugs after they bragged
about the beatings on a Facebook page. Evidently, the teens
believed society could do nothing to them, even if they crowed
publicly about their exploits. It turns out they were
right.
One of the teens agreed to testify. However, the witness,
a 13-year old girl, soon had second thoughts, no doubt after her
life was threatened. The news seemed to re-enforce the
notion (already prevalent among county residents) that St. Louis
city is little more than a petri dish from hell, a holding pen for
the region’s most violent, a real-life “Escape from New York,” the
sci-fi movie in which the city has been turned into a giant maximum
security prison without guards. (Ironically, director John
Carpenter’s film was shot, not in New York, but in St.
Louis.)
ADOLESCENTS, OF COURSE, are notorious for their aggressive
behavior, their lack of empathy, and their inability to visualize
long-term consequences. Such has always been the case. This is why
parental discipline is so essential. The fact that the delinquents
were allowed to celebrate in the courthouse after successfully
intimidating a witness (normally a class C felony), and getting
away with assault and battery, and that no one stepped in to quell
their gaiety, clearly illustrates that they are without responsible
adults in their lives.
Most readers, I suspect, are unable to imagine living in a
world in which actions do not have consequences. Had I, in my
youth, committed such an act of barbarism — which in itself was
unlikely, least of all for fear of my father’s reaction — my dad
would have made me apologize to the victim, then dragged me home by
the ear where I would have been ordered to “pick my switch.” Had I
even contemplated threatening a witness, I would have been packed
off to military school immediately.
Back then, of course, adults were more accustomed to trust
the so-called authorities. If a student received poor grades at
school, parents seldom blamed the teachers. If a child was picked
up by the police for shoplifting, his or her parents were genuinely
ashamed of themselves and their child, they didn’t take their anger
out on the authorities. (This blind trust in authority is how the
various clergy abuse scandals were able to go on for so
long.)
Today society has gone to the other extreme. It is the
authorities who are perceived to be untrustworthy. In the suburbs,
parents are likely to blame teachers for their little darlings’
poor academic performance. In the inner city, the parent is likely
to accuse police of racial profiling. Said the mother of one of the
teenage suspects: “They took my daughter out of school in
handcuffs. They had my kid locked up.… She missed Halloween,
Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthday and New Year. I had to watch my
baby every time I went down there cry… you can’t make an example
out of an innocent kid.”
MISSOURIANS, MEANWHILE, have responded to these incidents
by arming themselves. The state legislature passed a
conceal-and-carry amendment back in 2003. Now when out-of-towners
visit the city for a boat show or a sporting event, they often
arrive with a loaded weapon stashed under the front seat. How is
that working? It has proved a boon for the criminal element, who
swarm down on parking lots during sporting events, smashing vehicle
windows, and making off with a small arsenal. St. Louis’ mayor has
responded with a larger police presence during major concerts and
sporting events. The next step, one assumes, is a declaration of
martial law.
The 52-year-old victim told a local newspaper that a few
days after the suspects’ release, he encountered two of the teens
(he recognized them from court) outside the same supermarket. One
walked up to him and acted as though he were going to punch him in
the face. Then they strode off laughing.
Their mothers would have been proud.
