White teen who shot Texas pool party video sounds off By Holly Yan and Nick Valencia, CNN Updated 9:04 AM ET, Tue June 9, 2015 "McKinney, Texas (CNN)Dueling narratives are emerging about whether race played a role in a Texas officer's handling of black teenagers at a pool party. But who those narratives come from may be surprising. "A black resident says race didn't play a role. A white resident says it did. "A 7-minute video shot by a witness captures much of the confrontation Friday. It shows McKinney police officer Eric Casebolt cursing at several black teenagers, pulling a 14-year-old bikini-clad girl to the ground and kneeling on her back. "Casebolt also unholsters his gun and chases teenage boys as they approached him while he is trying to keep the girl down. "White witness: It was racially motivated Brandon Brooks, the 15-year-old white teen who shot the video, said there's no doubt race was a factor. He said the officer was targeting black teens at the scene." ""I was one of the only white people in the area when that was happening," Brandon told CNN affiliate KDAF. "You can see in part of the video where he tells us to sit down, and he kinda like skips over me and tells all my African-American friends to go sit down." http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/09/us/mckinney-texas-pool-party-video/index.html
Shoot, I'd heard she is 14. BTW... where in your upbringing do you get the idea that it's a good idea to resist the police and mouth-off to them as a 14/15 year old?? When I was that age and mouth-off to my parents or a teacher (let alone the police), I'd have been literally knocked on my butt. As much as most of dislike the cops "going overboard", look at what they're up against.
Just because a white kid, who is probably sick with "white privilege" says there was racism doesn't mean there is. See the Jerry Seinfeld thread where he (rightfully) points out how kids throw around these words without any conceptual understanding of them. The reason the officer was mostly targeting black teens was because most of the white teens had gone home as instructed.
Well of course. Kids are too young to even have a valid view about hardly anything. Remember the old saying, "children should be seen, not heard"? Same applies today. IOW... kids should have impressed upon them, "STFU and do what you're told... your day will come, but it's not today". Unfortunately, that's an especially difficult concept for teenagers.... who are anxious to assert their individuality in the transition from child-to-adult.
Similarly, just because a "black" guy, also probably sickened by "white privilege", says race was not a factor doesn't mean it wasn't.
A lot of black folks have come out saying it wasn't about race. On facebook, in the media, etc. Not to mention that while the cop in the video (the main guy) was very aggressive, nothing he did resembled racism in the entire time of the video.
This calls for another one of my public service announcements. Young people, black and white. 99.9% of your problems when the police show up can be solved by doing this one simple thing. Quit running your mouths. STFU for a minute and let the cop(s) evaluate the situation without them having to make a decision as to how far and how fast this incident is going to escalate.