Wednesday, January 4, 2012

A sad follow-up to a post from last January

Back in January I posted a video of a kid getting a beating by his uncle for posting a video on the InterWeb posing as a gang member. It was funny at the time but on December 14, the humor went away.


Apparently, the same kid from this video was found dead (shot to death) near his home in Louisiana. Who knows what really happened and whether or not it was gang-related but based on the story, it sure sounds like it could have been:
"Taylor’s mother, Kimberly Ward, told the newspaper that she kept strict tabs on her son, even making him stay on the sidewalk in eyesight of their home when he went outside. The night of the shooting, she said, Taylor received a text message from a friend at about 8 p.m. and went outside to chat. 'She said she called him back inside a few minutes later to find out what was going on, and he told her he was just talking and went back outside. A few minutes later, her daughter received a text message saying that Taylor had been shot, and then another saying he was dead'." (source: BlackAmericaWeb.com)
This is one of those situations where I'm sure people can argue that the beating that took place could have pushed this young man farther in the wrong direction and also people that can argue it should have helped him go in the right direction. I don't know what's the right perspective because kids respond to different types of discipline in different ways. Who knows what was going on in this young man's head. It's just a sad story all the way around it seems like it should have been so easy for something like this to be avoided. Maybe this story will help some other kid somewhere avoid the same situation.

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