It’s not too late to save children
On March 14, National Student Walkout Day, Morgan Roof of Columbia, S.C., was arrested. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Roof, 18, is the little sister of Dylann Roof, the 24-year-old who murdered nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 in hopes of starting a race war.
Morgan Roof was caught with a knife and drugs at school after posting she hoped the student-protestors got shot.
She’s mad at the wrong people. She should be angry that her life has been detoured by people like her brother, who could not have imagined in a million years that the response to his heinous act would emerge as one of this country’s finest hours.
Because the current generation of American teens and young adults is the most diverse in this nation’s history, it’s always surprising, and yes, disappointing, to see 20-something tiki-torch Nazis, or college students in blackface, or to learn that the Austin, Texas, terrorist Mark Conditt was just 24 when he took up who-knowswhat cause for who-knows-what reason.
By the way, let’s be clear: Bombing and killing innocent people is an act of terror, not the result of a “troubled” and “struggling” young man searching for purpose and direction.
At some point, that describes everyone in their 20s. Squandered
America’s demographics, and what they forecast, scare some people, including many who celebrated St. Patrick’s Day last week.
But there would be no such holiday here were it not for immigrants. In two months, some of those same people get three sheets to the wind on Cinco de Mayo for reasons even they can’t explain.
So, it’s sad when those who have been exposed to more different kinds of people and cultures than any group of Americans in history parrot rhetoric they’ve heard somewhere because it taps into their insecurities or disaffection, or because they’re simply seeking a place in which to belong.
Kids don’t arrive in this world prepackaged with hatred and prejudice. Morgan Roof likely looked up to her older brother, as do most impressionable children. Instead of endeavoring to be a good example, Dylann Roof squandered the opportunity, and now his younger sister is suffering for it.
Rabbit hole
Her chance at being normal 18-year-old girl was stolen by a brother who allowed himself to be warped and consumed by hatred.
And this question also must be asked: How did he fall down the rabbit hole?
Earlier this month in Tempe, Ariz., two mothers were arrested for burglarizing and vandalizing a mosque. They brought their young children to help, thus proving once again there are all kinds of child abuse and that kids probably would be OK if adults sometimes could be removed from the equation.
It also shows, yet again, that hatred is something that has to be taught.
But so do kindness, compassion, fairness and acceptance. We’re seeing in real time what young people can do when they have a mission and goal to make the world a better place.
Because we are so diverse, ours is a country that’s not always easy to navigate. But it’s also what makes us a wonder to the world. If that were not so, people from around the world wouldn’t still be breaking their necks to get here.
The good news: Morgan Roof and the children in Tempe are still young enough to be saved from a future that won’t end well if they’re allowed to proceed unabated.
You’re never too young to learn the truth.