Black Youth Violence, Adult Society, and the Rage of Reality

Abstract

On October 7, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder, responding to the videotaped beating death of 16-year-old Chicago student Derrion Albert, expressed hope it would blare a “stark wake-up call to a reality that can be easy for too many to ignore as they go about their daily lives.” Holder explained why the ongoing onslaught of youth-on-youth attacks should receive greater attention, adding, “Youth violence is not a Chicago problem anymore than it is a Black problem, a White problem, or a Hispanic problem. … It is an American problem.”4 But the attorney general failed to mention that as much as it is a national (and, really, international) “problem,” it just as much is an adult problem.