An alleged racially motivated assault on an 11-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, girl is at the center of a controversy over fair treatment by the judicial system.
The 11-year-old girl was at an apartment complex visiting friends in Shawnee, Kansas, on Aug. 28 when a 12-year-old boy called her and her friends racist epithets. Then the boy threatened the girls with a knife, and later used a steel pole to hit the 11-year-old girl on the head, according to reports. The girl in the case is black, while the boy is white.
The girl was unconscious for three minutes and had to go to the hospital, where she had eight stitches in her mouth, according to reports. She had a concussion and had to spend the night at the hospital.
Pastor Terry Bradshaw Jr. of the Empowerment Temple in Kansas City, Kansas, said he’s known the girl for years, and she is a “sweet girl, excellent student, loving, bold and honest. All she said was ‘My black is beautiful’ and ‘Black Lives Matter,’” he said.
Right now the 12-year-old boy in the case is on house arrest, he said. The boy used hate speech and racist epithets, then physically attacked her, he said. According to Pastor Bradshaw, house arrest is a cushion that many other juveniles don’t receive after committing a violent crime.
Pastor Bradshaw pointed out that he has seen many minority youth here who were picked up immediately after a similar incident and were sent to a juvenile center to await a trial. He is asking that the boy in this case be sent to a juvenile center to await a hearing, and he is also asking that the boy be charged with a hate crime.
“Right now people are pretty upset and tired, exhausted, ready for change, and this is just a further confirmation that equality must happen for the black community,” Bradshaw said. “We are ready to fully pursue justice, to fully pursue equality. It is time for real change to happen.”
Often in America, there are two sets of rules for blacks and whites, especially those riddled by poverty, he said. Many times blacks are treated as less than human.
“We just want the same rights, we want equal justice,” he said.
“What happened is further confirmation that racism and bigotry is running rampant in our community,” Bradshaw said. “We must have no tolerance for racism and bigotry. We must extinguish hate.”
There must be equality and change and justice across the board, no matter who it is, Bradshaw said. He added the parents of the boy should take a great level of responsibility and be held accountable, also.
“All I want is justice for my daughter,” the girl’s mother said in a statement. “She didn’t do anything to provoke this boy. Clearly, he needs help, and we want to make sure he gets the help he needs. The hate needs to stop, and we can all do our part to end it by having talks with our children about racism.”
The family and their attorney are monitoring the case, which is in Johnson County, to make sure justice is done, according to the statement.