You're under the delusion that it's simply vocal racist minorities that have our society the way it is, that is at best reductionist thinking born from not understanding the issue that plagues this country. Racists making laws and the millions upon millions of people who are completely indifferent towards these laws because "they don't see color" are the problem. It's the complacency that has allowed such injustice to becomes such a huge part of American society.
Kids playing together really in the grand scheme of things mean very little. Come back to me when they're 18+ and overwhelming believe that black people are largely responsible for their own current conditions as indicated in polls. Come back to me when these 18 year olds who are largely unaffected by the same racist post Jim Crow era laws don't do anything to change them.
Not speaking up or caring about these atrocities makes a person not much better than the vocal racist minority (and this minority is sizeable). By not simply not speaking up, one allows the atrocities to continue unabated. I just can't subscribe to the belief things are going to change when the narrative that media paints and the laws that rule this land go unchanged. In time new laws will be enacted but they serve only to obfuscate the main issue at hand. We'll still turn on the news everyday and watch as cops kill black people for simply existing; and make up a story about how they reached for the officer's gun. You have an entire political party who fights tooth and nail to keep the status quo, who did not want to repeal the 20 to 1 crack cocaine laws despite how clear as day racist they were. Who throw out so many dog whistles in regards to black people, and who blatantly do all they can to stop the President from getting anything done because of his skin color who plant seeds of stupidity in American citizens by asking about birth certificates. No one has ever asked Mitt Romney for his birth certificate, for all we know he could be fucking Russian, but this is never questioned because he is white and by proxy is "default" and unquestionably American.
These people won't be given the benefit of the doubt, their name and image will be dragged through the mud, despite the fact they are the victim it will be them who are on trial; it will be them who the media paints as the villain and will frame their deaths as justified from the get go by simply phrasing their headlines a certain way. "Black youth killed, no gang affiliation" or "Black teen shot, had prior arrest for marijuana"...as if those make their deaths okay. All the while we can have white youth who AK a school get headlines of "Youth opens fire on schoolFriends state he was kindhearted and are shocked"; or how media tried to frame Elliot Rogers as some poor misguided youth. We'll continue to see people question if these deaths are a result of the black culture; while the dozens of mass shootings and other heinous acts are chalked up to "mental illnesses". They'll continue to put up the worst picture they can find and frame how they're "thugs", "delinquents", "animals". These narratives didn't happen in isolation; they're the direct effect of decades upon decades of marginalization, mistreatment and systematic abuse inflicted upon black people.
So when you tell me the youth of tomorrow are going to make it all better, I will tell you this is the same thing they said in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and things have not gotten better for black people at nearly the rate the majority. You can look at black people in the 80s and see not much has changed in our social standing in this country and the reason is the same post Jim Crow bullshit laws that were around back then are still in effect today. You want me to believe that things will get better? Show me these fucked up laws being changed, show me the for profit prison industry being dismantled, show me disproportionate arrest rates for the same crimes being evened out, show me these post Jim Crow laws being thrown out wholeheartedly; show me people who aren't naive enough to think that it's no longer a racial problem but a class problem when these laws make sure that the class most affect are comprised of black people.
What I think is going to happen is that overt racism will more and more be frowned upon while covert racism will be double downed even more (basically American society right now). I mean it's cute that people believe in that anime trope of the power of youth, but back in reality the youth will grow up largely apathetic because it doesn't affect them. They'll tackle issues that are in their face (women's rights, gay rights, etc) but black rights will be where it's been for the last 50 years because it's out of sight so out of mind.
I want to believe but reality paints a different picture.
It's 2014 and black people are still protesting the same shit from the 60s. Think about that then tell me things will/do get better.
