Racial tension grows

First it was the case with Jenna 6, then it was the noose hung in University of Maryland's campus, now it's the death of Martin Lee Anderson. What these three issues have in common is the racial factor dealing with discrimination against African Americans.

Martin Lee Anderson is a 14-year-old African American who died a day after being punched and kicked by boot camp workers which was caught on video tape, reported by USA Today.

The case was a painful, emotional trial for Anderson's family because they had to watch the video tape of Anderson being punched and kicked in the courtroom. What was even more painful for them was that the boot camp workers who were taken to court for aggravated manslaughter were found not guilty.

The defendants, boot camp workers, defended themselves by saying that Anderson wasn't intentionally beaten up, but rather it was tactics used to discipline juveniles. But after Anderson was punched and kicked, the workers took him outside to the military-style camp and made him inhale ammonia which they said was used to revive him.

Prosecutors, on the other hand, argued that instead the ammonia suffocated Anderson and lead to his death, aside from the punching and kicking he received.

Later on, an autopsy of Anderson revealed that he was suffering from sickle-cell amenia and that was the real cause of his death. But another autopsy revealed that Anderson was suffocated by the ammonia.

If a reader were to read this article and Anderson's race wasn't mentioned, it would just be an article exposing a problem with how juveniles are treated in a boot-camp setting.

"Ninety minutes of deliberation for a child's life, a child who we saw beaten to death on videotape over and over again?" asked Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami to USA Today. "Ninety minutes and not guilty. That's un-American. That is racist, discriminatory, bigotry."

A comment like this introduces race as a factor in this article. It's becoming more frequent in the news that racial crimes are being reported. But what exactly is triggering all these racial hate?

It's the 21st century, about 140 years past since the Civil War, and what should've been settled a century ago is still very much alive today.

"A nation divided against itself cannot stand," said Abraham Lincoln, which is something we are all still dealing with.