MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The man who purposely drove his car into a crowd, killing a woman in Virginia is 20 years old.
The man who fatally shot nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church two years ago hoping to ignite a race war was just 21 at the time.
And in a less tragic, but no less disheartening incident, the two people who painted a vulgar racial slur on a pastor`s car in Collierville Sunday are 13 and 14.
And therein lies the real shame of racial violence and intolerance that seems to be turning our country upside down. Most of the perpetrators are in their teens and 20s. These are people who were not around during the height of the civil rights movement and never witnessed the lynchings, the separate water fountains and many other examples of racial oppression.
So the question has to be, where did these young folks learn this level of bigotry?
Many parents of the white nationalists who gathered in Virginia have since come forward to denounce their children, saying they were not taught racial hate at home.
Collierville Mayor Stan Joyner publicly apologized for the racial vandalism that occurred in his town.
You can blame social media, racist bloggers or whatever, but so much hate by people so young is an issue that must be addressed. Otherwise, we`re headed as a nation in the wrong direction.
