Racial crime against African Americans by white people has always been a problem in the United States.  Even today, it seems as if the problem is growing in our society and it needs to come to a stop.   We seem to not understand what the average African American goes through as they grow up.  America needs to see the world through their eyes and walk in their shoes.  This article posted with Laymon's writing is a deep and saddening example of how his life was growing up in Central Mississippi as a black boy. 

   The first encounter took place after grabbing some McDonalds with his friend Troy.  As Laymon and his friend were leaving, they held the door for a white man and he said "thanks partner".  The same white man who they were nice, says some vulgar comments about their race when he sees them driving.  It turns out the man is an undercover cop.  He starts the whole fight and uses his powers to try to arrest the innocent boy Laymon.

This incident shows how Police Officers can and will abuse their power when they want to especially white cops against black people.  He had no right to call these innocent kids names and harass them.  According to Dr. Moskos of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the New York Times, "Blacks are three times as likely to be killed by cops as are whites, on a per-capita basis," (Wines and Cohen).  In another article by The Mint Press News, "in 2010 there were 4,861 unique reports of police misconduct" and "most of those allegations of police brutality involved officers who punched or hit victims with batons, but about one-quarter of the reported cases involved firearms or stun guns" (Rucke).  Just these few statistics show that police brutality is a problem in the U.S. and is continuing to rise.  We need to do something about it before U.S. citizens become completely powerless in our society.   This relates to Laymon's story because a cop abused his powers and tried to arrest them for something he started himself.  If the other cops would not have shown up, then Laymon and his friend would have been unlawfully arrested.

In the next incident, Laymon and his friends were confronted by younger kids wearing blue rags on their faces.  When one of the kids goes up to Laymon, he acts like he doesn't know what he wants to do, especially when he finds out Laymon has no money.  The young boy also had a gun with him.  This black on black encounter shows how easily it is for anyone to get their hands on a gun.  These young people should not be able to have access to such dangerous weapons.  The gang seems to use them to feel as if they have more power over others.

Children are now starting to get involved with the gang life.  In Mississippi, these problems are far worse due to the amount of gangs.  Kids are told how amazing it is and that it makes them feel invincible.  The drugs will make everything better.  According to Lee in an article by WDAM, "it can be alluring but as I said it's false, false advertising at its worst, it's a lie."(last name).  This method of tricking young people into joining a gang is unfair to them.  Nobody should join a gang in general but especially if it is based off of lies that are told to the kid.  The amount of gang members in Mississippi is a scary thing.  Because of the encounter he had, he bought himself a gun to protect him and his loved ones.  Another thing is that because kids are joining gangs and doing dumb stuff, it sets a bad example of the black community and creates stereotypes.  Because of the bad examples set by the gang members, Laymon has now become a part of the stereotype.  An innocent boy who people in Mississippi will see as a thug.  These actions show he is stereotyped while in college.

While in a college called Millsaps, Laymon is pursuing his dreams in becoming a black writer in Mississippi.  Unfortunately, the white students and professors of the school do not appreciate what Laymon publishes in the school paper.  The President of the college and an English Professor send out letters about the young writer.  After calling the news station and exposing the racist people they are, the school suspends him for not returning a book and sentences him to therapy for racial insensitivity.  It is obvious that they are trying to find every excuse to keep him out of the college. This is completely unfair, anybody should be able to participate in school without being threatened by the teachers, students, or president of the school.  School should also be a safe environment for any race.

In order to make good grades and graduate, the student needs to feel welcomed and comfortable.  The graduations rates of black college students started very low. The rate is now slowly increasing.  This must be due to the college's comfort and how helpful they are.  According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education In 1990, the percentage of black men who graduated started at 28%.  Then in 2005, the percentage rose to 35%.  Every student deserves the chance and opportunity to receive their education with peace and respect.  Laymon told his story about his event at a college because it was unlawful.  We see through his eyes how his school did not want him to graduate college.

Just about before every story Laymon talk about, he mentions his age.  The ages that these events took place take a very important role to his whole story.  He was young in every event, just like the people he mentions throughout the story.  When he states his age during the event, he compares it to the age of a young and innocent black person's life that was taken.  This is very significant due to the things he goes through during his lifetime.  No kid should have to go through their life wondering when the next time they will be held at gun point by anyone, especially when a cop does it and the kid is innocent.  Too many young lives are being taken due to bad people with the use of a gun.  According to ProPublica.com "There were 41 teens 14 years or younger reported killed by police from 1980 to 2012". "27 of them were black"  (Gabrielson, Jones, Sagara).   This statistic is very sad, no child should have to get shot and possibly die.

As a conclusion, this paper has a powerful effect on our community. It should be shared all around the world.  In order to put an end to all of the disgusting racism, we need this article and more like it.  Articles like this one that Laymon wrote provide a great insight of the everyday life of most African Americans.  Everyone should be put into another ones shoes before judging and stereotyping.  We never know what a person is going through in their own life.  This story Laymon wrote was written a few weeks after the shooting of Trevon Martin.  Maybe if we all saw life through their eyes, people would be less judgmental

