The Sayreville tragedy and I believe it a tragedy for all members of that community but especially their young people represents an important opportunity for growth and measured accountability by everyone. Seems we ‘all’ have to be careful about the assumptions we make about what happened in this matter as it appears to be a good deal of variance to the narrative depending on who you listen too and whether they are using legal terms or describing actual behavior. So it may be that we aren’t talking about criminal behavior but that we could certainly be talking about something that rises above a threshold that most consider youthful misconduct. Sometimes young folks engage in criminal behavior that also needs accountability and redirection I don’t have enough information about what happened in Sayreville to have an informed opinion, seems none of us do. My point and hope is that the finger pointing stops (its not helpful), that there is a full accounting (i.e. by everyone) in this matter and that intentional efforts are pursued to attend to the injury suffered by the alleged ‘actors’ here and those who were ‘victimized.’ I assert here that all the young people in this community have been or are being hurt by this and have and/or are now being let down by the adults charged with their well-being.
Charges have been leveled not only at the youth ‘actors’ but at the coaches of the football program, the school’s administration, as well as some of the parents. It seems the adults have an important opportunity I hope they don’t miss and that is to communicate a powerful message of personal and collective accountability and evidence some redirection. There seems to be little doubt something happened in that locker room and some of the questions might be: how did it happen, how long has this type of behavior been going on, are there youth we need to check in who may have been impacted by whatever was going on who haven’t been identified, who knew and who were they accountable too, how do the young people involved here understand the issues being raised, what type of psychological or psycho-educational intervention are needed here, and are we being intentional in helping our youth heal and move forward. The defending of our children regardless of their role, the schools, football program and careers etc shouldn’t trump doing what’s right and in my opinion that means make our children whole. There is a broader dialogue needed here as every year there is some disturbing and tragic incident(s) involving high school football players suggesting we need to examine what we are messaging to our boys and young men about what it means to be a football player, male and masculine in our society (and no I am not anti sport or football, played football in high school and college).
Ms. Washington is right – WE CANNOT SCAPEGOAT OUR KIDS, we can however have meaningful dialogue about privilege and the responsibility that accompanies privilege. Football is a privilege and it has benefits for those that play, those they play for and the community. So the responsibility and accountability has to be shared and it is here where the opportunity resides. Let’s show our kids what accountability looks like, let’s teach our kids how empathy and compassion manifest and let’s not scapegoat our kids, let’s be the adults they need us to be. Sayreville has an opportunity to teach the nation what putting the best interest of kids first look like.
Dr. LeRoy Reese is an associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine where he contributes to the Prevention Research Center and the National Center for Primary Care. Prior to joining MSM, Dr. Reese was a senior scientist and team leader at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Reese conducts community-based health research focused on the development on healthy lifestyles, the reduction of risk behavior among youth and their families, and the modification of community based social determinants of health. He served on the Task Force of the American Psychological Association that produced the report Resilience and Strength in African American Children and Adolescents.
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