The lawyer said he’s baffled that prosecutors pursued the case and that a youth judge oversaw a sentence that included probation and requiring the child to write a report about Kobe Bryant.
The lawyer said he’s baffled that prosecutors pursued the case and that a youth judge oversaw a sentence that included probation and requiring the child to write a report about Kobe Bryant.
A 10-year-old Black child in Mississippi who urinated in public in August was sentenced Tuesday in youth court to three months' probation, a decision the child’s attorney says was influenced by race.
Quantavious Eason, who is in the third grade, was arrested by Senatobia police Aug. 10 after a police officer saw him relieving himself outside next to his mom’s car when the woman was inside an attorney’s office, according to family attorney Carlos Moore.
Given the circumstances, any child would have done the same thing, Moore said. He noted there was no public restroom at the attorney’s office.
Last year I took my daughter to her therapist. She goes after hours. I really had to pee. There was no bathroom in the waiting room and all the other places in the building were closed, so I ran out and peed behind the dumpster. Sometimes you just have to pee.
Even then I wouldn't ever term it "arrest" officially. "Detain" and then have a child welfare officer present 100% of the time until the parents can be found. The idea that cops would ever need to arrest a 10yo speaks to their utter ineptitude and malice. If you can't handle a literal child without resorting to violence and incarceration then you have no skills.
European here. Public urination is illegal and a friend of mine was nearly charged for peeing on the side of the road on a country lane at the woods when we were kids (edit: around 16).
This whole thing is crazy though. 10 year olds need to pee.
Here in Germany it is illegal and you can get fined (no jailtime, as long as you dont try to show your dick to everyone).
But I have never heard of anyone getting fined for it, but I only know people who pee in bushes and shit, no one that is so trashy that they pee on buildings and stuff, because I would imagine that those cases are prosecuted much more stringently.
If you stop at any reststop at a highway or country road its also not very unlikely to see someone peeing into some bushes.
I'm pasting part of a comment I made a few days ago on a different post:
This is called implicit racism, and it permeates our society to a systemic level. Healthcare can be a good example, and the U.S. criminal justice system is the best example imo.
One thing that really drives home the systemic implicit racism in this country are studies that have people rate black and white men on how strong/large/muscular and threatening they perceive them to be. The black men were perceived to be more threatening and that use of force was more likely to be viewed as justified. Black and white Americans both perceived the black men to be stronger, taller, and more muscular than their equal-sized white counterparts. Source
Another study found that people view black boys as older than they are, and that they are more responsible for their actions than white boys, whose actions were more likely to be excused by the belief of childhood innocence. So our society essentially strips black boys of their perceived childhood innocence. Same Source
Also should definitely be pointed out that Black Americans are incarcerated at a nearly 5 times greater rate than are White Americans. Source
Worth pointing out that, since the first racially biased "study" about crime and race, blacks have been wrongly painted as being "mOrE PrOnE to CrIMe" which has done a lot of damage in further spreading and embedding systemic racism. (Source: The Condemnation of Blackness by Khalil Gibran Muhammad)
First off, not a fan of ADL and equating anti-zionism with antisemitism.
Second, just want to call out my home state Arkansas for making it illegal to make mandatory implicit racism training. Like, you aren't allowed to tell people they're being racist. Ridiculous.
Well, how else should we punish children for...peeing in public? Should we beat them? No, that's inhumane. Clearly the right answer is...checks notes... separate them from their families and stick them in a cage.
I mean it's the American Way. We get them used to the cage when they're young first and then when we throw them back in there later on to be an actual slave for corporations for rehabilitation they are comfortable with it!
And even before that, the kid should not have been arrested in the first place. That's just insane to think that a cop can actually arrest a small child at all.
That poor kid will remember this for the rest of his life and never trust police (if he ever did anyway)
Sadly, he shouldn't. Especially since he is black. But really none of us should. They've done everything you can imagine to earn our suspicion and loathing.
It's downright fucking sickening to imagine a little boy getting ducking arrested. JFC.
The thing that sticks out to me, that no one seems to be talking about, is this:
"...this week oversaw a sentence that included probation and requiring Quantavious to write a two-page report about Kobe Bryant."
He's charged with urinating outside. Already stupid and ridiculous. But then the judge assigns homework, which... What? And then it's about Kobe Bryant which has what to do with urinating outside? Why Kobe Bryant?? Is there a public urination charge in his past I don't know about? Did the judge ask "who's your favorite person?" and assign homework based on that?
It's a dumb thing to be concerned about, but it's somehow even weirder to me than the rest of it.
Quantavious Eason, the urban youth convicted in the case, is alleged by police to have yelled "I'm the Kobe Bryant of public urination" while urinating in front of the officers near his mother's car.
Judge Smith, who oversaw the case, assigned Quantavious probabtion, and ordered him to write a two-page essay on Kobe Bryant, asking the boy:
court recording plays
Judge: WHAT is WRONG with you?
Quantavious: N-nothinIjustreallyneededtopee...
Judge: Are you aware of Kobe Bryant's dominance in the sport of basketball?
Quantavious: Ummm...Y-yessirhe'stheg-goat
Judge: Do you really think your pitiful little pee pee you did by your momma's car puts you in the same league as Kobe? May he rest in peace...
Court: murmurs
Judge: Young man, you need to reflect on what you've done and take that stank off Kobe's name.
Wow, that’s just shameful to arrest a kid over. How about a conversation about why this isn’t acceptable and what to do in the future. Maybe he was scared to ask his mother (doesn’t mean that fear was rational).
I'd say the kid was too shy to go in and ask tbh, especially if his mum was not in the waiting area. Parent of many and I could totally see that happening.