Often seen as a threat, Black youths are denied healthy adolescent development. They’re subject to suspicion and arrest for the most ordinary adolescent activities—shopping for prom clothes, playing in the park, listening to music, wearing the latest fashion trend. While research shows Black youths are no more dangerous or impulsive than their white counterparts, there’s a tremendous difference in how Black youths are treated by school officials, the police and the criminal justice system. As a consequence, Black youth fear and resent the police and don’t have faith in the system. Law school professor and author of “The Rage of Innocence,” Kris Henning explains what’s going on.
