A fight between two teens went viral in my city
I refuse to watch it
On September 24, 2009, a Chicago teen by the name of Derrion Albert was beat to death.
The sixteen year old got caught up in a brawl between two warring factions on the city’s southside after school. Cell phone video shows Derrion being struck in the head with a railroad tie and repeatedly beaten by five other teenagers. At video’s end, the cameraman shows an unmoving Derrion being picked up on each side by two teen girls, “Derrion, get up! Derrion get up!” they scream as they drag his lifeless body into a community center before the video cuts off.
The video is the first I can recall to having gone “viral” before viral was a thing. It received national attention and prompted then, President Obama to send Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to Chicago to discuss youth violence with the city’s mayor.
I wish the fight never happened. I wished I hadn’t watched.
Since 2009, countless videos can be viewed of humans suffering violence from fellow humans. Like millions, I have been one of those viewers.
Not anymore.
Recently, teen violence in my city has escalated. There have been two fights between teenagers; both caught on video. One fourteen year old…
