Exclusion and pain over being invisible caused the violent mob-style attacks at a college campus Friday night, a black writer claimed.
Solomon Jones claims that simmering anger over changes in their neighborhood caused the teenagers to act out violently and attack pedestrians at Temple University Friday night.
Groups of teens ranging from 20 to 100 attacked pedestrians and a police on the campus. They went around kicking and punching people at random. One female students had to be hospitalized and a police officer suffered bruises and cuts. (RELATED: Flash Mobs 50-100 Strong Pounce On Random Pedestrians, Cops At Temple University)
“But I believe those teens are expressing something that has long simmered beneath the surface. They are expressing the rage that comes with exclusion. They are expressing the hurt that comes with invisibility. They are engaged in the inevitable push and pull of change,” Jones wrote.
While violence is never the answer, Jones maintained, the teenagers were reacting to having watched their community change before their eyes and not being able partake in the new developments.
They watched white men build newer housing in their neighborhood while the contractors refused to give community members jobs when they applied for them, Jones argues.
“Then community members were forced to watch as Temple students were welcomed into that same new housing by landlords who used various methods to exclude community residents from renting them,” Jones said.
While residents acknowledge the benefits of the change, they don’t feel as comfortable as they used to in their neighborhood, Jones says, quoting Larry Eichel of Pew Charitable Trusts.
“And therein lies the problem. In a city where poverty is concentrated outside the universities, we can’t truly expect the poor to watch jobs and wealth and excess pass them by without any reaction at all,” Jones said.
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