that poster and thinking it was hilarious in the way white kids find "small" acts of "rebellion" (almost ALWAYS ILLEGAL) hilarious and it becomes so hard to separate that kid's life from my manageable yet unremitting black rage at the basic unfairness with which many whites perceive similar childish acts of rebellion perpetrated by black kids.

i cannot lie, "GOOD!!!!!!" is the first thing i thought when i heard about it. then, i saw him crying and thought of his mom and all his friends...i cracked a little. then, i did the ITWAN processing and truly searched my heart for the answer to these questions:

Would this even get this much attention were the kids black? no

Would there be this much outrage at N. Korea and sympathy for a black kid? no

Would a black kid who actually wanted to go to North Korea do something so petty and stupid? no

good luck to him tho. i hope he comes home. he don't deserve no damn 15 years. but neither did a generation of black non-violent drug offenders.

oh well.