On Sunday, June 7th, a video went viral on Twitter of a McKinney, Texas police officer who pulled a gun on unarmed teenagers at a pool party. He then threw a 14 year old girl in a bathing suit onto the ground, face down and rested his knee on her back to restrain her. This girl — who was black — along with the other black kids at the pool were being kicked out and had racial slurs uttered at them. A fight ensued which got the attention of the police. The whole thing was video taped by a 15 year boy who is white. Young adult author, Daniel José Older, had a few things to say:
Have YA writers reacted? Those were young adults cops were abusing in the video. That's who we're speaking to. Did we react?
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) June 8, 2015
If one of you tweet compiling ass journalists wants to make me happy one day you could compile a YA Reacts to PD Brutality listicle…
— Daniel José Older (@djolder) June 8, 2015
I agree with Older. As a young adult author, you’re writing about teens and their experiences. Well, this is what black teenagers have to deal with. This isn’t a special case. Many black teens have died at the hands of the police such as Tamir Rice (12 years old) and Mike Brown (18 years old). This is what the segment of the young adult population is dealing with so it’s important that young adult authors are responding to it and that their young followers see it. I chose to take Older up on his challenge and have given you a sample of some tweets from young adult authors who’ve tweeted about the #McKinney incident. I’m sure there are more that have tweeted and that more will continue to tweet. They have the voices to signal boost this issue and I hope that more will do just that in the coming days.
Just saw what happened in #McKinney — sickening, infuriating. How do we stop this?
— Gwenda Bond is still on deadline ? (@Gwenda) June 8, 2015
https://twitter.com/Eve_Silver/status/607698544301121539
https://twitter.com/TrishDoller/status/607688293426335744
https://twitter.com/Bibliogato/status/607663743229509632
Enraged.
Disgusted.
How can we protect America's children when the police hurt or kill them based on skin color? WTF America?#McKinney— Laurie Halse Anderson (@halseanderson) June 7, 2015
For all the weird things they do to our daily interactions, things like #McKinney make me really glad cell phones exist.
— Maureen Johnson (@maureenjohnson) June 7, 2015
Watch the Video. Listen to the children screaming. Wake the fuck up. The police are supposed to PROTECT kids, not assault them. #McKinney
— Tess Sharpe (@sharpegirl) June 8, 2015
https://twitter.com/elloecho/status/607714207069544449
Just saw #McKinney video. No fucking words.
— Sarah Ockler (@sarahockler) June 7, 2015
.@sarahockler The McKinney video made me want to throw up. I couldn't even watch it all.
— Varian Johnson (@varianjohnson) June 7, 2015
@varianjohnson @sarahockler me either. i don't know how we can fix ourselves as a culture.
— cindy pon (@cindypon) June 7, 2015
@sarahockler @cindypon @varianjohnson @elloecho This happened just across town from me, and it makes my ill. Really, really ill.
— Rachel Caine is not writing currently. (@rachelcaine) June 7, 2015
Trying to compose a tweet about my feelings about #McKinney but I'm literally speechless.
— Jessica Brody (@JessicaBrody) June 8, 2015
https://twitter.com/LaurenDeStefano/status/607694448613597185
@sarahockler @cindypon @rachelcaine @varianjohnson @elloecho anyone who doesn’t see a problem is a monster.
— ????? ????? (@hollyblack) June 8, 2015
Thanks for compiling these tweets and thanks to Daniel Older for making the suggestion. The time for apathy and silence has long passed.