Can We Afford To Let “Boys Be Boys” Anymore In Atlanta?

A group of teenagers narrowly avoided being shot by a police officer in Atlanta, after a stupid prank went wrong.

(AllHipHop News) There is a problem with the phrase “boys will be boys” and all of the acceptable behavior that aligns with that type of mentality.

For some … this means that boys are going to run wild and not pay attention.

Others believe that boys can’t help themselves particularly when it comes down to chasing after girls. Then there is the concept that boys are innately violent.

That very AMERICAN projection is curated in boys from the time they are able to crawl.

The toys celebrate violence. The imitation of superheroes celebrates violence.

The music, movies and video games celebrate violence and it manifests in the most subtle representations of toxic masculinity, that these man-children have no idea that they operate out of dysfunction.

In their minds, they were “boys being boys.”

Such is the case with five boys in Clayton County, Georgia who decided to allegedly flex their pellet gun in a gas station store.

After the young men leave the store, the clerk calls the police. … And the police respond.

An officer sees the boys and pulls them over. Because it is alleged that they have a gun, one that has not yet been identified as a BB gun, the cop pulls his gun out and tells them to keep their hands up in the air.

The boys are afraid. Terrified. The officer says that he is nervous also.

The six, directly involved in this incident, have had communication. It is clear; the police officer is detaining these boys and the wrong move could be disastrous.

With the current civil unrest that the nation is under, justly hyper-critical, does this leave room for the “boys will be boys” mindset to fly?

Fear and cultural insecurity is choking everyone.

Still, the anxiety is heightened as neighbors are gathering with cameras out.

The officer urges the boys to focus on him and he tries to deescalate the situation —while at the same time maintaining his own security by holding a gun on them. Remember, the cop doesn’t know that they don’t have a real gun.

Footage has been released. One video is from a bodycam that has been released and the other was from a bystander.

That Atlantic Journal-Constitution released a compilation that gives a fuller picture of what actually happened.

The boys were being boys —no harm no foul— let’s not over react.

The officer expresses it best at the end when he says that this is dangerous and could have landed them dead. Let’s be happy that this man was being a man. It could have been dangerous.