Knocking Off “Knockout”

The knockout game is a new wave of racially motivated violent crime that has swept through inner-city communities; to play the “game,” gangs of young African American teenagers and young adults single out white pedestrians, including elderly women, and physically attack them, sucker-punching or surrounding them and beating them. In one case, a man was beaten with bricks and had to have his jaw wired shut for at least six weeks to recover. Witnesses are reported to be intimidating out of testifying—including a thirteen-year-old girl—which allows the perpetrators to go free.

Regardless of whether this wave of crime is just kids acting out, or whether it’s officially racially motivated, or whether it’s even a widespread, planned phenomenon and not unrelated acts of random violence in several cities, this game is perpetuating senseless violence against innocent victims; the players of the “game” are making the streets unsafe for white pedestrians, with no discernible motivation behind choosing the targets. It’s unclear whether the targets are chosen by race specifically, or whether it is just a coincidence that the strangers happen to be white.

Regardless, this “game” is leading young African-American men to engage in horrific violence against strangers and must be treated as the serious violent crime that it is, without putting up to debate the “boys will be boys” mentality behind it. Police should be vigilantly on the watch for this crime and bringing in anyone suspected of participating. It cannot be glossed over as typical teenage games, because it can ruin the lives of everyone involved.

Work Cited

Short, Aaron, and Barry Paddock. "Elderly Woman Could be City's 10th 'Knockout Game' Victim." NY Daily News. N.p., 29 Nov. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/elderly-woman-city-10th-knockout-game-victim-article-1.1532989>.