Is viral footage of brutal playground beating racist or just-plain ugly? (Video)

Is viral footage of brutal playground beating racist or just-plain ugly? (Video)

Capturing beat-downs on video appears to be on the cusp of becoming America’s new national pastime. There is an ugly barbaric aspect to these “short subjects,” not only in the act of aggression that is chronicled but in the obscenely lighthearted response of the camera operator and others at the scene.

Sometimes racial animus is imputed, but even in cases where the motivation isn’t clear, the corporal punishment meted out is savage enough to cause viewers to wince and wonder what insult could have precipitated it.

A video out of Indianapolis that is making the rounds exemplifies the point. The victims are a young white girl and her much younger brother. The aggressor is a young black child of indeterminate sex. The video went viral after one of the perpetrators uploaded it to Facebook, an action that in itself suggests the footage is a “trophy.”

As described by Inquistr, the video opens with several people running toward a playground, then surrounding the young victim and her brother. By the time the camera operator catches up, the group has the girl surrounded. Suddenly, the assailant punches her in the face.

The victim then fell to the ground, yelling, “What did I do? What did I do?” while the assailant continues to throw punches.

As the victim pleads with her attacker to stop, another young man finally pulls off the attacker and the victim gathers her younger brother to leave the park. But as she leaves the camera person continues to follow, and the girl who originally attacks strikes again.

This time the victim’s younger brother, who appears to be somewhere around 5 or 6, tried to defend his sister by pushing away the attacker. But the attacker then turned her attention to the young boy, striking him and knocking him to the ground.

The group continued to mock the victim as she walked away and shouted an apology to her attackers.

This latest proud record of assault comes on the heels of another reported by J.E. Dyer that occurred last week inside a Brooklyn McDonald’s. In that case, a “community activist” named Tony Herbert assigned responsibility for the violence to the restaurant chain. Who will be blamed for the unconscionable behavior of the attackers and spectators in this latest atrocity?

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Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy

Howard Portnoy has written for The Blaze, HotAir, NewsBusters, Weasel Zippers, Conservative Firing Line, RedCounty, and New York’s Daily News. He has one published novel, Hot Rain, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons), and has been a guest on Radio Vice Online with Jim Vicevich, The Alana Burke Show, Smart Life with Dr. Gina, and The George Espenlaub Show.

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