Maribel Cuevas

Yes, she threw a rock.

Yes, it made 8-year-old Elijah Vang's forehead bleed. A lot.

Yes, the boys were teasing her.

But kids tease other kids. Kids also react irrationally. They're kids, for fuck's sake.

Leading 11-year-old Maribel Cuevas away in handcuffs, saying she "resisted arrest" by kicking officers and scratching one on the arm is a bit much. She's a kid. She was probably scared out of her right mind. Big scary white man with badge going to take little brown girl away.

The way Fresno police have treated Lil' Cuevas was as if she was the town bully or something. Quite frankly, if I was a kid, and a group of seven boys started throwing rocks and water balloons at me while I was minding my own business playing with my little brother and some friends, best believe I would throw rocks back at them.

How outrageous is it that the more we do things to "protect the children," we end up doing things that
a) will fuck them up forever (e.g. what's being done to Maribel Cuevas),
b) end up being unsuccessful because kids will do what kids do anyway (e.g. downloading a patch so that they can play GTA San Andreas with all the nasty parts), or
c) make childhood boring as hell (e.g. trick-or-treating in malls).

Has the world really gotten worse, or has it pretty much stayed the same, but we've only become more informed and, therefore, more paranoid?


(cross-posted at Blogs by Women)

UPDATE: Luckily, the Powers That Be have come to their senses and agreed that Lil' Cuev go to into mediation with Elijah Vang's family instead of going to trial to face the felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. Fresno's mayor and police chief stand by their handling of the case, asserting that it was the right thing to do.