Florida's rash of racist teens

Florida seems to be awash with racist teenage girls.

In mid-February, two Florida high-school students posted a video rant about their school and their blatantly racist perceptions of students who went there. The video includes disgusting statements and assumptions, as well as language that can only be described as foul. It’s a doozy.

Here’s a smattering of what is clean enough to print.

“(Black people) are not forced into living conditions by white people. They bring that upon themselves by not getting jobs, not graduating, that’s why they live in crappy places in town. Because they don’t know how to make money.”

“Most of the crime here is done by black people, so there’s nothing to stereotype.”

Naturally, the video went viral immediately.

Weeks later, another video was posted by two girls from a different Florida high school. They somehow managed to pack the same amount of idiocy into four minutes rather than 14, like the previous one.

But there has to be a bigger lesson we can learn from this. I am not going to waste your time by telling you that racism and arrogant teenage girls are dumb.

The first two girls are no longer attending their Gainesville, Fla., high school due to death threats. The second pair is under review for disciplinary action from their school in Lantana, Fla.

Good thing, too. I am a huge proponent of free speech, and I love that people are able to share their thoughts and ideas instantly on YouTube and websites like it. But the conundrum of the 21st century so far has been, “How far does free speech go in a world when I can share my thoughts with millions at the stroke of a key?”

I think the answer is that we must dissect free speech further. One absolutely has the right to express oneself today, but free speech does not mean freedom from responsibility after it has left your mouth.

Free means you can say the words. It does not mean you do not have to back them up afterward.

These girls were disturbed, young, naïve and starved for attention in a world in which YouTube videos make children half their age into celebrities overnight.

When followers and statuses define the quality of one’s life and it is encouraged to describe complex emotion in 140 characters, such situations are bound to happen.

These girls will probably live with the choices they made this past month for the rest of their lives. If they had made a passing comment to a friend at the lunch table, this probably would have ended there. Instead, evidence of their stupidity will continue to exist online forever.

It is simple to`use our right to free speech to say things that sound cool in the moment. It is less easy to remember to say things we are willing to be reminded of for the rest of our lives.

You never know who has a camera.

­— drlreed@indiana.edu