New York City, Flatbush, finds itself in the epicenter of another young black male shooting incident turned opportunistic grievance statistic.  The storyline is a 16-year-old kid, Kimani “KiKi” Gray, was shot seven times and killed by police officers after he turned toward them wielding a loaded .38 caliber handgun.

A few days before, and a few more miles away in Chicago, a 6-MONTH-old girl, Jonylah Watkins, was shot six times (one for every month of her life) and killed by gangland style thugs as they attempted to murder her father.

In Chicago six bullets killed the baby girl.  In New York, seven bullets killed Ki Ki.

Chicago moves on, another day – another innocent.   500+ last year alone.

New York City erupts with protests, violence, broken bottles, looters, all supported by accusations of racism and random police violence against black males.

It is a sad state of racial affairs when one reads headlines and breathes a slight sigh of relief to see the police officers in Flatbush were hispanic and black.    Not “white-hispanic”, as in the Trayvon Martin shooters descriptive, just hispanic and black this time.

But the moral outrage roadmap -needed to avoid the mirror of reflection- remains the same.

Indeed the roadmap away from the mirror of consequence is now outlining a well-worn path of directional blame – The approach is based on a racial narrative of avoidance.   Flatbush’s “KiKi” was a good kid, even when he held that .38 caliber revolver in his hand:

Speaking of her son in the present tense, Carol Gray remembered a boy who still had a curfew to abide by at night. A boy who babysat his nieces and nephews regularly and who, for the first time in his life, recently got a bedroom all to himself.

Similarly 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was a good kid, an “aspiring pilot” who “majored in cheerfulness“, and according to consequence avoidance master Jesse Jackson “a victim of racial injustice in school discipline“.

Of course this was just before the cheerful major broke George Zimmerman’s nose, straddled him MMA style and cracked his head against the sidewalk – and mere seconds before he was shot.

Then, what did he become.

A cause?

A movement?

How consequenial could the life of that cheerful pilot have become if such stong supportive and passionate emotion could be directed to his sense of purpose while he were alive.

Imagine the uplifting rallies filled with people cheering on ‘good choices’, strong moral decisions, high standards of expectation and a solid foundation of respect for family values based on faith with actual engaged Mothers and Fathers passionate about developing a generation of self reliance and achievement.

Alas, through the painful prism of race the window of avoidance becomes a one way mirror.  Both KiKi and Trayvon’s family looking out through the window, yet unable to walk to the other side and view the reflection of misplace priorities.

They are all innocent – until they’re not, and then it’s too late, too painful to consider.

It’s “their” fault.   The policeman’s fault.   The White-Hispanic’s fault.  The gangs fault.

Fault is fear shielded with the infinite power of avoidance.

….and for Jonylah?