By Kevin R. Johnson
What's really behind the "flash mobs" in Philadelphia?
Our mayor, speaking from the pulpit of his home church, called the youths involved "ignorant," "stupid," "butthead," pants-sagging byproducts of "sperm donors" and "human ATMs" wreaking havoc on innocent people in Center City.
The national media gleefully joined in, calling them "young hoodlums." Does CNN, MSNBC, Fox, or the larger community really distinguish between "good" black children and "bad" black children?
I'll be the first to admit that we cannot and should not tolerate violence in our beloved Philadelphia. But I also believe there is more to this story. It is easy to label, but very difficult to solve.
Observing the unrest of his day, Malcolm X said, "We are today seeing a global rebellion of the oppressed against the oppressor, the exploited against the exploiter."
From the streets of Philadelphia, to the streets of London, to Cairo's Tahrir Square, Hama in Syria, and Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia, there is a revolution erupting that is being led by the children of the digital age. Their outcry ranges from concern for political clout to governance, jobs, education, economic freedom, and simply being acknowledged as a valued human beings.
In the 1970s, we believed poet Gil Scott-Heron when he said, "The revolution will not be televised." Little did any of us know, however, that we would live in a world of social media in which Web-based and mobile technologies would be used to communicate and create interactive dialogues and social gatherings.
Ever since the summer of 2003, when Bill Wasik, a senior editor of Wired magazine, who happens to be white, first introduced the notion of a flash mob at Macy's department store in New York, young people have used Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, MySpace, and other media to demonstrate in commercial and public spaces that they have power, too.
What are the young people inGreat Britain, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and, yes, Philadelphia, saying that we are not hearing? Young people don't just magically appear en masse. What pain are they experiencing that we cannot see or feel?
"A riot is the language of the unheard," said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hence, when we see young people rioting or in flash mobs, it is because they feel powerless and want to be heard. Those with a clear sense of hope and a bright future don't cause havoc simply because they have nothing better to do.
