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A viral video of an apparent birthday party for children has left viewers stunned by the damning imagery included in the footage – especially the little kids who were posturing with what we hope are replica guns and fake cash. Perhaps even more alarming is how two of the children in particular – appearing to be among the youngest in the video – are seen dancing and rapping explicit lyrics along with the song “No Smoke” By YoungBoy Never Broke Again.
At least five children are shown in the video, including one so young he needs to be held. They are joined by five apparent men. Everybody in the video is Black.
It is neither clear what relations the kids have to the adults nor where the party took place.
What is clear, however, is that the children are proudly and happily brandishing the guns and money like something out of a stereotypical rap music video designed to glorify items that child psychologists would probably argue are not age-appropriate.
The video was seemingly first posted to social media on Sunday night on the app formerly known as Twitter by a user with the handle, @from_da_soil.
“I can’t even find adequate words to comment with,” the user wrote in the post.
The responses to the video, however, were far from being at a loss for words, suggesting the startling footage was the result of everything from “genocide” to “IGNORANCE/Stupidity/NO Class” to “Single motherism” and more.
The social media account known as Daily Loud posted that the party was in Louisiana and asked its 2.6 million followers a simple question: “Would you ever let your kids do this?”
The answers were telling.
“The next generation is doomed,” one user responded.
“Setting them up to be a statistic,” another wrote. “I dont like it smh.”
One user suggested the responses to the video are hypocritical along racial lines:
“I don’t necessarily agree with this but when little white kids play around with guns with their families, people are always like, ‘Awwww look at these adorable innocent white American children practicing their 2nd Amendment rights!’”
Author and social influencer Boyce Watkins responded to the video by asking, “Where do you think these boys will be in 20 years?”
One reply spoke volumes: “They’ll be just like the boys behind them.”
Chances are likely that the children in the video were simply mimicking behavior they have learned from observing popular culture, or even from their own parents, family and loved ones.
The unfortunate truth is that such behavior, particularly displayed by Black boys and men, is a magnet for law enforcement, whether justified or not. It could also influence them to covet and place significant value on guns, cash and explicit language at a highly impressionable time in their lives.
Particularly alarming in this context is that gun deaths among children in the U.S. have spiked in recent years, with Black kids leading the way, according to data from the Pew Research Center. In addition, “about a third of Black parents (32%) said they were extremely or very worried about their children getting shot,” Pew Research Center found.
Perhaps the adults in the above viral video are ignorant about the statistics.
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