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Health & Fitness

Black Teenager, a White Hispanic and Main Stream Media

By looking at the title of today's blog, I bet you thought I was going to weigh-in on the verdict that was handed down on Saturday night in the Trevon Martin/George Zimmerman trial.  I'm not.  Like many people, I have a strong opinion regarding this case.  How could you not?  The mainstream media is saturating us with soundbites, images and celebrities expressing their displeasure with America as a whole and the justice system in particular.

But, no.  Today I am writing about an obscure story that caught my eye on Saturday afternoon.  In this story, the black teen is a 15-year-old named Temar Boggs.  He and his friends were hanging out at the Lancaster Arms Apartments in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  A man came up to them with a photo of Jocelyn Rojas, a 5-year-old white Hispanic girl who had been playing outside on her grandma's front lawn but was now missing.  Temar and his friends didn't see the little girl and went back to what they were doing.  Moments later, they saw a huge police presence emerge.  The teens realized that this was not a matter of a little girl wandering off to her friend's house without telling grandma.  This was something bad.  Something very bad.

Temar and his friends went over to the police to get more details.  The girl whose photo he was shown earlier was likely kidnapped.  There were many adult neighbors who were pitching in to search for 5-year-old Jocelyn.  The teens took it upon themselves to form their own search party.  Temar was on a bicycle when he spotted a maroon car being driven by a white man, about 60-70-years-old and a girl who looked like the photo of Jocelyn he was shown.  The car started to drive away.  Temar and one of his friends followed on their bicycles.  The area is full of turns and cul-de-sacs so the car couldn't drive too fast at any given time.  The teens on their bicycles were not slowed down.  The driver noticed that he was being pursued and when it became evident that Temar and his friend wouldn't give up the chase, he stopped the car, pushed the little girl out onto the street and drove away.

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Temar stopped.  Jocelyn ran to him, gave him a hug and said, "I need to see my mommy."

When Joecelyn was returned to her family, her mommy, grandma and all the good people of the community hailed Temar as a hero.  He didn't see it that way.  He sees himself as someone doing the right thing because it was the right thing to do.  He said he had a feeling that he would be able to find Jocelyn as he started out on his search.  Everyone is glad he did.

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This all happened on Friday afternoon as the jury for the George Zimmerman case were deliberating.  What perfect timing it would have been to report this story in the mainstream media!  This is a feel-good story if there ever was one.  It is a story of community.  It is a story of teenagers stepping-up on their own volition to be part of the solution...and who were triumphant over evil by doing so.  It is a story of a black teen saving the life of a white Hispanic.  It is a story of HOPE on so many levels.  The mainstream media could have embraced this story, making this story the dominant headline to counter-act the racist-ladened stew being stirred in Florida at that very moment in time.  But they didn't.  They chose to ignore the story.  It's Monday and you need to look pretty hard to find this story anywhere but local Lancaster, PA media...and now my blog.

I've always appreciated the power that words have.  To touch people on an emotional level by the words I string together is a gift from God that I have been given.  That gift is how I connect to the human experience.  My words and the feelings they evoke are my personal legacy and I hope that the world is a better place because I wrote them.  The mainstream media doesn't seem to share these feelings when it comes to the words and stories it tells.  Nowhere is that more clear than with these two tales of black teens and white Hispanics.

Shame on you, MSM.  Shame on you.

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PS:  While Jocelyn Rojas was quickly and safely returned to her family, thanks to the efforts of Temar Boggs, I am sad to report that after examination at an area hospital, the police say that "there are indications of assault."  The lead suspect is a 72-year-old man who served time for kidnapping a 5-year-old girl in the 1990s, luring her with promises of ice cream.  He sexually assaulted that child then left her at a convenience store where she asked the clerks to help her because she needed her mommy.

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