Shooting of 13-Year-Old Karon Blake…Deontay Curtis Tells Us What It’s Like to be that 13-year-old.

The pre-dawn January 7th shooting of Karon Blake, a 13-year-old African American middle school student in Washington, DC, has people asking questions that no one seems to be able to answer or want to answer. Who was the shooter? Why was a 13-year-old out at 3am-4am? Was the shooter white? Was the shooter Black? Where were Karon’s parents? Was Karon breaking into cars? Why hasn’t the police made an arrest? Why haven’t police identified the shooter?The shooting of Karon is still under investigation by the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department, and there continues to be a call for justice in the community. There are also calls for accountability. But the community in which Karon’s shooting took place isn’t completely in agreement when it comes to accountability … there are some who sympathize more with the shooter, and there are some who sympathize more with Karon and his family. There does appear be collective agreement that a 13-year-old should not have had his life taken away.There will be more shootings of young Black boys, and the same questions will come up. I wanted to ask different questions. I wanted to know what led to Karon being out at 3am versus being at home in bed. I wanted to know what it’s like to be a 13-year-old in the likeness of Karon, so I asked those questions of Deontay Curtis, who was that 13-year-old kid. Deontay was that kid breaking into and stealing cars for joy rides. He was that kid that despite the efforts of his strong mother, he continued down a path of criminal activity as a juvenile until age caught up with him and he ended up serving 13 years behind bars.In this episode of The Offshoot podcast and aggregate, Deontay Curtis talks with me and answers the questions. He has a lot to say about the circumstances that led him, and leads young Black boys, to criminal activities like breaking into cars. Now, at age 35, a wiser and more mature man, Deontay is out in his community sharing what he has learned. He is trying to give back. He speaks with confidence, and he is compelling to listen to. He admits he doesn’t have all the answers but he does strongly and articulately talks about the circumstances, his circumstances in the likeness of Karon, that was behind his behavior as a 13-year-old who could have not seen age 14.Support the show